Sunday, September 2, 2007

Is nostalgia a good thing?

Dictionary.com defines nostalgia as "a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time". If you go by that definition or by your own experience it is a form of selective memory. I call it selective because you are only nostalgic about the things or people you like. When you are nostalgic about a time or place you do not factor in the negative experiences that you had which caused you to move out of that time or situation in the first place.
When I think of my college days in Stanley I think only about the basketball games, long conversations that ran well into wee hours of the night with friends or the movies that I went out with my buddies. I do not think about the stress of succeeding in life, the pressures of not making any money when your engineering friends have started climbing the corporate ladder, the fact that you had examiners who were tainted with prejudice and caste feelings or the fact that you were still dependent on your parents for daily expenses and needs. I would like to think that when I make an important life changing decision I would be able to block out nostalgia. I know that it is easier said than done