- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
(This forum is marked "Deep Thoughts". I can't think of a better place to put this.)
Occasionally, I'll find myself involved in a discussion about how life has changed in the past few decades. Sometimes this is in terms of technology, sometimes it's in terms of culture, sometimes it's a mixture of both. There's a lot to love about the world as it is today, but I think there's a lot that's been lost over the years. At times, I've tried to impress on people how neat it was to grow up in a different time (even when that time wasn't too different, relatively).
It's at times like this I can recognize what my grandparents and great-grandparents were doing when they would ramble on and on. They had clear memories of a very different time and place, and they felt that had value that us young kids couldn't grasp... and that value was enough that our elders TRIED to impart those feelings on us, even if we couldn't relate. I'm sitting here, thinking someone younger than me would benefit from knowing about life before the Internet. My grandparents thought I would benefit about knowing life during the depression. And THEIR grandparents probably wished the kids would understand life during the Civil War, or in the old country. And NO ONE around today remembers those things. These memories cherished by a whole generation are gone forever.
That's really what made me write this post-- the idea that memories that were so important to some are gone now, and someday whatever I think is important will be gone as well. Now, what happens to those memories is a matter that is affected by what you think happens to people after death. Not to get into THAT argument, but no matter what you believe, there's no one alive today who remembers when the US was a British Colony, or when the Roman Empire was at its peak. Surely there are lots of worthwhile memories there, lost to the ages.
My point is... does this bother anyone else as much as it does me? The fact that every era meant so much to someone, and now none if it is within living memory?
Occasionally, I'll find myself involved in a discussion about how life has changed in the past few decades. Sometimes this is in terms of technology, sometimes it's in terms of culture, sometimes it's a mixture of both. There's a lot to love about the world as it is today, but I think there's a lot that's been lost over the years. At times, I've tried to impress on people how neat it was to grow up in a different time (even when that time wasn't too different, relatively).
It's at times like this I can recognize what my grandparents and great-grandparents were doing when they would ramble on and on. They had clear memories of a very different time and place, and they felt that had value that us young kids couldn't grasp... and that value was enough that our elders TRIED to impart those feelings on us, even if we couldn't relate. I'm sitting here, thinking someone younger than me would benefit from knowing about life before the Internet. My grandparents thought I would benefit about knowing life during the depression. And THEIR grandparents probably wished the kids would understand life during the Civil War, or in the old country. And NO ONE around today remembers those things. These memories cherished by a whole generation are gone forever.
That's really what made me write this post-- the idea that memories that were so important to some are gone now, and someday whatever I think is important will be gone as well. Now, what happens to those memories is a matter that is affected by what you think happens to people after death. Not to get into THAT argument, but no matter what you believe, there's no one alive today who remembers when the US was a British Colony, or when the Roman Empire was at its peak. Surely there are lots of worthwhile memories there, lost to the ages.
My point is... does this bother anyone else as much as it does me? The fact that every era meant so much to someone, and now none if it is within living memory?
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