This old Mann
As my 40th birthday draws ever nearer, I find myself feeling older and older. I don't know if its the aches and pains that I am getting so used to that I don't even notice them anymore, or the fact that I am seeing myself more and more in my son, but different, since he is growing up in a different time. Maybe its the fact that I find myself reminiscing about the good old days more and more, wanting the days back when you didn't have to worry about some deranged maniac with a gun or a car wrecking someone's life. I sometimes wax nostalgic about the 80's and how innocent we were as teens, with sex and drugs and alcohol being thought about as things hard to obtain, not something that permeated our entire society. As a history major, I am very familiar with the concept of cycles and how things ever seem to repeat throughout history. I do wonder though if ever there were so many new things impinging themselves on human thought and attitudes. I also think that we may be slowly sinking into one of those lull periods where all the new ideas are digested into the human psyche and people dig in their heels and scream, "Enough!" when it comes to innovation. Maybe today's anti-science, religious conservative backlash is a reaction by people who are so overwhelmed by new things that they feel like locking themselves in a closet and hiding. I find myself asking where the sense of adventure has gone in today's world, where the thirst for the stars has disappeared to. I feel old, reveling in the new - new technologies, new thoughts and ideas, new science, all seem blase' in today's world. Am I relic of yesteryear with my delight in the unknown? Are there any other grailseekers out there looking for truth in the far corners of modern day existence? Does anyone else wonder what tomorrow brings or are we all just looking for a way to get off the ride for awhile and gather our thoughts for another day at the amusement park of life?
posted by Unknown at 5:35 PM
6 Comments:
I know I am looking for a way off this ride, so I can catch my breath.. then I will be ready for another run tomorrow.
I never quite thought about it that way, but I think you may be right. Today's climate may very well be people saying "enough" after the explosive growth in the last 50 years or so. It is not uncommon in history, so it would make sense.
This being said, I know what you mean. The list of things that make me feel old grows longer each year.
I loved this post. I left it thinking about it for awhile.
I love and have embraced technology, so I'm always looking foward to what's next. BUT, there's a lot to be said about getting off the bus for awhile, not to mention thinking about the good ol' days.
Are you 40 yet???
When it comes to advances in technology and new scientific findings, I'm always interested. I think that the next leaps in each will get here when it's time. Yet, I do find myself diverted by many other things.
Kinda makes one wish there were one of those emergency pulley things like on the train that Lucy et all were on when she pulled the string and Fred ended up wtih shaving cream all over the place. I wonder, if we had one of those on this ride, who would pull it first, and who would end up covered in shaving cream.
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