Choosing Hope #2: Seeing the big picture

(Second in a week-long series on hope and optimism for the future.)

The guy on the radio was talking about how the world has “gone to hell in a hand basket.” He was clamoring against the rise of organized sports, participation trophies, and “woke” and over-involved parents. He talked glowingly about the seventies and eighties and how it was a better time. 

He was right, it was a different, but I’m not sure it was a better time.

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I started to really think about how things really were. Yes, we didn’t have the travel teams and organized sports to the nth degree that we do now, but I found myself thinking of my own experiences and the more I thought about what he said, the more I found holes in his argument.

I remember being bored out of my skull for something to do. I remember some great coaches who gave of their time, but I also remember some bad ones, who really shouldn’t have been around kids, and yes, I would have appreciated an overzealous parent or two asking a few questions.

A fresh set of eyes

It’s easy to look back on past decades with nostalgia, but when making comparisons, we really should look back with fresh eyesight, not the rose-colored glasses. Here’s what I remember about those wonderful days:

—I remember the fear of gasoline shortages. I remember even and odd number days and my parents waiting in line for gas. I remember the Iranian hostage crisis. I didn’t understand everything, but I knew it was bad. Every night CBS News Anchor Walter Cronkite would end his broadcast with how long the hostages had been in custody.

“And that’s the way it is, Tuesday, June 10, 1980, the 220th day of captivity for the American hostages in Iran.” Cronkite first added the count to his famous signoff to recognize Day 50 of the Iran hostage crisis, and ended it on Day 444, on Jan. 20, 1981, when the hostages were released.

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—I remember the Ronald Reagan getting shot in 1981. I remember too the space shuttle, being proud of what it could do, but also the shock of seeing it plummet out of the sky in 1986. I remember the Cold War and talk of a nuclear bomb.

—And I don’t look back fondly on the consumption and consumerism of the 80s. Greed was most certainly good and didn’t leave a lot of room for anyone who didn’t have the the best and the brightest. 

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Looking back with 20/20 vision

Oh, both decades were fine, I have many fond memories of them, there many great things that came out of them, but if we’re going to compare them to the present and future, we really should remember some of the things that weren’t so great.

We forget about the environmental disasters like the Love Canal Disaster in New York or the Exxon Valdez oil spill. We forget about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens or Russia and US talk of war and nuclear bombs.

We tend to forget about the pain and suffering. For example, if you didn’t fit the mold in the 70s and 80s, good luck, you were an outcast. If you were the wrong background, had different hopes or dreams, or God forbid LGBTQ+, you better stay in the closet or at least have eyes in the back of your head.

Oh, I understand it makes for some great material for social media or at get-togethers with friends, complaining about how things were better back in the day, but in reality, the past, present and future aren’t better or worse than the other — they are what they are.

I find that the best course of action for myself is to be grateful for the past: to be firmly rooted in the present, and excited about the future.