NOSTALGIA

 

NOSTALGIC MEMORIES IN THE HEARTLAND

FATHER'S DAY 2023

There’s been a lot of discussion about which generation has had the best music of all time.  And after participating in some of those discussions while reflecting on the Rock ‘n Roll era, I’ve come to the conclusion that the correct answer is that “it’s the music you listened to when you were coming of age”.  That’s a sweet spot marker in anyone’s life and one that is looked on with much nostalgia as we grow older.  

I’ve experienced much nostalgia regarding occasions during my childhood in the post WWII suburbs of small-town America.  That was a time when trials and tribulations may have amounted to scraped knees from a bicycle fall onto loose gravel in a neighbor’s driveway.  I resolved that issue by replacing both knee joints a while back.

The root derivation of the term nostalgia comes from the two Greek words nostos and algos, meaning return and suffering, respectively.  It’s been proposed that nostalgia is the suffering of the exile, the person wanting a return to his homeland and the past.  It’s about our inner child yearning for the feelings that we had in that time and place.  We can conjure up some awareness of our past, but no return ticket, given that we have certainly changed in the course of experiencing life.

And it’s been said that long ago memories that we recall are simply the last remembrance of those occasions that stand out in our mind.  Which explains why they’re presented to us as if looking through a glass darkly.  But, nevertheless, many of those foggy remembrances still bring a smile to my face.