Simplicity

**youssarian** · 01-28-2010 08:34 AM

A friend of mine was posting pictures on Facebook of the Town Boys and Girls Club I went to years ago. And of course I went through them, looked at the ones with me and the ones with familiar and not so familiar faces. And of course I became nostalgic because those days were generally pretty cool. And of course I began to recall the current condition of most of those people.

One thought I had was, "those days were much simpler". I'm talking back when I was a preteen, but most of the kids there were younger than that. I asked myself, why were those days simple? Well, back then the only two things we had to worry about were homework and bedtime. As I posted as my Facebook status:

"The simplicity of childhood comes from the fact that in those days everyone was taking care of you. You didn't need to work to get your necessities. There were programs everywhere trying to make you the best person you could be. But then we get into the teenage years and now, the early adult years, and we're expected to be independent and dutiful. There is no Town Boys and Girls Club for the 18-25 division."

But I read that and it made it seem like once we hit the adult years, we're on our own. So I appended this comment:

"Of course, that does not mean we're left to fend for ourselves. There are still those institutions that will care for us - work, college, church, etc. - but now we are expected to take the initiative and join the first and contribute in some way."

And a new thought occurs to me. Could it be that life isn't as complicated and un-simple as we thought? Sure there are plenty more things we need to be more concerned about that were mere abstract concepts in our youth - work, college, dating, bills, driving, etc. But I wonder if maybe we exaggerate how these make things so difficult. On Facebook, at least half of all the status updates are somehow sad, depressing or generally negative. Are things really that difficult, or is the simplicity of life still there, unrecognized by us?

Crazy thought, feel free to discuss.

**SkA_DaRk_Che** · 01-28-2010 08:56 AM

I kind of like the complicated nature of life, if i had to choose a way of life which more resembled my pre-adoloescence V a life where i controll my fate, what i do and am responsible for thereof, i would choose the latter. The life with no to very little responsibility was nice when i was a kid, but when you get older you want more. The complicated nature of modern life can be kind of frustrating, but I don't neccesarily see that as a bad thing. I'd rather be frustrated or stressed out than faced with the alternative of being bored witless.

But Don't worry. You will have what you had in your childhood again one day. It is called the secound childhood. Like when you're old. When that time comes around you will be able to take it easy all day, have others look after you and concentrate on the nice perfume your hot 19 year old nurse is wearing while she is giving you a sponge bath.

**Alric** · 01-28-2010 12:54 PM

Everything seems simple when you look back on it. When you are 50 looking back you will say your 20's was a simple time. When you are 80, you will look back and say your 50's was a simple time.

I bet when you were that age, homework was a pain in the butt. You go to school 8 hours a day, then you come home and you have to spend another 2 hours doing homework! Then you say forget that, and you just don't do your homework, then you get an F and your parents are all over you to improve. And there was that really cool tv show that came on at 9, but your parents would never let you stay up to watch it! And it was so cool too. Then you go into high school and you have to wake up at at 6:00 am!

So you can say it either way. Either nothing was ever simple, or everything has always been simple. Thinkings the 'old days' were easy, simpler or better is just a side effect of nostalgia, and the selective memory people have of old events.

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