Life's Imprint

Here's the thing, if you lived long enough, chances are you will be a bit broken on the inside. Life's pudgy fingers will inevitably find its way and leave its prints on you, tarnishing the once pure slate. Heck, it may even dropped you a few times and cause you a chip here or there. Yet, I don't see that necessary as a bad disfigurement. If anything, those scars, those chips, they define you, give you character.

I have never seen the point of owning those collectible action figures if I can't take them out of the wrapper and play with them. Similarly, a pristine set of china, while pretty to the eye is meaningless if not used, it is just boring decor. Rather, I am fascinated by the discolored set, the chipped set, because at least I know it has been tested, it has endured, it is loved and and it is used. Chances are there is a few good tales to regale regarding each of those cracks, chips and dents.

Think of your favorite childhood doll; is it clean, untouched? Or is it all worn out, threadbare, and frayed. If it is latter, chances are that doll meant something, and you cherished it, played with it. Likewise, our inequities, our scars, our brokenness does not lessen us, if anything it enriches us. So I say to you, embrace each other warts and all. Be not sad or ashamed that we are no longer whole, but embrace the fact that we are jigsaw puzzles intriguing to be pieced together. That's what makes us worth knowing.

On Nostalgia

Nostalgia exists because the future is uncertain, and the present at times unfulfilling. Yet the past is past, and we can choose to edit away the pain and glorify it's beauty. Like photoshop, you can only make something "better" when the picture is taken.

Perhaps, the lesson is therefore not to be enchanted by only the past, but be able to capture this moment as it stands, appreciate it for its raw beauty, and be hopeful we can capture more in the future without editing.

True fidelity, in its imperfection is perhaps more comforting when we come to embrace that it is real. Like that extra scratchy sound on an LP, it's better to have that added reality then the digital remaster of what someone (yourself included) thought how it ought to be.

Enjoy nostalgia, but do not despair that the present or the future will never match up or pan out. Instead, let nostalgia be the glow that ignites your passion to move forward. It may be good back then, but it can always get better. What you have, however locked time, is not out of reach if you cherish it in your heart, and is willing to create it for others as you move along on time.