Hey Kids,

I hate looking at old pictures. Actually, I hate looking at me in old pictures. I wonder what I was thinking, and what was I wearing?

At the time of the picture taking, I’m sure I thought I looked great with that haircut. My clothes, of course, would never be consciously thought of as embarrassing. The bell bottoms, the mullets, or the wide flared collars were, in their time, cool.

Yet if I took a picture of me today, I would assume I have moved past all those “childish” fashions. I now look as good as I have and ever could be. The thought that today’s photo would ever look out of style is not possible. And yet it will be. It always ends up that way. It could be a simple as the photo’s quality when compared to what it might be in 5 years from now. Or 10. Or 20.

And there lies the fallacy of every generation: the idea that the present is permanent.

It’s not.

The styles are changing. The materials are changing. The technology is changing. The style of things we use is changing. The phones, the media, the foods, the fuels, the attitudes, the beliefs, the understandings, the climate, the earth, and our language; are all changing.

It’s ok. It’s how we progress.

The problems comes when we hang onto the present as if it’s the only way. Or when we decide that the new generation will never survive itself. Or when we long for the past so much, we can ignore the future.

The only thing that doesn’t change is the past and the resurfacing of those damn embarrassing photos.

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