Disclaimer: I do not
own The Simpsons
—
The Process of
Change
—
Lifes
all one big change. As human beings, we dont respond to it well.
When the abolitionist movement grew in the 1840s and 1850s, people
didnt accept it. When the French monarchy was overthrown in the
French Revolution, the other European countries sent armies to
restore it. When America experienced the Civil Rights Movement in
the 1960s, resistance was amazing. And now, as I hear that were
about to sell our house and move to Capital City, Im afraid of
what the future will bring.
Its human nature to
glorify the past, gripe about the present, and fear the future. The
sad truth is usually that the good old days werent so good
when we lived them and the present isnt as bad as we think it to
be. Now, in 2008, when weve lived eight years of a George Bush
Presidency, we think back to the good old days of the 1990s,
when Bill Clinton was President. What we usually overlook is the
scandal and the recession of the early part of the decade. We
overlook the fact that a lot of the decisions that led to the
problems of today were created in that period, and even before that.
And when we leave this present, into the future, well look back on
now as the good old days, even if theyre not that great. We
do it when we watch television. We complain when the writers change
the format when the show goes on for a while by adding new characters
or simply changing around some situations in the characters lives.
But the truth is, if they didnt, wed call the show boring
or tired.
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