Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Does Everything Get Worse or Do We Just Get Older?

"Both you fool!" would be the response of many. However, I can't help but think that things don't really get any worse and we just outgrow them as we grow up. (Image: Gamespot) I mean, the kids still like the new video games, don't they? I think this is a question most people come to at many points in their life. I was just flipping through some old games and thinking about how much better they are than the games I rarely get to rent these days.

I realized, after firing up a few of the old games, that they were not perfect at all. In fact there were quite a few problems with the games I had idealized in my mind. I often notice this with TV shows too. The thing is that the problems with these things are alright because they are our things. We hold them to a different standard than we do something we encounter for the first time today.

Now, holding consciousness of this reality hasn't seemed to make any difference, but it is interesting to think about. How does this reflect how we encounter other issues in life? Do we flock to what's familiar and more readily criticize what is not? The common sense concept that people like to avoid change would suggest that we do this.

I believe the most important thing we can take from personal revelations such as this is that we do need to focus on how open we are to new things. We also need to remember not to idealize the past or past experiences. If we can't think critically about our past, how can we hold the present and future to a higher standard? We need to keep this in mind to truly move forward.