"When I was a child, I thought as a child, I played like a child. But now thanks to the adults, I have had to join the world of adults. "
-Fredrick The Wise (Luther)
Many of us do not want to grow up. This Peter Pan complex is not for a few people, but it is within most men and women. The reason so many people are drawn to Disney films, to fantasy worlds like Narnia and Middle-Earth is to escape the world of adults. When we are children we want to grow up, when we are grown up we want to be children. Melancholy and Nostalgia become the saviors of our inner child. Because of them, we cannot let go and obsesses over times long since past. There is some health to remaining young at heart. Jesus said, "suffer the little children to come unto me, for to enter the Kingdom of Heaven you must be like a child." (Matthew 19:13). Great theologians debate over what this means. Some say that it is the attitude of a child, how they accept the things of God quickly and without doubts, for they have not been taught to doubt or distrust.
And yet as Christians when we grow older we begin to let go of those things that was bonded us to others. Possessions and interests that once were our whole world become less important. I remember the days when dinosaurs, the Mario Bros., Sonic The Hedgehog, and Star Wars were my life. I would memorize the dinosaur names, collect Sonic comics, play Mario Games for hours upon hours and become a Jedi when it was just the right time to do so. Now, those things seem like a dream and while some of them are retained in my life, they do not offer the solace or sufficient contentment I once knew. I can never return to the days of yore when a video game was all the rage. I remember when my friends and I played Halo 2 for the first time. Then it was a triumph and step towards the future of gaming, now it is but a pebble and if I were to play it again, I would not derive from it the same joy or excitement it once elicited. For only in that moment, back in 2004, did that game reign and revolutionize.
I suppose what makes and sustains gamers and collectors is the knowledge that we possess an intricate knowledge of those worlds and what is contained within them. Take the Mario games for instance. There is not much change in the gameplay, story, or character roster. What sells the games is the return of beloved characters and the allusions to former glories, stories, and moments. A true fan is impacted when they play Mario Kart 7 and go underwater to meet the Dry Bones Fish. For they remember when they first met the minion of Bowser in Super Mario World on the SNES.
Hollywood has learned well how to manipulate our melancholies and need for nostalgia. They reboot and re-release films so that we will visit the theater to try and relive the experiences we once had. But alas, we cannot go back. The memory we made and cherished is special because it at that point in time was new and unique. To try and relive something is to rob the past and to ruin a chance of creating a new memory that can be cherished.
We fall into the trap of trying to repeat the joys of the past. So many people retell the same story of their glory days and how much fun they had when they did this or that. There is nothing inherently wrong with remembering or sharing the memory, but to be stuck there inhibits a future of new stories to one day retell. As we get older, it becomes more about the important things: God, Family, and Friends. Possessions and passions soon become just accents or tools to build memories with God and others.
Sometimes remembering hurts. Recalling days when you once played with your friends during the Days of Innocence can be painful when you think of what your friends have become since those days. The problem is that so often we do not see the forest for the trees. We become focused on comparing then with now and thus despair. The reality is that there are new glory days and golden years ahead, but we must not be lost in the past lest we miss them. Remember fondly the elder years, but also enjoy the present.
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