Not that nostalgic
25/08/16 05:09
I can get nostalgic on occasion. I had a joyful childhood filled with tree houses and trips to the library and summers by the river. Our family had a trampoline and we wore cutoff jeans and t-shirts all summer long. I can be nostalgic about the time when our children were little. We were tired most of the time, but we were also constantly amazed by their learning and growing and development.
Having good memories is one thing. Wanting to live in a different time is quite different. I don’t want to turn back the clock. I’m quite content to live in the here and now, thank you very much. The notion that there was some ideal time in the past when everything was perfect is based in less than realistic memories.
I’ve been with a group of friends that will occasionally lament the passage of time and the changes that come with the present. “Back in the ’60’s America has a real car industry. Those muscle cars were second to none.” Actually, I got my driver’s license in the 1960’s. Tires would barely last 10,000 miles. Batteries would wear out in two or three years. Car dealers boasted “new every two” because the design and models changed so quickly that cars became dated as soon as you brought them home. Paint jobs on new cars faded. Carbureted engines started hard. Fuel economy was terrible. Those who remember those days as the high point of the automobile industry probably don’t want to go back to a time when air conditioning was rare, when you had to roll down the windows manually to adjust the rear view mirror and the speaker (yes only one) in the radio was cheap and tinny.
The way we think about the past is, in part, a function of our memories. We are much more able to remember pleasant experiences than painful ones. We tend to forget hardships and trials and remember victories and accomplishments. It isn’t that we are trying to cover up or change our past, it is just that our memories tend not to linger on negative experiences.
Historians and crime investigators are well aware of the inaccuracies of human memory. Two eye witnesses will describe an event as if it were two separate incidents. The oral report of the past is biased by the perspective of the reporter. One person’s glorious victory may be another’s agonizing defeat. It isn’t just that history is written by the victors, which it is. History belongs to those who write books and create permanent records.
I’ve been known to kind of complain about some of the realities of our modern world. Sometimes I don’t like the crush of too many people in large cities and remember times when there were fewer people in some of my favorite places. I can go on and on about times when mainline churches were brimming with people and folks attended worship every Sunday and children’s sports programs wouldn’t dream of scheduling Sunday morning activities. I can wax poetic about our days in North Dakota when blue laws encouraged church attendance from everyone.
I don’t want to go back. I like being the age that I am. I enjoy being a grandfather. I don’t want to be a pastor in some other time or place. I am blessed with a fascinating church that rises to the challenges of its times and is open to the changes of the future.
One of our stories is about a conversation between Esther, a woman of significant privilege, and her uncle Mordecai. The people of Israel faced a harsh and threatening reality. They had little or no political power and there were those in the royal court who were bent on exterminating them. Gallows had been prepared for the hanging of their leaders and forced assimilation was the official plan. Esther herself, however, was safe from the dangers that her people faced because of her position of power and luxury in the royal court since she had gained favor with the king because of her beauty. Mordecai didn’t appeal to Esther as the only solution to her people’s problems. He was confident that God would provide a way for the people to be saved. If Ester refused to help, God would find another way to save the people. However, he urged Ester to think about her position and its possibilities. “Perhaps,” he said, “it was for a time such as this that you were born.” Esther rose to the realities of her time and intervened with the king to save the people. Her courage and actions have been celebrated in story and song for thousands of years.
Indeed there are challenges of our time. Our political system isn’t working to provide the best leaders possible. Our over-consumptive ways create shortages of essentials for other people. Many of our practices are not sustainable over the long run. Our impact on the planet is producing changes, many of which are detrimental to future generation’s abilities to produce sufficient food for all. Our health care system has become so profit oriented and expensive that people suffer needlessly because they don’t have means to pay for care. Our economy seems to teeter on the brink and works well only for the super rich.
Perhaps, however, it was for a time such as this that we were born.
It seems likely to me that focusing our attention and abilities on the challenges and problems of the present is far more productive and helpful than lamenting the passage of time and waxing nostalgic about times that have passed. There were some interesting things about the 1950’s, but we live in the 2010’s and 2020 isn’t that far away. Maybe some things have been lost, but we have been given the gift of grief and the capacity to move forward with our lives.
Our grandson finds great joy in the events of each day. He will often report that each day is “the best day ever!” It seems that he has much to teach his old grandpa and possesses an attitude that restores hope to my sometimes cynical nature. It does seem that it is for a time such as this that he was born.
Having good memories is one thing. Wanting to live in a different time is quite different. I don’t want to turn back the clock. I’m quite content to live in the here and now, thank you very much. The notion that there was some ideal time in the past when everything was perfect is based in less than realistic memories.
I’ve been with a group of friends that will occasionally lament the passage of time and the changes that come with the present. “Back in the ’60’s America has a real car industry. Those muscle cars were second to none.” Actually, I got my driver’s license in the 1960’s. Tires would barely last 10,000 miles. Batteries would wear out in two or three years. Car dealers boasted “new every two” because the design and models changed so quickly that cars became dated as soon as you brought them home. Paint jobs on new cars faded. Carbureted engines started hard. Fuel economy was terrible. Those who remember those days as the high point of the automobile industry probably don’t want to go back to a time when air conditioning was rare, when you had to roll down the windows manually to adjust the rear view mirror and the speaker (yes only one) in the radio was cheap and tinny.
The way we think about the past is, in part, a function of our memories. We are much more able to remember pleasant experiences than painful ones. We tend to forget hardships and trials and remember victories and accomplishments. It isn’t that we are trying to cover up or change our past, it is just that our memories tend not to linger on negative experiences.
Historians and crime investigators are well aware of the inaccuracies of human memory. Two eye witnesses will describe an event as if it were two separate incidents. The oral report of the past is biased by the perspective of the reporter. One person’s glorious victory may be another’s agonizing defeat. It isn’t just that history is written by the victors, which it is. History belongs to those who write books and create permanent records.
I’ve been known to kind of complain about some of the realities of our modern world. Sometimes I don’t like the crush of too many people in large cities and remember times when there were fewer people in some of my favorite places. I can go on and on about times when mainline churches were brimming with people and folks attended worship every Sunday and children’s sports programs wouldn’t dream of scheduling Sunday morning activities. I can wax poetic about our days in North Dakota when blue laws encouraged church attendance from everyone.
I don’t want to go back. I like being the age that I am. I enjoy being a grandfather. I don’t want to be a pastor in some other time or place. I am blessed with a fascinating church that rises to the challenges of its times and is open to the changes of the future.
One of our stories is about a conversation between Esther, a woman of significant privilege, and her uncle Mordecai. The people of Israel faced a harsh and threatening reality. They had little or no political power and there were those in the royal court who were bent on exterminating them. Gallows had been prepared for the hanging of their leaders and forced assimilation was the official plan. Esther herself, however, was safe from the dangers that her people faced because of her position of power and luxury in the royal court since she had gained favor with the king because of her beauty. Mordecai didn’t appeal to Esther as the only solution to her people’s problems. He was confident that God would provide a way for the people to be saved. If Ester refused to help, God would find another way to save the people. However, he urged Ester to think about her position and its possibilities. “Perhaps,” he said, “it was for a time such as this that you were born.” Esther rose to the realities of her time and intervened with the king to save the people. Her courage and actions have been celebrated in story and song for thousands of years.
Indeed there are challenges of our time. Our political system isn’t working to provide the best leaders possible. Our over-consumptive ways create shortages of essentials for other people. Many of our practices are not sustainable over the long run. Our impact on the planet is producing changes, many of which are detrimental to future generation’s abilities to produce sufficient food for all. Our health care system has become so profit oriented and expensive that people suffer needlessly because they don’t have means to pay for care. Our economy seems to teeter on the brink and works well only for the super rich.
Perhaps, however, it was for a time such as this that we were born.
It seems likely to me that focusing our attention and abilities on the challenges and problems of the present is far more productive and helpful than lamenting the passage of time and waxing nostalgic about times that have passed. There were some interesting things about the 1950’s, but we live in the 2010’s and 2020 isn’t that far away. Maybe some things have been lost, but we have been given the gift of grief and the capacity to move forward with our lives.
Our grandson finds great joy in the events of each day. He will often report that each day is “the best day ever!” It seems that he has much to teach his old grandpa and possesses an attitude that restores hope to my sometimes cynical nature. It does seem that it is for a time such as this that he was born.