Friday, 21 September 2012

Defending Nostalgia.

Having watched every episode of Open All Hours, now I’m going through every episode of Father Ted that YouTube has to offer. One a night. Sensible. Ration them or they become commonplace and lose their appeal.

These things take me back, you know? And being taken back is all about remembering the nice bits. That’s the definition of nostalgia. Remembering the nice bits.

‘But you shouldn’t be living in the past, my boy,’ I hear you cry. ‘Nothing you want is upstream.’

Yes, yes, I know all that. But we agree that there’s no such thing as the present moment, right, since moments don’t exist? And the future never gets here because as soon as it does it becomes the past. Right. Life and reality lie mouldering in the crypt. So maybe nostalgia is the best way to go after all.

I’m becoming really cynical lately.

Drink. Feck. Arse. Girls.

Those who’ve been denied the benefit of the Father Ted experience might find the last bit confusing. Actually, it isn’t quite as bad as it sounds.

4 comments:

Wendy S. said...

I wouldn't ever deny the pleasures of nostalgia especially if you're feeling lonely or tired, etc...You deserve it Jeff in abundance. I hardly worry you're going to get caught in a time machine and not live in "the present."

JJ said...

'Present' is a tricky concept, Wendy, and one I've always had difficulty with. I've generally found that both anticipation and the retrospective view tend to outshine the act or occasion itself.

Anonymous said...

I recently read that we are always living on the past because it takes our brains so many parts of a second to process what is currently happening anyway. If you want to get technical about it. Which you probably don't.

JJ said...

You mean like if the sun exploded, we'd still be sunbathing in blissful ignorance for ten minutes?