20/20 Hindsight
They (whoever the ambiguous "they" may be) say that hindsight is 20/20. In part, this is true. But there are many aspects of it I do not agree with. There are many things we choose to forget when remembering the past. "If I had only done x instead of y, if I had only known." But what makes you so sure that "x" would have worked out? There are so many things we don't consider when we think about the past and what we could have done differently. It all goes back to the Butterfly Effect (not just the movie): One small change could alter our lives forever.
The reason I am so annoyed by this comes when people say "Back in the good old days." Back then, we weren't thinking "oh this is great, I hope things never change." No matter what, we always say things used to be so much simpler and better. No they weren't! We are just naturally reluctant to change. In addition, we usually recall what we would like to remember. Time seems to fly because we remember only certain events. No one can recall an entire day's events for yesterday, much less years ago.
Things were worse back then. Sure, some things (like our moral priorities) have degraded, but humanity in general has gone forward. If you don't agree, comment. I enjoy reading the comments you guys leave. Sev, I'm sure you have an opinion on this matter as well.
The reason I am so annoyed by this comes when people say "Back in the good old days." Back then, we weren't thinking "oh this is great, I hope things never change." No matter what, we always say things used to be so much simpler and better. No they weren't! We are just naturally reluctant to change. In addition, we usually recall what we would like to remember. Time seems to fly because we remember only certain events. No one can recall an entire day's events for yesterday, much less years ago.
Things were worse back then. Sure, some things (like our moral priorities) have degraded, but humanity in general has gone forward. If you don't agree, comment. I enjoy reading the comments you guys leave. Sev, I'm sure you have an opinion on this matter as well.
7 Comments:
I agree that, in general, things are better than they were. But it's all very cyclical - conditions rise and fall, social morals go from liberal to conservative and back again - it'd be easy to look back and things were better just by not looking back very far.
1) Butterfly Effect = BAD ASS movie. But it wasn't neccessary the movie, it was the IDEA behind the movie. I completly agree with it. I think every single action in our lives somehow affects us in one way or another(for better or worse). Life is one massive, continous (well continous for as long as your alive, lol), chain reaction. Everything you do counts!
I for one used to spend wayyy too much time thinking "WHAT IF I DID THIS" or "SHIT I SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT", and it got to the point that it really pissed the shit out of me. The conclusion is... WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED. You can't do SHIT about it.
It goes back to the fundemental principle of history: Study the past so you learn from it, and more importantly, so you don't repeat your "mistakes". But don't waste too much time thinking about your past. There is no going back. Learn from it and improve yourself - fast.
Life goes on. There are no pause/stop buttons. (well there's a stop button, but DON'T DO IT!) lol.
And if anyone finds the PAUSE button. Let me know.
- SeV -
How could you say humanity is moving forward? According to who is humanity going forward? People of strong moral values and strong belief in religion would beg to differ my friend. In actuality, they would tell you that humanity is in fact going backwards due to the degredation of morals/values as you yourself pointed out. Oh and last time I checked, which was election day, the majority of our population falls under that morally sound and religious category so who are you to say humanity is going forwards...next time please have a desclaimer abuot the content being HIGHLY opinionated. Oh and i almost forgot, about the "in general" part I read...that has to be THE most ambiguous statement you could have made. One could take the negative aspects of society that havent changed, like war, corruption, racism, etc., and they could say; "in general" society is in fact moving no where at all and if it is, it is moving backwards! And why would one recall the events of an entire day a few days ago, much less years ago, when as you stated yourself, we could take what we remember and "generalize"! I thik that I am the most honest and righteous man alive. I open doors for others, I give to the poor, I help the elderly, I even put others well bing ahead of mine. Sure I rape innocent children at night but hey, we all have flaws! "In general", I am one of the most wonderful men you shall ever meet!
I think that when people say stuff like, "things were so much better back in the good old days" they mean "things" as their life, not as humanity, or the situation of the world, or global life.
Things really were simpler and better when I was younger. When I was 4 I didn't have to worry about driving a car, getting to places on time, doing all my busywork crap homework, acing my test tomorrow so I can get into college get a job make some money so I don't starve to death. My parents did all the worrying for me. It was waaaay simpler, and because I didn't have to worry about anything, it was better for me. I just had fun and daydreamed.
It seems kindof like life progresses in stages, and as you go through each stage life gets more complex; you gain more responsibilities. It seems like life does get "worse" when you're older, in a certain way. For me, the more memories I gain, the more I wish I could go back to the good old days. This is, as you say, because my memory is selective. I remember the positive things about when I was younger, and wish I could go back. The older we get the more memories we get, and the more memories we get, the more we wish we could go back and relive those memories, even if we know we can't, wishing is a natural tendency. Anyway, the more we wish we could go back in time, the more we think to ourselves, "things were so much better back in the good old days," and to us, they really were.
That wasn't ver cohesive, and I don't think it made much sense, but there it is.
Dear Anonymous,
First, learn some grammar. Second, I do not need a disclaimer when this is *my* blog. Third, who are you to say that humanity is going backwards? If you don't believe I have the right to say my thoughts, then you don't have the right to state yours. What exactly are you "religious" people so good at that the rest of us aren't? Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe it was the Christians who had this wonderful series of events called the "Crusades" where thousands of innocent people were killed in the name of God. Yup, things were definitely better before. Oh and all this medicine that helps people that we didn’t have before, what useless things those are! I welcome criticism and opinions (like Spork’s comments, which I always enjoy) but I don’t like criticism with the backing of solely ignorance and a bible.
my comments werent backed by the bible, your ignorance lead you to believe they were...i said the majority of people in this nation are religious and in the eyes of those people, the degradation of morals shows a backwards movement of humanity...i love how you read something and use it argue about something completely different. i pity your ignorance
Mr. Chaparyan you know me, but I choose to keep my name anonymous. Your fact of the Christian Crusades is a little off target. For it was not the Christians, but the Catholics who were told by the Pope to go crusade Jerusalem to free them of Muslim rulers who had occupied Jerusalem. Also, their was not only one crusade, crusades were infidel throughout centuries. The history of crusades show that it was all Catholics who would envoke the killings and rapings of muslims and other non-believers. So before lashing out at a religion do some research that was not given to you in the fifth grade. Also, if you would want my sources I would be glad to post them for you.
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