N’oubliez Jamais (Never Forget)

We live. We forget. Yet we survive. 

Over the centuries I imagine there was a time when generations traditionally yearned to listen to stories, songs, chants, and poetry that were passed down from generation to generation from elders.

The accumulated experience and expertise in survival were crucial to be passed on through oral storytelling. How else would you know how not to get crushed accidentally under the feet of a dinosaur out for a stroll, not become breakfast to a hungry sabre-tooth tiger lurking nearby, or not get your bones smashed by a tree branch being swung around by a woolly mammoth?

If the elders didn’t tell stories and share their life events, how would a young guy evade silly scenarios like mistaking the antlers of a giant elk to be a branch of a tree, or try petting a spiky porcupine, or fiddle with the rattle of a rattlesnake?

Every generation has its way of expressing its need to disagree and disobey, but during those times, disobeying often meant extermination. 

In the modern world, while progressing from total dependence on others, to increasingly getting self-sufficient, there invariably comes a time when the youth develop the tendency to disobey rules or question the relevance of old beliefs and methods. Young people cringe at how silly the “oldies” can be. Why do they sing and listen to the same old songs, they wonder. Why don’t they see that they need to upgrade their liking and preferences up a notch? 

It’s happened to me, and I guess it’s happened to you too. Our preferences are thoroughly different. We want to sing new songs and dance to new tunes. Old things seem boring and outdated. We embrace the latest methods, concepts, and styles and develop a strong liking for things that our friends do. Sometimes we go to extremes for the sake of change, and at least occasionally have rolled our eyes up in sheer contempt or shuddered internally at old-timers’ habits and preferences. Everything we like needs to feel like it’s endorsed by our generation’s signature style. 

However, in this fast-changing tech age, it’s not uncommon to have to adapt to newer things before the proverbial ink dries from the signature of the previous endorsement. New products make our eyes light up with fresh sparkle. All our guards come down and we promptly go through momentary lapses of reason while swiping our cards.

It won’t hurt to remember that technologies change, and attitudes change, but core principles never change. Life often presents its own new versions of dinosaurs, sabre-toothed tigers, and woolly mammoths disguised in newer avatars.

Let’s be reminded that we have always been walking on the edge of time. Now more than ever. 

We live. We forget. Yet we survive. And I hear a young voice say – Excuse me, I have fresh technology to attend to!