Picture this: It’s a warm, sunny day and your teacher just called for recess. A tidal wave of untied sneakers and brightly colored outfits surge through the doors, stampeding towards 30 minutes of full freedom. You and your friends race to get a spot on the swings, the only place you can get close to flying. Chalk murals are being etched onto the blacktop, an intense game of freeze tag erupts and the thud of a kickball adds to the ongoing outdoor buzz. When you listen closely, you can hear heated debates over which “Harry Potter” book is better and enthusiastic chatter about the newest “Good Luck Charlie” episodes that have already been pre-recorded on the DVR. For many of us, some variation of this was the childhood we so dearly love and remember.
Fast forward a decade or so, it’s warm and sunny again, but this time, you’re in college. You decide to go for a walk, because days like this are a true rarity and taking advantage of the occasional sun is an absolute must. You take a stroll near the courtyard and see that your peers must have had a similar idea, taking a break from the colossal sea of lectures and deadlines. You catch snippets of lively conversation, several games of intense spike ball and even a frisbee swishing through the air. You get this fuzzy feeling, reminding you of a time when things felt simple. All of a sudden, you are overcome with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.
At its core, nostalgia is best defined as a bittersweet longing towards sentiments and memories of the past. Personally, I have always been a sentimental person who keeps absolutely everything. I mean receipts, gift tags and every card I have possibly ever received. Consequently, I often catch myself seeking comfort from past moments in my life that have brought me joy. As we get older, we live in a world filled with jam-packed schedules and fast-paced lifestyles. In this world, time is no longer unlimited, but a measurement that unforgivingly slips away. As I see it, this is precisely why those moments of nostalgia become links to simpler times. Yet, even in the warmth of these memories, there is a gentle ache that acknowledges time moves forward and those moments truly are gone. Is this always a good thing?
While this yearning for memories is often associated with good ones, it is important to recognize the underlying problem with glorifying “the good old days”. According to Dr. Ziyan Yang from National Geographic, “The memories in nostalgia are not always good…But even the bad memories that come to mind seem to be more positive because we see them through a rose-tinted filter.” Essentially, nostalgia serves as a temporary escape, providing us with a sense of comfort and control protecting us from whatever uneasiness we may feel in the present. From the wise words of Taylor Swift, “Nostalgia is a mind’s trick.”
Several phenomena have attempted to explain this sensation of “things aren’t what they used to be.” One concept in particular, declinism, was born from a reflection of the fall of the Roman Empire, hinging upon this idea that society is headed towards a state of irreversible decline. It is also quite frequently accompanied with a romanticized view of the past. In fact, a society as glorious as ancient Athens even perceived itself declining from a “former, mythical golden age.” However, if we as a society continue to encourage this line of thinking, we remain to dwell upon the past, miss the existence of the present and view the future with fear.
Additionally, lingering excessively upon the past can be especially harmful when viewing it through a historical lens. It can lead to selective amnesia where we may unknowingly overlook the gravity of struggles faced by marginalized groups, horrific tragedies and prevalent systemimc inequalities. In these instances, it is imperative to remember that the past is not always as idyllic as we would like to remember it. Failing to confront these realities risks repeating past mistakes, highlighting the need to remember history in its entirety and not just comforting fragments.
So, where does that bring us in terms of nostalgia? I firmly believe that it is important to cherish the memories that remind us of past versions of ourselves and how they have shaped us. However, let us not let them blind us from the truths of the past, distract us from the present and cast worry over the future. Let us fully immerse ourselves in the now and actively work towards creating future memories that older versions of us can look back on and smile at, for we should aim to live a life worth being proud of.
Interesting perspective! Amazing writing that conveys a relevant point!!