What is it about nostalgia that makes us want things to be the same and yet, different? We are funny creatures. Everyday, we wake up, we go to work, we come back home, we do a million different things in between and yet, nothing brings us as much joy as that feeling that we have changed something today. For, change equals progress equals accomplishment.
Yet, that feeling still lingers, that it were the way it used to be. In a simpler world where comics meant Tintin and Asterix & Obelix and were awaited eagerly to be read glassy eyed and filled with wonder, where books came only in paper, freshly cut and smelling earthy and warm in a way only books can, where instant gratification meant something to be expected in the future, progress was spoken of in hushed tones, by somber men who expected their newspapers to be as fresh as their coffee with a seriousness that came more out of ignorance than intuition.
We strive for it, we yearn for it, we toil for it and when we achieve it, we turn away from it, we push it away with both hands and hide behind what was and call it culture and qualify it with nostalgia. Elsewhere, men can get married to men, love can be found at age 63 and there can still be hope for a life together. While they have progress, we have culture, we have our caste. We have our lines drawn. And when we achieve that progress, we still have nostalgia, about the way things used to be.
