Remember It or It's Forgotten

If history isn't remembered, it will be forgotten (and sometimes repeated.) I heard a statement that I think is true. It is that, "There are no new ideas just new people." Some things existed so long ago that not only do people forget, but they don't know that they even existed. Here are some things that I believe are in jeopardy of being forgotten:

The Stasi. East German police existed before the Berlin wall came down...and they were VERY strict! The wall came down over 20 years ago. Now I see things in America that remind me of them, like spying on people, and people getting in trouble for what they say. Americans claim "freedom" in America, but America isn't as free today as it was in years past. I wouldn't be surprised if something like The Stasi came to the American government.

The USSR. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the USSR also ceased to exist. When the USSR existed, soviet countries were grouped together to form one big entity, like how the United States is one big entity made up of several states. (Imagine the USSR being made up of countries like how America is made up of states.) The Russians were feared and considered mean and tough by Americans. Some things made fun of Russians, but they were no laughing matter. Movies in the 80's like Stripes, Rocky 4, and Red Dawn depicted the Americans and the Russians (and the Americans always won.) Red Dawn was recently remade and depicted the North Koreans as bad guys, but in the original movie the bad guys were the Russians. The USSR may have dissolved, but Communism still exists today. If the USSR was so great, why do so many Russians live in America? We had freedom, they had oppression. We had freedom of religion, they had no religion-nothing that would take away people's loyalty from the government. The US govt. added "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1948 to combat the Godlessness of Comminism.

Dancers in the 40's. I watched an episode of "So You Think You Can Dance," and one couple had to do a Jazz routine to mimic people in the 1940's. The choreographer said, "The man should dance like Gene Kelly." The male dancer said, "I'm 19, I have never seen Gene Kelly." The choreographer should have also said, "And the woman should dance like Ginger Rogers" because the female dancer, danced like a 2013 not 1940's dancer. (At one point in their routine, I thought, 1940's dancers would never have done that...too risqué.) 1940's dancing will be forgotten if people don't remember it, and replaced with today's dancing. How Sad.

Christmas music 'sung back in the day.' Christmas music is redone every year by new artists. Songs are re-sung, even though they've already been re-sung. Call me a purist because I like the original renditions. New artists try to make the songs current, but I prefer Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Dolly Parton over Bruce Springstein, Clay Aiken, James Taylor and Madonna. Some things will always be "classics" to me.

Society evolves but not always into something good. Sometimes the original thing is better.

The Evolution of Technology

I created a Pintrest account the other day. The application allows me to collect images, websites, recipes, etc. that I like and anyone who views my page can see it. I like how my likes are visible to the world because maybe someone will like something that I found and pin it to their wall...thing...or whatever it's called. Someone told me, "if you pin things you like, then I'll know your style." I thought, "why don't I just tell you?" It seems like as the world evolves, people talk to each other less. People appear to be more comfortable talking to each other through technology than in person. I envision people in the future never talking to each other and saying, "if you want to know me, look at my page."

I can see a day where the only people one talks to are those within their family. Parent's talk to their children to teach them how to speak. Siblings talk to each other and develop strong bonds from spending so much time together. Then parents give their children smart phones or computers and they talk to people through chat or social media. Children grow up and feel more comfortable talking to people through technology. Then they say, "if you want to know me, look at my page."

It seems like in the future, languages will exist but will only be spoken within the family and maybe with close friends otherwise, they'll be written. I don't have to talk to cashiers now because after they scan my items, I pay for them by swiping my card. Technology is advancing so quickly that I can't keep up with it; nor do I want to. I feel old and I'm only in my 40's. Things change (evolve) and I find myself wanting to hang on to what I know. I don't want to evolve, I want to stay the way I am, after all why fix what isn't broken?

Why Things are Done That Way

In some cases, I imagine people asking questions and hearing "I don't know." In other cases, I imagine them asking questions and receiving an answer. For example, my neighbor lets her kids play outside until 10pm. Perhaps her mom said, "I don't know how late kids should stay out" so my neighbor decided on 10pm. If I asked my mom the same question, she'd say, "Don't bother people after 9pm."

Society gets changed when people do things a new way either because they don't know or because they DO know but don't want it done that way. For years, people didn't get bothered after 9pm. My neighbor came along (who either didn't know the tradition or wanted to set a new one) and BAM! the tradition changed. 

I don't hear it called changing traditions but evolving. Sometimes I don't think evolution is necessary. I think we need to keep some things the way they are and teach people if they don't know. If I don't know, I need to find out before changing it.