We were never that young...

I have been writing journals of various types for many years.  The format has changed, the message varied.  In the end, I simply wish to expound ideas.  I have never considered myself skilled in the art.  As I generally think in abstracts, my writing follows suit.  At many times, I have chosen to analyze a situation and comment not about the particulars, but about the underlying principles.  The end result was probably quite transparent to those around me but not necessarily to a complete stranger.

We develop ideas over time regarding past events.  In our ancestral past, these ideas become fact as stories were re-told again and again.  However, civilization brought record keeping.  Old tales were still told, but in many cases an archive could be searched for verification.  As a result, less knowledge was lost.  It became possible to avoid the effects that time has on perception.  A printed page will not tell a different story next month.  A photograph may age, but its subject will not.

Whereas I have beliefs regarding the effects of time on me, I can easily consult snapshots from the past and be reconnected with fact.

I have recently been reminded that the boy my mind's eye recalls never existed. A similar creature walked the earth, but his strength and wisdom have been exaggerated over time.  The gifts of youth do not fade as quickly as our youth-obsessed society puts forth.

So here is to all the 19-year-old super humans who could choose any dance partner they wanted, had 1% body fat, had the constitution of 10 grown men, and had achieved a level of peace and serenity that would make the gods envious.  I will miss you.  The photograph has replaced you with someone else entirely.  You were not fearless.  You were not perfect.  You knew little.  You were not a finished product.  You were a work in progress.  The things that negatively effect you now always have.  Otherwise, the cliche "Freshman 15" would not be possible.

As I've said many times, life begins at 30.  The children that we were simply did not know their limits.  That doesn't mean that they didn't have them.  I may have forgotten that.