Memory, it seems, is selective. It’s easy to think the good old days were somehow better. But did we think so when we lived them? Were those days not as full of preoccupation with the future and roller-coastered with the present as now?
It’s noteworthy that the writer in Ecclesiastes remarked on this for two reasons: (1) that he saw it, and (2) that he saw it so long ago.
Here’s the quote:
“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.”
When, exactly, were these words written? If Solomon wrote them, that would be around 900 BC, during the golden age of Hebrew national ascendency . . . a strange time to be considering earlier days as better.
Or, as factors imply, they were written about 400 years later, after national captivity, then the early days really were better.
Either way, it’s useless to stew on it.
We ourselves could yearn for simpler times, like before sliced bread, or refrigeration, hot showers, air-conditioning or central heating.
Or politically, like when members of the opposite party were burned at the stake after election and then reversed again the next time.
Or the romance of wilderness living that was wonderfully wild and animal threats were frequent and not just due to a zoo escape.
Or when a chronic headache was dealt with by some doctor boring holes in the skull to let off pressure.
And the dentist used all manner of dull contraption to deal with decay, before Novocaine.
When the average life span was 35 years.
And remember the wonderful plague years.
On the positive side, what about the nostalgic “Salad Days,” an expression I’ve never understood, but somehow conjuring things light and green with relish and lovely dressing. Nice, but just as fleeting.
Note that the writer doesn’t say whether the early days were better or not, just that it’s futile to consider it.
Why? BECAUSE WE LIVE IN THE PRESENT!
THESE are the days of our lives . . . to make of them what we can. And in the future it’ll be just as futile to look back on these as better.
Have a good day.
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* Ecclesiastes 7:10
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10:34 am
Thank you Hyatt… This is a good word and as true as they come.
10:51 am
The good old days I hear about was when I was a teenager, when there were no car seat belts, when drunk driving was funny, when everyone smoked everywhere all the time, when in movies and in real life slapping a woman around was manly, when gasoline was leaded, when there were no women in any kind of leadership role, when radioactive waste was dumped into the ocean, when there was only the 450 year old King James Version of the Bible to read, when there was no Internet to use to comment on blogs like this.
12:26 pm
Once again, Hyatt, great thoughts and words on great truths! Thanks!
6:28 am
I look back on the great plague Years and how I miss them.
7:08 am
I’m enjoying the comments here as much as the blog. I guess right now will be the “Good Old Days” to my kids one day. I better not mar their memories by complaining about how their “best” days in the world aren’t as good as mine were.
7:32 am
I am just thankful for the good ole present days and do not yearn for “olden golden” days of yore when there were only ice boxes, horses were the tractors, etc. I thank the Good Lord for the here and now!