The Best Days Of Our Lives?
I can't help but notice the popularity of classic stations on the air these days. Notice I say "classic", not "classical". Yes, stations that play classic rock, country and even pop. Americans seem to be rather hung up on nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. Maybe that's not the case, though. At least for me it isn't.
Until a few years ago, I'd find myself listening to some of this older music and reminiscing about "the good ol' days". That is really such a superfluous term. What, or more to the point when were the good ol' days? For me and my rampant nostalgia, it was a period between 1976 and 1981, the better part of junior and senior high school. That's five years, ladies and gentlemen. Five years out of a life that has the potential to span over seventy, perhaps over eighty. Five years. That's a drop in the bucket in a typical human life.
For me, some how, those years seemed to be the best. But why? At the time, and here I'm referring to the period I was lost in the reminiscences, they were like a beacon of hope in a life filled with despair. Ah, sigh. My life was so miserable at that point that I felt that escaping to when I was a teenager seemed the only thing to do. Those songs from that period, by Styx, Boston, the Eagles, Paul McCartney and Wings, even my beloved ELO, all represented a better, simpler time in my life.
Oh, yes, it was better. Sure, yeah. The prospects for a teenager are really not that great. Let's be honest; when we were teenagers, all we wanted to be were adults. In retrospect, it seems that our teen selves were simply horrified at being teenagers. That period of our life we wanted to get behind us ASAP and get on with living.
When I reminisce about my reminiscing, I find it all very funny now. Tragic, but funny. Think of all the wasted time I spent, head phones on, listening to "More Than A Feeling" and trying, very hard, to remember what it was like being 13. And there I was, in my late 30's. Instead of living, I was reliving, over and over again. Oh, yes, to be 13 again. Give me a break!
I listen to those songs now with the wisdom that three decades has brought. Some of those songs seem very pretentious now. Most of them seem rather over produced and insincere. That's not to say they're bad... they just don't seem that important now. But as a starry eyed teenager, they seemed oh so important.
Perhaps its the advance of time that's brought me to this point. I've entered my forties, and now those things in life that I had once set out to do seem more important than ever. The time I've spent bellyaching and wallowing in self pity for wasted time was itself wasted time. The best days of our lives can be any time, at any point in our lives. We can choose to sit around and listen to ghosts from our pasts... or we can move on and face the challenges of our lives in the here, the now and tomorrow. We have the ability to decide when our lives are at their best.
Until a few years ago, I'd find myself listening to some of this older music and reminiscing about "the good ol' days". That is really such a superfluous term. What, or more to the point when were the good ol' days? For me and my rampant nostalgia, it was a period between 1976 and 1981, the better part of junior and senior high school. That's five years, ladies and gentlemen. Five years out of a life that has the potential to span over seventy, perhaps over eighty. Five years. That's a drop in the bucket in a typical human life.
For me, some how, those years seemed to be the best. But why? At the time, and here I'm referring to the period I was lost in the reminiscences, they were like a beacon of hope in a life filled with despair. Ah, sigh. My life was so miserable at that point that I felt that escaping to when I was a teenager seemed the only thing to do. Those songs from that period, by Styx, Boston, the Eagles, Paul McCartney and Wings, even my beloved ELO, all represented a better, simpler time in my life.
Oh, yes, it was better. Sure, yeah. The prospects for a teenager are really not that great. Let's be honest; when we were teenagers, all we wanted to be were adults. In retrospect, it seems that our teen selves were simply horrified at being teenagers. That period of our life we wanted to get behind us ASAP and get on with living.
When I reminisce about my reminiscing, I find it all very funny now. Tragic, but funny. Think of all the wasted time I spent, head phones on, listening to "More Than A Feeling" and trying, very hard, to remember what it was like being 13. And there I was, in my late 30's. Instead of living, I was reliving, over and over again. Oh, yes, to be 13 again. Give me a break!
I listen to those songs now with the wisdom that three decades has brought. Some of those songs seem very pretentious now. Most of them seem rather over produced and insincere. That's not to say they're bad... they just don't seem that important now. But as a starry eyed teenager, they seemed oh so important.
Perhaps its the advance of time that's brought me to this point. I've entered my forties, and now those things in life that I had once set out to do seem more important than ever. The time I've spent bellyaching and wallowing in self pity for wasted time was itself wasted time. The best days of our lives can be any time, at any point in our lives. We can choose to sit around and listen to ghosts from our pasts... or we can move on and face the challenges of our lives in the here, the now and tomorrow. We have the ability to decide when our lives are at their best.
posted by Robert at 8:13 AM
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