Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. (Ecclesiastes 7:10)
Ah, the good ole days.
Everything was better then. You never locked your doors. Neighbor helped neighbor. Money grew on trees, not that we needed it mind you. Yep, I sure miss the good ole days.
Yes, I exaggerate. But don’t we all when we think of the past? Don’t we have a tendency to remember the good stuff and forget the bad stuff? Science says we do (See Adam Mastroianni, Experimental History: The Fading Affect Bias).
Science also says things are actually getting better. Life expectancy is higher for me than it was for my parents and a lot higher than for my grandparents. More people are 90 years old and over today than have turned 90 in the history of the world.
We are also less likely to die from war, pestilence, or famine than at any time in history. Violence is down, regardless of what you see on the evening news or social media. And 50 years ago, “cancer survivor” was an oxymoron.
That is not to mention what the past was like if you happen to be a minority.
Ecclesiastes was actually swimming against the tide by telling people to stop thinking the past was better. Traditional wisdom of the day did look back longingly on the past, back to a time when Israel was a great and mighty nation, and the Promised Land was flowing with milk and honey. None of that was really true either, which is what Ecclesiastes is pointing out.
I would sum up the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, taken as a whole, up by saying,
Remember the good times of the past.
Make good times in the present.
Work for good times for the future and all who come after you.
Everything else is vanity.
Ah, the good ole days, of the future, which are here right now.
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