This is Pastor Tim’s article which appeared in the Evening Leader on Tuesday, Dec 6.
Today, I want to discuss with you a single word: nostalgia. For those of you who don’t know what that word means, it is defined as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” It simply means that we all miss the past. All of us have a memory of what used to be, and we all wish it was still that way.
The obvious problem with nostalgia is that it ignores the actual reality of the past. Sure, I miss my vague memories I have of going to my grandparent’s house for Christmas and getting Star Wars action figures. I was also 3 years old, so I am sure there are a lot of things it would cost me to regress to 3 years old. However, even though I have no grandparents to go see anymore, I do have my eye on a few Star Wars action figures…but that is beside the point.
I watch almost no TV at all. I don’t like watching sports anymore, and there is nothing on TV that appeals to people of my age, career choice, and political leaning. I occasionally see an advertisement or two on YouTube and it appears our world is selling nostalgia as hard as it can. I am to the age that I can categorize everything on earth in one of two ways: it is either nostalgic, or it is things I don’t understand. Anything invented since about 2004, I don’t know how to work it. Apparently, TVs don’t use coaxial cables anymore, no one has an answering machine, and watches connect to your phone and set themselves. Now we have HDMI cables, Ethernet cables, and Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi meaning that thing that messes your phone up every time you drive away from your house.
But it goes beyond that. McDonalds has brought back the classic Happy Meal and they give you a toy in it. I don’t care about McDonald’s food, but I would not mind having one of the McDonald characters they give you in the Happy Meal. The fact that I would go buy a meal and not eat it just so I get the toy, that is nostalgia at its finest. Two of the biggest movies out right now are Black Adam and Black Panther, both super hero characters who debuted before I was born.
To add to this nostalgic feeling, things that are modern are flopping hard. I have to admit that Disney’s newest animated feature Strange World bombing at the box office this past weekend was weirdly satisfying. I grew up in the renaissance of Disney animation with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, both of which I went to see in theater when I was in High School. Back in those days, Disney was on a roll. Now with their modern sensibilities on display, they have been suffering with all of their theatrical releases that don’t feature a comic book character.
I guess my point in this is to raise awareness of focusing on the past. I have some wonderful memories of past seasons of my life, yet there is not one era I would go back to. I am a realist, and as awesome as it was to see which new Star Wars Action figures I could add to my collection on Christmas day, I wouldn’t go back. I know those times are not the way I remember them.
We are entering a time of the year when the temptation to idolize years gone by is going to be ever present. It is 100% true that this year will not be like it was before for a variety of reasons. But don’t allow the nostalgia of the past steal you from the present. Don’t focus on what isn’t like it used to be. Make today be what you want it to be. Make Christmas 2022 be the best it could possibly be because it won’t be too long before we will be nostalgic for Christmas 2022. It is our responsibility to build memories and not allow our idealized images from the past be the standard by which today is measured. There is no way your current reality can match your past reality because your memory of yesterday has been selectively edited.
Today is going to be what you make it. Make it something good so that a few years from now, you have something good to remember.