I recently rediscovered an old television show online...sort of. I thought of the show out of nowhere, looked it up on Youtube, found clips of it...but that's it. I didn't go any further in my pursuit. I couldn't bring myself to go further.
I don't remember the show well, but I do remember it fondly. I was in Middle School at the time, and thought it was entertaining. I worry that, now that I am much older, it won't hold up nearly as well. I want to preserve the memory, keep it safe, leave it on the shelf.
All too often, things we enjoy fall out of favor. Trends come and go, and what was once cool is now decidedly lame. Even if we still enjoy it, we can never quite recapture the original pleasure taken from it. Unfortunate, but ultimately necessary: this drives us to seek out new things, to create new things that we may once more draw pleasure from.
It occurs to me that humanity's greatest blessing may well be our inability to remember every aspect and event in our lives. Yes, the good memories fade with the passing of time, but so do the bad memories as well. More than that, we are not burdened by the entirety of our pasts, not haunted by every mistake and failure. We can preserve some things, while letting the rest go.
Of course, an inability to remember may very well be our greatest curse as well.
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