Old World Blues: Why Our Past Win Our Hearts

In the age of technology, everything seems to be better for the most part. Better education, better access to food and water, better transportations, and generally better days. Though the broken pieces of humanity still lay scarred with sickness and war, which as Ron Pearlman narrated “War… war never changes.”

the modern days could be considered “healed’ from the looming phantoms of the past. No Great Depression of the 30s, no World Wars, no threat of nuclear fallout in the 60s all the way to the late 80s and early 90s. In many ways, we even try to move on from such darkness and establish a prevention. Humanitarian efforts in underdeveloped regions, awareness of climate change, the struggle to maintain peace and the prohibition of more unnecessary loss of lives. Everything seems to be much better now. But then again, for the most part.

Yet, why do people say the past is better? Why does one find the days of his youth better than the youths of today? Why does your grandmother clings on her old flip-phone and refuses to use the hot new Samsung Galaxy A20? Why does the past, the current, and the future always blame each other?

In research published in Journal of Happiness Studies (Li, Zhu, Li, & Cui, 2023) , it is concluded that nostalgia is correlated higher positive affect. However, at the same study it is found that despite linked to positive emotion, it does not help in one’s life satisfaction. From there, we could understand that nostalgia in the general term of one’s wellbeing and their betterment isn’t as bona fide as people may thought. In simpler terms, you only feel happy but, whether you truly satisfied with your life is not based on your nostalgia.

Meaning the past cannot change the future. 

If we dwell further, we could see that even nostalgia, despite the previous research, could have a negative impact. According to research published in 2020 (Newman & Sachs, 2020), nostalgia’s negative effect on an individual magnifies in lonesome situations. So instead of the joyfulness we could feel as the previous research suggest, it backfires and worsen an already ruffled situation.

Nostalgia and loneliness are a moonshine of despondency that, as mentioned in Proverbs 17: 22 ESV translation, “…dries up the bones.”. It swindles you into distant location that is impossible to research where everything around is moving on, leaving you with nothing but scrapped memories. And which population group is riddled with both nostalgia and loneliness? The elderly.

According to University of Michigan’s National Poll on Health Aging, found that 37% of elders felt the absence of companionship in 2022, 41% in 2020, and 34% in 2018. Moreover, a study conducted in Indonesia found that 64% of the subject group that came from various different backgrounds experience loneliness (Susanty, et al., 2022).

In a way, when the elders, a relic way past their prime starts to feel left out and are hopeless in becoming something more, they start digging back their memories when they were someone. They look back to the dusty old glory when they were young. Although fictitious, I feel the pages from the hit comic That Texas Blood published by Image Comics perfectly described what elderly people feel when they hit that nostalgia button.

(Personal Inventory)

For some, growing old means being a shell of what you used to be. For some, growing old is a nightmare. And growing old doesn’t just happen to old people. It happens to all of us.

I can’t count how many times I’ve seen what Generation Alpha is up to and feel like the apocalypse is coming faster than Max Verstappen finishing a race. And I also have been in situations when I was younger where I’m told by my elders to not complain so much as they metaphorically have to climb mountains of steel to get to school while piggybacking 2 sacks worth of rice and other goods. 

Granted, I am still in my youth and have a lot to experience. But if my frustration regarding the younger generation is so prevalent, can you imagine what an 80-years old with nothing left in them feels like?  Many of them are angry because things are switching up and they cannot navigate their way through it. Which bring me to my next point, the innate and very much human fear of change.

According to a conference paper done by two South African researches regarding the reaction towards organizational change found that in order to have a successful organizational change, leaders must help the individual to be free out of their anxiety from the uncertainty brought by the change (Blom & Viljoen, 2016). Moreover, as stated in the conclusion, “People need meaning.”

People hate change. Some are blessed with a quick hand to shake a different frontier but most are slow embrace. The reasoning behind are also mostly subjective preferences. Ask your grandfather to listen to Fancy by Twice and look how he at the very least will frown upon your music taste. 

To level the ground, I’m throwing this hypothetical question to younger generations. After all, this article is not just about old people. Ask your Gen Alpha sibling to listen to Stars of the Midnight Ranger by Johnny Bond and witness how they would switch to TikTok in a second.  Of course, it doesn’t apply to all people but, generally it does.

Change is like a game of poker. You have to play your cards right. And when you don’t try to be careful in making people understand how their life wouldn’t be miserable because of change and forgetting one of the most common traits of humans is their stubbornness, chaos will erupt due to force modification and unpreparedness for the new wave of life.  Just ask Japan how the Samurais were eradicated.

And then meaning. I could quote a dozen people that has their own little definition of the meaning of life. I could point out even more novels that tries to explain the meaning of life. But whatever the case is, your life needs meaning. As Kierkegaard wrote in his book Fear and Trembling, everybody needs a passion. 

That passion, which is the most genuine thing in a one’s life, could be the meaning. But when that passion’s flare went out, sometimes too fast, and the body could not support the spirit that required much to be done, you are left with bitterness, anger, and eventually emptiness. 

People that have no meaning in their life, or had meaning once, becomes angry at the passion that the new have to offer. They spit on it not just because of hate but jealousy! I could’ve done that or I could be this, a lot of could but always undone.  They imagine what they could’ve done when they still had the chance but alas, it is just an imagination.

Despite all that, I have to reassure that growing old does not equal falling into a pit of despair. In Cattel’s theory of intelligence, Fluid Intelligence which correlates with openness to new ideas, will naturally decrease as we age. 

But that does not mean we are doomed to be miserable. It means that as your progress further, the need to inventive ways becomes less in its urgency as your mind settled in your old age. 

This brings back to what my title suggest all along: that our past, or more precisely the way we used to conduct ourselves, no matter what state you are, will always be crowned by your heart. You will like the things you are used to decades later and hardly accept most of the newcomers. Does that mean it is wrong? Of course not! You are comfortable with the ways you know and there is nothing wrong with that. Just be you!

So, to close this article: when you are healthy and happy with your life, you would always have a fondness to your past. But when you look at yourself at the mirror and all you can feel is loath, then that’s when you will have problems with youngsters down the road as you cane them with the faux pride that you desperately hold on to.

References: 

Li, B., Zhu, Q., Li, A., & Cui, R. (2023b). Can good memories of the past instill happiness? Nostalgia improves subjective Well-Being by increasing gratitude. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24(2), 699–715. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-022-00616-0

Newman, D. B., & Sachs, M. E. (2020). The negative interactive effects of nostalgia and loneliness on affect in daily life. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02185

Trends in Loneliness Among Older Adults from 2018-2023. (2023, March 13). National Poll on Healthy Aging. https://www.healthyagingpoll.org/reports-more/report/trends-loneliness-among-older-adults-2018-2023

Susanty, S., Chung, M., Chiu, H., Chi, M., Hu, S. H., Kuo, C., & Chuang, Y. (2022). Prevalence of Loneliness and Associated Factors among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health/International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4911. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084911

Condon, C., & Phillips, J. (2022). That Texas blood.

Cattell, R. B. (1963). Theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence: A critical experiment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 54(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046743