life by candlelight

I'm sure that every generation experiences nostalgia in some form. But it seems especially prevalent among Generation X. I'm not sure why that is. Our nostalgia for our lost childhood is so strong that I believe it has spurred the resurgence of such toys from our past as Strawberry Shortcake, Transformers and Care Bears. Why do we miss our childhood so much?

I was one of those few children who never wanted to grow up. I couldn't see any advantage to being an adult. Even now, there don't seem to be that many. I tried to linger on in childhood as long as possible. Parts of me right now actually miss high school. I hated every moment of it but it gave me a lot of hope because I knew the future could only be better. I had all of these dreams. I knew I was hitting the peak of my life. And now I'm almost thirty, unmarried, carrying around 20 extra pounds and languising in a job outside of my field. I'm running out of hope for the future. So, that makes my nostalgia for the past even more profound.

I'm even nostalgic for times I didn't live in. I think I would have been very happy living in the 1940's. The woman dressed well. The men were men. Gentlemen. Families gave off the appearance of being wholesome. People were more into togetherness instead of being alienated by technology. I look at the movie "A Christmas Story" and feel sad that things aren't like that anymore. How many kids do you know that actually head outside to play after school? Or simply play games or read a book? It's all about Playstations and watching DVDs. And people eat more terribly than ever. We have gained so many things in the last 60-70 years. Many technological advances and unprecedented rights and choices. But maybe we've lost a lot too.