theartofthetangent

So I’ve been watching a lot of period pieces lately.  Quills, Rome, Tombstone, the Company (I have a very diverse DVD collection).  On top of that my friends and I have been thinking about heading to a Renaissance festival around Halloween.  All this thought of the lofty days gone by in conjunction with all the problems going on in the economy got me to pondering.  Would it have been better to have been born and lived in some other time?

The answer is a resounding no.  As the title of the blog suggests, this year and this time are always the best time to be alive.  I don’t know why anyone would want to live in the past.  As a history lover, I know for a fact that while it certainly would have been interesting to have lived in the Renaissance, the founding of the US, ancient Greece, or any of my other favorite period, I know that I would much rather be right here right now.

In those times disease was rampant, you had a very low chance of surviving to adulthood, and I certainly wouldn’t have anywhere to plug in my Xbox and Wii.  More importantly, I love books.  Yes, books existed at those times, but they were relatively rare and expensive.  Now books are everywhere!  The mystique of the written page is abundant and thriving.  Not to mention the fact that I’ve grown quite fond of typing away on this blog just for you, humble reader.

Then there are all those people who wish they could live a thousand years from now so that they could see the glory of the human race and all of its achievments.  No, thanks to that either.  My first and only point is this: the future is unknown.  The glory of the human race could quite turn out that the atom smasher in Europe could blow us into a mini black hole, that we bombed ourselves into another stone age, or that a giant astroid came hurtling toward us and Bruce Willis wasn’t around to save us.  Granted, the world could also be a joyous utopia of technology and brotherly love.  I’m not hedging my bets on either.  It will probably be a lot like today, just more futurey.

My point is this.  This year is always the best year.  300 BC was great for people who lived then.  3008 AD will be a great year for people who live then.  And 2008 is a great year for us.  We must look to the past with love and respect and look to the future with hope and anticipation, but we must always remember that today is better than yesterday and that without today tomorrow wouldn’t be possible.

This year IS the best year to be alive.  And next year will be the best year to be alive, but it isn’t yet.  We should all just do our best to celebrate the time we have on this wacky little blue planet while we can.

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