HEADED FOR THE FUTURE,LOOKING AT THE PAST
by Wendel Potter
January 7, 2006
I've been tugged and pulled once more into another New Year by Dick Clark and the glowing Times Square ball, the calendar, the Atomic Clock, the BCS bowl games and by natural law. But my soul doesn't follow quite so willingly.
If you're familiar with what I've written over the past many years, you know that my heart gives nostalgia a wide berth. I don't necessarily live in the past, of which I've been accused, but I certainly embrace particular moments gone by.
I think there's a lot of folks out there who feel the same way I do. Perhaps not with the same level of passion, but still they would like to keep one foot behind them as the future unfolds at what seems a rather energetic clip these days.
You don't hear it so much from the youngsters. Nor did my parents hear it from me.
In my childhood, the clock didn't race fast enough to suit me. Tomorrow was anxiously measured in light years.
"Don't wish your life away, kid," my mother told me many times. "When you get older, you'll wish you had it back."
Believe me, here in my 54th year I've come to understand what she meant.
So I hang on at least to my fondest memories. They are a pleasure for me.
A lot of those memories were regenerated on Christmas morning, when I opened my gifts to find a DVD collection of "The Dick Cavett Show", a real treasure that features several complete television programs from the 1960's and 1970's highlighting appearances by the rippling rock 'n roll muscles of that era: Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, and Crosby & Stills. (Apparently Nash & Young were on holiday).
That was my music. It still is.
Watching these shows, I was transported back to my high-school days of cruising the streets of small town America, listening to 8-track tapes, hitting on girls (usually with little success) and drinking Kool-Aid (yeah, whatever...there might be impressionable children reading this).
Those were the days. The Sixties put a stamp on American history like no other decade before or since.
Things changed. Unfortunately, it wasn't all for the good and wasn't always in the right direction. There wasn't enough maturity in the movements of the time to develop a patient strategy. "We" never really won.
Those who led responsibly and with wisdom were either assassinated or they were drowned out by the treachery of strong-armed thugs with money and power.
We were reminded of this recently when we pondered the life and the death of Senator Eugene McCarthy.
The passing of other notables over the past year also stirred memories of times gone by. We could reminisce forever and a day on the treasure trove of nostalgia Johnny Carson left behind. Sandra Dee will always be Gidget. Anne Bancroft will always be Mrs. Robinson. Richard Pryor will always be the funniest.
More personally, a beloved hometown family lost a sister last week and we lost a high school friend. Her name was Mary. We remember her fondly, taking stock of the past before getting on with the future.
We can't help but move ahead into 2006. None of us know what the year holds or if it will bode well for us. All we can do is have a little faith and do our best to make it the kind of year that our children will look back on some day with pleasant memories.
It's up to us. Let's hope we don't get drowned out trying.
Copyright 2006 Wendel Potter
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