Take Me Back, To The Way Life's Never Been

Yesterday is better that it is today
And today will be better than tomorrow they say.
We don't want what you know, but we know what we want
That's live and let live, we're all different that counts

But those of us, those of us, Us of lesser gods
Won't eat till we're hungry, won't drink till we're parched
But those of us, those of us who forget where we're from
Create now this hell where no devil could spawn
Take me back, take me back, to the way life used to be

As previously mentioned in the last blog....

I think we all look to our ancestors, or anyone who came before us, on how life should be lived. Well, this isn't a great, original idea I have - it's really pretty obvious. Let's take it down to a more primitive level - Technically, we NEED to look to others to learn how to live; instinct only teaches us so much. We obviously look to others who have been here longer than us for ideas on how to dress, speak, talk, work, and relate to others.

When you think of "the past", what do you think of? You can go back as recently, or as far back as you like. Do you think times were better then? Probably. With the world getting more messed up everyday, it's easy to believe that as you go back in time, life gets better. Things were how they were meant to be, and life was as it was meant to be lived. As you go farther back, everything is uncorrupted. Eden is undisturbed, if you will.

I think this mindset kind of carries over to other, less important, everyday situations. For example - I am a high school student in Western New York. How am I supposed to act? Am I supposed to devote my life to studying? Or am I supposed to play sports religiously? What are my values? Am I supposed to socialize with others? Am I supposed to get into trouble occasionally? When you think of the stereotypical teen, you think of getting into a bit of harmless trouble. Why? Because that's what your parents did. That's what the generations before us did - they smoked and drank and whatnot. So something inside of me says I should be doing that too. Why? Because that's the way it was in the past... so that's probably how it's supposed to be.

Basically, it's about the power of tradition. Whether or not these traditions make sense, or are beneficial to us, they have been around longer than we have. Others before us have taken part in them, so we should too. If that's what people did when times were better, maybe if we do it, it'll make today better.

Does this mean that at any point in the past, people were generally happier than now? Of course not. Our parents had their fair share of woes, as well as our grandparents, and so on. I think it's easier to think of the past as simpler times, than to think of troubled times. We're really quite self-centered beings. We know our grandparents didn't have to deal with quite the same everyday troubles as us - so we dismiss the thought that they had troubles of their own.


Hey, maybe I'm wrong and I'm the only one that thinks like this.
I have an obsession with the past.
I clearly watch the History Channell too often.


Lyrics - Us Of Lesser Gods, from Flogging Molly's new album, Float.
It's awesome... Go get it.