Ecclesiastes 7:10 says, "Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this."
I am very guilty of doing the opposite of what that verse says to do. Often times I think of the 'former days' or what we would call the 'good ole days.' I was born in 1975 and the prime of my childhood was in the 1980s. Oh how I miss the 80s and I get chills when I hear certain songs of that decade or see reruns of TV programs of that time. I can still see myself as that young boy waking up on a Saturday morning to sit on the floor with my bowl of Captain Crunch watching Elmer Fudd not able to catch Bugs Bunny.
Or watching the various attempts of Wild E. Coyote trying to catch the road runner backfire on him. Need I mention Sylvester the cat trying to eat Tweety Bird or Pepe Le Pew (that hopelessly romantic skunk) trying to win the love of a female black cat who always seems to get a white stripe on her back every time. There were not any emails, cell phones, and the internet to keep me preoccupied at the time. Not everyone had cable or satellite either.
To communicate with someone you had to speak directly to that person, call them on the phone (as opposed to using a phone to text them), or write them a letter. I came from a broken home and before my parents were officially divorced, it was always separation and getting back together again. I would get adjusted to moving in a few places with my mom and older sister during the times of separation. If there is one thing different in my generation than today's is that we handled pressure somewhat better.
This is not to say that today's young generation cannot be as good as mine or that mine was better than theirs. It was the foundation of what was taught back then that was better. For example, I grew up watching Captain Kangaroo who dropped ping pong balls on your head when you got a question wrong. Today's generation was raised with Barney who taught that you should be rewarded no matter what whether you try hard or not. In my day, you were taught that there is gonna be someone better than you and you're to use that to make yourself better rather than whine and complain for not getting a reward.
This is me venting or unleashing my emotions of how much I miss the days of the 80s (better music, better cartoons, Ronald Reagan, Atari and the first Nintendo, 25 cent drink machines, rubix cube, a somewhat normal Micheal Jackson, Miami Vice, Dallas, ALF, when the Eden Mall and the Pennrose Mall were ACTUAL malls and was filled with stores inside, glass-bottled soft drinks which still tastes better than this plastic bottle junk today, comedy sitcoms that didn't need smut and sleeze to be funny, and teachers who didn't label you with a mental illness when you didn't learn as fast as others).
A lot more I can name on that list but through all that I wish I could turn back time. That's when Ecclesiates 7:10 (the verse above) convicts me and tells me I'm not wise doing that. I got to thinking how it's not wise to look back. Then the first thing that comes to mind is that you cannot move forward and make new history and memories if you keep looking back. It's like trying to drive a car by looking in the rear-view mirror all the time. We should move forward instead of going in reverse. Plus, as much as I would love to do things over again with the knowledge I have now I've come to realize if everyone did then the world can never go on.
God would have to put a sign on top of the planet 'CLOSED DUE TO MAINTENANCE.' I remember the first time I saw a sign like that when I stayed at a hotel and wanted to swim in the pool they had. Nobody was allowed to swim because it was closed for maintenance and it affected everyone who wanted to enjoy that activity. The main conclusion to the matter is that it's important that we know if we are born again in the family of God by having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Someday, He will make all things new (Revelation 21:5).
I've often wondered where time actually goes. On a humorous note, it has been said that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end of the roll, the faster it goes! How true I find that to be the older I get. But to answer the question of where time goes, I believe we take it with us. Let me close with a quote I came across:
"You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world...but a world lives in you." (Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth).
