Nostalgia

This evening, I visited my father in ICU (recovering, things are looking good) and a political news show was on CNN, which ranks right next to “sports” in the ‘what else is on’ category. The anchors/guests/hosts/’experts’ were arguing split-screen style; a sign behind one serious-looking fellow read, in caps;
“Nostalgia is not what it used to be”

A visual message, quite transfixing compared to the belligerent babbling and talking over one another via audio. And gee whiz, I liked it so much it deserves immediate blog-dom.

Or maybe it’s just me — thoughts?

Is nostalgia a seductive liar?
or is nostalgia a harmless aspect of one’s sense of identity?

NOSTALGIA
n.
A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.
The condition of being homesick; homesickness.

Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.
Albert Camus

I don’t think nostalgia has to be negative.
Van Morrison

I don’t like nostalgia unless it’s mine.
Lou Reed

Nostalgia is not what it used to be.
Simone Signoret

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
Peter De Vries

A society that has made “nostalgia” a marketable commodity on the cultural exchange quickly repudiates the suggestion that life in the past was in any important way better than life today.
Christopher Lasch

My life is very exciting now. Nostalgia for what? It’s like climbing a staircase. I’m on the top of the staircase, I look behind and see the steps. That’s where I was. We’re here right now. Tomorrow, we’ll be someplace else. So why nostalgia?
Jeanne Moreau

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.
Robert Morgan

I’ve never returned to the locations. I do remember certain days more clearly than others and certain locations with a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps one day, I’ll bring my daughter to see them, if she’s interested.
Madeleine Stowe

I prefer the mystic clouds of nostalgia to the real thing, to be honest.
Robert Wyatt