Many humans have quite the selective memory about how the days of old were somehow more manageable, simpler, and warmer than the present.
Is there anyone who hasn’t had a conversation with a parent or grandparent about how much better things used to be?
Has no older person ever told you that today there is no good music, no real relationships, no culture, and no sense of community?
Oh, oh, If only we can go back to the time when people had real meaningful conversations, when you could buy a slice of pizza for only twenty five cents, when rabbis were true leaders, when people cared about each other, before student debt…
Nostalgia is a mental disorder. It is a trick of the brain. It's a form of escapism.
It’s an excuse for me to not make the most of my limited time.
Instead I tell myself,
“Now sucks, but I know of a place where things are truly good. Unfortunately there is no way for me to get there as that place only existed before I was born.
“What can I do?”, I think defeatedly, “I was simply born too late!”
(Check out the movie “Midnight in Paris.”)
With equal bewilderment, I observe myself thinking about the future:
Oh man, this country has never been this divided!
Big Tech owns us!
PIZZAGATE!
My generation has no economic prospects.
There will probably be a civil war.
Camp Chrain had no good counselors this summer.
The glorification of the past seems to align perfectly with the hopelessness of the future.
It is precisely in this point that I see the remedy for all of this. If I want to have a better outlook on 2020, perhaps I can borrow the rose-colored glasses from future Binyomin Lerner of 2030.
Future Binyomin will say, “Man, I remember those days. You could finally have a moment to yourself. There was no FOMO. People took it slow and started focusing on what truly mattered to them. Gas was cheap. Flights were cheap. People spent more time with their families.”
Then I would turn to some ten year old kid and say.
“You don’t remember the 20’s, huh? Crazy. What an interesting time to be alive.”