Why exactly does the past look so good to so many of us?
It’s not because it was perfect or even better than the present – in many ways, actually, it was worse. Yet when we look back, it’s often through a pair of distinctly rose-colored glasses. And here’s why…
It happened long enough ago that we don’t actually remember it very well at all. And what we do remember is mostly the good stuff, all heavily shadowed by our longing for a more carefree and easy time in our lives. We remember it in broad, positive strokes that give us a warm and fuzzy feeling.
In fact, the word, “nostalgia” comes from two Greek words that mean, “Homecoming” and “Ache.” So what you’re feeling when you hear the theme song from your prom or catch a rerun of Saved by the Bell
(for folks of my generation at least) is a unique cocktail of pain and pleasure that only thinking of the past can inflict…
