Tales of a coffee-holic: Life and times

I’m not sure the good old days were really that good.

Quite often I hear people around town talking about how much better things were back in the day. Kids were more respectful, teachers could paddle students to make them behave and no one had to deal with constant texting at dinner.

I submit to you that Sidney was a much wilder place way back in the day than it is now, although I supposed citizens don’t really reminisce about the late 1800s. However, I’m sure this sort of thinking has gone on for centuries. We always idealize the past. Everyone seems to think “back when I was younger, things were better.”

Of course you think that. Sure teenagers were less annoying and awful when you were one. Of course things were better when you could drink all night and wake up refreshed and with no signs of nausea. I have no doubt that things were better before I had to start worrying about gray hair and retirement plans. That however, does not mean that the entire state of the world was better back then.

I submit to you that the good old days weren’t that much better than right now.

When you look back on life, you try to remember the good times and forget the bad. Maybe you didn’t think as much crime happened when you were younger because you didn’t pay so much attention to the news. Maybe law enforcement are getting better at catching criminals. Perhaps we just hear about terrible things more often because of the speed at which we receive information via the internet.

I agree that technology can sometimes keep people isolated and can prevent people from truly communicating with one another. You also can’t argue that cell phones aren’t amazing devices which help people in multitudes of ways every day. People have always resisted change. I’m sure most of you have heard of the Western Union memo stating that the old fashioned telephone had too many shortcomings and was of no value to the company. The person who wrote that must have felt pretty silly afterward.

You can’t tell me, a girl that resents her lack of a dishwasher daily, that your life was better before that machine’s invention. I’m sure my grandpa would tell me that he’d much rather his low-flow toilet than the outhouse his family used when he was a boy.

I’m sure the good old days were better in many ways. I think that just means that things are always changing. Some things are better now and some are worse. I’m sure circumstances were great back in the day for white men. It probably wasn’t the best for people of color or women. I don’t think I would like being required to wear skirts to school like my grandmother. I also don’t think it would be very fun to be on the constant lookout for burning crosses in my front yard for dating a black man.

I do understand that kids likely had more respect for their parents years ago. They were also probably more motivated do hard work for their money. I think both of those are pretty lacking in my generation and younger.

Sidney is certainly doing better economically than it was during the 1980s, when the population dropped and many businesses failed.

The past wasn’t as great as you think it was. It doesn’t matter anyway. We can’t go back. Times are changing and there’s no point in longing for what’s now history. Things will never again be the way they were before. The best thing to do is accept the new things that are beneficial and do something about those that are not.

Daydreaming about days gone by can be fun, but it doesn’t accomplish much.