5/16/17 Living in the Past
High 70's and sunny. From heat to air conditioning in two days.
I just got an e-mail from an old friend who reaches out from time to time usually about topics we shared an interest in two or three decades ago. I don't see this friend that much nowadays but when I do it's always strange. Some people just seem to freeze themselves in time and act the same way and have exactly the same interests as they did when they were a very young adult. This friend was a few years younger than me and he still talks to me as though I am say, 25 and he is 21. On the odd chance that he was just staying on comfortable ground because we only run into each other a few times a year on public transit I have tried to bring up more recent events or talk about contemporary things but he always brings it back to the stuff we had in common in 19__ . The e-mails are the same, talking about sports or the Howard Stern show like no time has passed and for the record I don't have satellite radio and haven't listened to the Stern show since around 2001 or so. It's a tough thing because when I move on from something I move on from it. I'm generally not one to look back unless it's to remember those who were dear to me or a particularly good time or a lesson learned. Other than that the past holds no great appeal other than from a purely academic "how we got here" point of view which is similar to the "lesson learned" lookback. I don't understand people who use the Internet and social media to try to recall "the good old days" though I do suspect those people have a lot of sadness and regret which I do understand. Trying to relive or undo the past isn't the solution though, you've just got to keep pushing forward until the Tralfmadorians come and teach us how to experience any point in time at will. .
I just got an e-mail from an old friend who reaches out from time to time usually about topics we shared an interest in two or three decades ago. I don't see this friend that much nowadays but when I do it's always strange. Some people just seem to freeze themselves in time and act the same way and have exactly the same interests as they did when they were a very young adult. This friend was a few years younger than me and he still talks to me as though I am say, 25 and he is 21. On the odd chance that he was just staying on comfortable ground because we only run into each other a few times a year on public transit I have tried to bring up more recent events or talk about contemporary things but he always brings it back to the stuff we had in common in 19__ . The e-mails are the same, talking about sports or the Howard Stern show like no time has passed and for the record I don't have satellite radio and haven't listened to the Stern show since around 2001 or so. It's a tough thing because when I move on from something I move on from it. I'm generally not one to look back unless it's to remember those who were dear to me or a particularly good time or a lesson learned. Other than that the past holds no great appeal other than from a purely academic "how we got here" point of view which is similar to the "lesson learned" lookback. I don't understand people who use the Internet and social media to try to recall "the good old days" though I do suspect those people have a lot of sadness and regret which I do understand. Trying to relive or undo the past isn't the solution though, you've just got to keep pushing forward until the Tralfmadorians come and teach us how to experience any point in time at will. .
Comments