Of nostalgia and men.

Close to this time last year, I wrote this: "I enjoyed this article about nostalgia. I think the author keeps a good, level ground when discussing it and its virtues. Here is an excerpt I liked: '… Each generation should take what was best from the generation before it and add it as a brick in the foundation of the culture, discarding the dross and ever stacking together the lessons we’ve learned, the things that have really worked best. This way the culture becomes stronger and stronger over time.'" Upon further reflection, I've realized that, sadly, what our culture is more likely to do is gather the dross, protect it in any way possible, and hand it on to the next generation. These Curators of Crap seem hell-bent on removing what is good about culture (God, civility, etc) and distilling it down to a black, tarry mess. And it's a sad thing to see. Gone are the days of chivalry (I once got in trouble for opening the door for a woman) and grace. True, there are those out there who hold onto these ideals, but the number is dwindling. It is based on that idea that it's easy to see the appeal of the "old ways" when men were men and women were ladies. They *were* good times. Hopefully some of us can preserve these old ideals and hand them down. There may yet be some gentlemen left in another 200 years.

Quite right.

So, I realized today that I didn't make a single post in 2011. And you know what? I'm ok with that. It's a year that I don't mind sweeping under the rug. It wasn't necessarily a bad year (though some who are close to me might say otherwise), but it was a hard year. And, while I learned a lot, I'm glad to have it behind me.

Adventures in Elevatoring

Today, as I was leaving for lunch, I was walking to the elevator and I reached out to press the down button. My hand was still a foot away from the panel when the Up button lit up. Then, a half second later, the Down button lit up. Almost like an unseen hand pressed them both in sequence. "So", I thought, "I guess I'll take the stairs." The end.