Seeing the Past More Clearly

Ever since I was a child, there has been a fascination for me with the past.  The Amish have always intrigued me, the Little House book series was my favorite and there has been a feeling that I belonged more in the 1880s then the 1980s.
I even had this absurd concept that the world really was black and white at one time or at least there must have been less color.  Subconsciously I think I believed that people had a difficult time functioning without modern inventions or conveniences. 
With my extra time I have been watching some old movies and televison shows.  Through this I have come to realize that my odd beliefs were not true.  People lived life in color and grappled with the same human issues of today.  They didn't go through daily life bemoaning what hadn't been invented; they just lived.  If I look back at my own experience, there wasn't time spent contemplating what could or might be.  Certain things such as rural electrification and modern washing machines certainly changed lives considerably.  However, I would argue that even with modern conveniences, we still don't have more free time or a larger sense of fulfillment.

So I have been forced to look at the past in a different light and to realize that while some aspects may have been better; other realities were not.  Much the same as our world today.  There are parts of the world of the 1880s that I would embrace, but at the same time I would not want to return to a time when blacks and women had no rights.  I am learning that each era has good and bad elements; perhaps we can choose to keep some of the good and be thankful some of the bad have been eradicated.
Thought for today:  “The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”    Albert Einstein