Living in the Past...

Remembering good times from the past is always a simple way to change a bad mood into a good one in a matter of seconds.  Through these happy and fulfilling moments of our lives comes the true joy of enjoying all of your loved ones and friends that have been by your side during life sharing experiences.  It is also important for us all to remember influential people from our past because they have been the people that have shaped us into what we are today.  Everyday a memory of my father, who passed away, comes into my mind to remind me what life once was.  Some of these memories can bring tears to your eyes but its thinking about the great times we had together that helps me enjoy the people that are still around me with the utmost love and care.  Without these nostalgic times, the memories of my father would just get washed away with all of the other useless thoughts that so easily fill my head.

In the Novel An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro, the main character Masuji Ono often finds himself living in a nostalgic place mainly with the memories of the pre war Japan era and the way that the good old days used to be.  It was in this pre war era where Ono gained his nobility while the war was going on.  He used is influential paintings to help guide the future of Japan into a war which was believed to be the direction that Japan should be heading towards in order to maintain their future.  It was in these times that Ono often finds himself reminiscing about making it ever so difficult to adapt to the new westernized society that the post war movement has created. 

            After the war, societies feelings seemed to change about the art that was created by Ono which was shown by the negotiation failures of Noriko’s marriage.  In a conversation Ono had with Setsuko, she ever so carefully tried to bring up the fact that societies outlook on her father’s work was not exactly what it once was.  “Forgive me, I am no doubt expressing myself unclearly. I was in fact referring to their investigations.”  Since Ono really never acknowledged the part that he played in the war, he has not realized the way that the new generation of Japanese culture.  Although this seems like a negative thing, Ono is almost forced to live his life in a nostalgic view just to try to keep from moping around all day. 

            Nostalgia can be used as a wonderful tool that helps the mind reminisce of all the great times you have had throughout your life.  For every person in our past has helped us develop into the person that we are today.  It is how well that we filter out the bad experiences that lets us live our lives with the utmost joy.  Nostalgia is something that should be enjoyed for the times that you feel like laughing and you need to keep the tears away.