Hate to be a downer but… can we stop romanticizing the past? It’s getting hard to sit by and listen to the whole ‘things are getting worse’ argument time and time again without saying something.

The past in this country isn’t awesome for you if you’re a minority. Hell, depending on which minority group you fall in, the present might suck just as much. There. It’s out. I said it. If you think I’m wrong, please e-mail me and show me the error of my ways. Don’t get me wrong, I like 50’s style diners and pin-up fashion as much as everybody else; but to go as far as to say “I was born in the wrong decade” would be a stretch.

I definitely remember going to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum when I was in first grade. Unfortunately that field trip came on the heels of a very intense and eye opening unit in social studies: The Civil Rights Movement. I remember walking from site to site in the historic village thinking, “If I was actually here when this place was new, I probably wouldn’t be having as much fun as I’m having now.”

I can understand the longing for a simpler time. Nobody likes getting angry anonymous messages on Tumblr after a nasty breakup (Just me?….). But you have to understand that when you get that simplicity, you have to adapt a simple type of thinking. There was a time in this country when people were seriously okay with segregation. I mean at least enough people for it to last as long as it did. Yes, there’s much more to ‘the good ol’ days’ than racial inequality but…I mean come on….How am I supposed to overlook that?!

Can we just take the best parts of the past and just move on? In the context of style and architecture we had some good times in the past. Watching Mad Men gave me the impulse to go out and buy a three-piece suit (and pick up smoking). However, I’m not exactly trying to fashion a flux capacitor and skip back 60s.

All I’m saying is: let’s just make the present cool! Why can’t we just take the best parts of the past and bring them to the present? Three-piece suits still look good! Lets start enjoying offline communication more instead of just complaining about the ills of the Internet! Most of all, understand that the term “the good ol’ days” needs to go away.

nsmith@lanthorn