Nostalgia is a dumb-looking word that looks and sounds as if it should mean something like "a dirty but welcoming manor." But I don't make the rules. I'm not the kid from "Frindle," so nostalgia means "a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations," and that's coming straight from Google's search bar. Basically, nostalgia is the feeling of satisfaction when remembering the good ol' days and things that make you reminisce on easier times. Remember the 90s? Classic. I was a toddler for most of it, as were many of my friends who claim to be 90s kids, so I remember very little and I'm pretty sure my friends are tripping. I see a lot of Facebook posts from my fellow snake people asking me to pay remembrance to the "good" cartoons and the "delicious" Baby Bottle Pops, because my generation had the best pop culture of any generation that ever existed or will ever exist again, clearly. It's fascinating to me that I don't go a day without seeing at least 20 images that bring back vivid memories of my childhood, so I did some investigating, a word which here means "rapid thinking for about 11 minutes" to get to the bottom of why my generation in particular yearns for the good ol' days. What I found could almost fill a page, so I went to the library and clacked it out. Hold on to your butts.
Childhood is an important part of everyone's life. The traits we adopt and the experiences we go through have the potential to influence the decisions we make during adulthood. For example, little Mark Zuckerberg loved poking people and writing on walls, so he created Facebook to silence his mother's nagging. I miss being unruly and not caring about myself. When you were a kid, you probably didn't have as much responsibility or stressors as you do now. You were likely less aware of some of the problems this world is currently facing. For many people, being a child was easy and fun, so it is understandable why so many of us cling to nostalgia like racists to a Trump rally. I correlate Cartoon Network with a period of blissful ignorance of not having to worry about money, the environmental health of the planet, going outside and possibly getting shot, Putin and whatever the hell he's up to, politics and the general, daily suffering of others. Yesiree (or she), being a kid was pretty dope.
But like all dope things, they must come to an end. Or must they? I'm sure members of every recent generation will attest that their respective childhoods had the best cartoons, useless novelties, music, etc, but ours is the first that is allowed to embrace nostalgia forever. It's the closest thing we have to time travel. Never before have the good ol' days been so readily accessible thanks to digital technology and boredom. For example, a few years ago Warner Bros. was super clutch and let Netflix put up a bunch of classics from Cartoon Network. The game has changed. No longer do I have to wander around the web to watch videos of "Courage the Cowardly Dog" in 240p with horribly distorted audio levels on a website with lewd banner ads. It's okay, I can handle seeing a stray boob here and there, I'm an adult now. Or am I?
My generation has popularized a "lol how do I adult?" atmosphere, and Netflix is enabling me to saturate myself with nostalgia, therefore stalling my transition into being a big boy and creating a generation of essentially larger and hairier children. Constantly being hit with reminders of the good ol' days, I find I would much rather live in the good ol' days, where my biggest concern was pouring milk on my cereal without it ricocheting off my Special K and slowly but surely making its way off the glass table, right where the carpet lives (truly a Pinterest mom from birth). Why do I find myself caring about the new "Hey Arnold!" project that's supposed to be happening? It's not made for me, and if I don't like it I will be faced with the dilemma of is the show not as good as it used to be, or am I the one that has changed? Like it or not, we need to grow up and find people who will step up and take on some serious responsibilities for the progression and function of humankind. People who understand terms like "deductible" and who can fill out a W-4 without calling their dad.
Ineptitude is not exclusive to snake people, however. Not to incite a battle of the ages, but as I've matured I've noticed many veterans of adulthood are not as perfect as I previously thought. People whom I once respected simply because they were older than me have proven problematic in their behavior and standards of morality. Maybe that's just a part of growing up, or maybe we're really all big dumbos. Whatever the answer is, I'm scared for the planet and the future of every thing. However, I've determined that excess exposure to nostalgia is not a cause for concern, as all generations are ridiculous and planet Earth will have the last laugh. You're welcome.
Whoopsie Daisy (or he), there it is. This article had a start and an end, but everything in the middle was nonsense. Is it a metaphor for life? We're just having fun, y'all. I can only imagine what the next generation will reminisce on. Probably snow days and elephants. You'll understand when you're older and your permanent frown comes in. In the meantime, I eagerly await the day scientists create glasses to make everything look like Darth Maul. He was the coolest.
