Retro
Every now and then we humans like to look back, take a stroll through our past and relive the good times we had. Nothing wrong with that, so long as we also remember that nothing is as perfect or pristine in reality as it is in our memories.
For instance, take the 80’s. There were some great memories. Rockin’ out to groups like Blondie and Berlin, The Clash and U2. Movies like The Breakfast Club and Raiders of The Lost Ark. The coming of MTV, Miami Vice, and Home Shopping Network.
Jane Fonda workout tapes, neon pink, lime green and lemon yellow stretchy pants and tee’s, legwarmers, big hair, bangle bracelets, The Mall, Orange Julius, Pink’s hot dogs, The Improv and The Comedy Store, Chippendales, shoes without socks, shirts without ties, shoulder pads, Dynasty and Dallas.
Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Cabbage Patch dolls and The Cosby Show, CDs, Charles and Di’s Wedding, and of course, the fall of the Berlin Wall.
But there was also the Challenger explosion, Chernobyl, Cameroon, Iran Contra, Journalist John McCarthy kidnapped by extremists, AIDS, Indira Gandhi assassinated, the Chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, U.S Embassy bombing in Beirut, Tylenol scare, Mt. Saint Helens erupts, Earthquake in Mexico kills thousands, Volcano erupts in Colombia also kills thousands, Black Monday, Pan Am Flight 103, Exxon Valdez, the New South Wales earthquake and the massacre in Montreal.
I imagine the ‘00 decade will be fondly remembered one day, and events such as 9-11 and the Virginia Tech shooting will fade into distant memory as well. Perhaps it is a defense mechanism we all share, a need to suppress the bad memories and think of only the good. Maybe it is for the best. We should celebrate a life well lived. So long as we don’t forget the lessons learned from these tragic events and work to prevent them from repeating, we have time for happy memories–better yet, time to create new ones.
Blessed Be! For this moment and the next are the good old days!
