untainted time

  I have written that I believe there is little one can say or write that hasn't been said or written before. That was reaffirmed this morning as I had a though to write this blog. I was thinking of a place in time. That phrase, that title has been used many times. A quick goggle search returned a lot of references. I won't be including footnotes in this posting but then again, I'm not writing a thesis to obtain my doctorate. That Harvard professor should have done so and is now paying the price, a small price as she keeps her position at nearly a million dollars per year, but a price nonetheless. But I digress. I had thought about a place in time.

 That thought came to me as I was having a brief discussion with a childhood acquaintance. We share a common history, geographically if not socially. We were talking about my hometown and his. He still resides in that area, and I haven't lived there since 1975. My memories of the place are stuck in time, it genuinely is a "place in time" for me. I've only returned there twice since 1975 and both visits were only for a day or two. I went to my high school reunion, the twentieth I believe in 1991, only about twelve people showed up. Then I went another time when we buried my father. That is the extent of my personal experience.

 On Facebook I often interact with those folks that I went to school with, worked with or have some connection to those living in my hometown. We share pictures, stories and tales. There are times when I feel like someone from a history book. What I mean is, stating facts that were facts then but have since been changed, rewritten or presented in a different way. History is like that and will always be like that. Call it cancel culture, call it progress, call it whatever you like, but the past is always the way we remember it, not the way it necessarily was. My memories of that "place in time" have not been corrupted by time. I'm still giving a firsthand account of a time fifty years ago. I'm not claiming to be a historian just that I lived that history. I report that history from my point of view. 

 There are times when talking with others they mention certain stores or places that are new to me. Happens quite a bit actually as things have changed over the last fifty years. Yes, it has been a half a century and I forget that sometimes. Certain phrases, ideas, or customs falling in and out of favor. What was bad is good what was good is bad. It's the suddenness of the changes that startle us. And yes, for me, a great deal of that is sudden although it happened twenty-five years ago or more. The old saying you can't go back home is very true, home is where our memories live, the physical place changes continually. 

 The strange part about all of that is realizing that even those you grew up with, went to school with but never left the area have a different view of that history. That's the part of memory I say has been tainted by time. The changes are so gradual as to go almost unnoticed, the reasons or causes forgotten or being justified. What many will call rewriting history. I'm still working on the first edition of that history. My sources are frozen in time. I've only attended one class reunion and so have no basis for comparison over time. Are we the same people we were back then? The answer is definitely a solid no, no we are not. Although from a very limited sampling on social media I can see why I didn't hang out or fit in with a certain crowd. Societal differences? I imagine that is what a professional would say or cultural influences perhaps. It is all just what we called being cool. With some classmates you are cool, with others not so much. Parental influence being the major factor in my opinion. 

 Well, the truth is we each have our own version of history. Our own vision of what was and what wasn't. We all tend to modify the past a bit to justify the future. Whether it is to place blame or to establish justification, that is what we do. The past is what defines us. No matter how hard we try to remain current, up to date, "cool" or today's watchwords, empowered and inclusive, the past is what will define us. We are all a product of the past. You can try to rewrite the past, or simply remember it. I just remember it. But there are times when I attempt to explain the past, to justify that time, and that is just as silly as trying to rewrite it. The past is what you remember it to be. You can change the facts, but not the memory.