Snapshot Living

(h/t to my friend Dan)

I like taking pictures. They're snapshots in time, suspending that moment eternally (so to speak). The picture never changes. Yet, as any photographer can tell you, the converse is also true. That particular, exact moment will never happen again. I saw a piece on a photographer that spent 30 years photographing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. You see, in all that time there were so many different faces of the bridge that it never got old. So while life around the picture changes continuously, the pictures never change.

There is a sense in which we tend to view life as a photograph. We seem to think that what is now has always been and will always be. We don't think in terms of a continuum, an ongoing, ever-changing sequence. And depending on how much we "get out", we tend to think that all places are like the place we live. Now, the older you get, the less you see things that way because, well, you have a longer "snapshot" in your memory banks. Experience tends to "stretch out" that snapshot of life. The ones that really suffer the most from what I call "snapshot living", then, are the young people -- those with the least time and experience in life.

What are the effects of snapshot living? There are a variety of effects, I'm sure. One is that we think "What is now has always been and will always be." You can see this in movies and television. They will shoot period pieces as if the culture then was the same as it is now. Well, besides movie makers and television shows, people think that way. Women have always hated being housewives, don't you know? Getting married at 30 has always been the norm. Men have always feared commitment. And people who had kids before the age of 25 have always been irresponsible. Conversely, children have always been as they are today -- wiser than adults, disruptive, headstrong, out of control. Teenagers have always been the same. In other words, "What is now has always been and will always be."

The corollary is "What is now is good." I recently heard the term "chronological snobbery". That's the idea here. "What is now is certainly good." Now, I'm using absolutes here, but I'm speaking in general, not absolute. It's better today because we have legal abortion and they didn't in the past. It's better today because we have no-fault divorce and they didn't in the past. We've gotten wiser than our ancestors because we now know that sex is meaningless entertainment to be enjoyed by anyone at any time and they didn't. It's now, so it's better. There is a commercial put out by the makers of Shredded Wheat. It's intended as humor, sure, but it is more true than anyone likes to think. The idea is this: "Where has Progress taken us?" They are advertising that they've remained the same as always ("We put the 'no' in innovation"), but the question still hangs there. We tend to assume that progress has gotten us where we are and that's good. Life is better now than it used to be because we have television and computers and the Internet and cellphones and all that wonderful technology, that we're better off now in our worldviews and political philosophies. Our relationship, marriage, and parenting skills are far better now than they've ever been. Tell me ... how did those ancients even survive without it? The answer, of course, is "Just fine, thank you."

Two things about snapshot living. First, what is now has not always been and will not always be. In fact, it is my suspicion that you don't have to wait very long for it to change. The one thing that has always been, it seems, is change -- not the status quo. Second, what is now is not necessarily good. Some of what we've left behind is a sad loss. I recently heard a news story about a small town that had one of their own come home from the conflict in Iraq as a quadriplegic. The town pulled together to prepare for his return. They built an addition to his parents' house so he'd have a place to live. They kicked in time, money, and effort to make his return comfortable and "home". Why? Because he was one of theirs. Of course, that sense of community is something we've largely jettisoned in our modern times. That's why it was ... news.

It's very difficult to see things outside of your own time. It's hard to realize that it hasn't always been. It's difficult to understand that it won't always be. And it's very hard to keep in mind that it may not be better. That includes lots of things. The real trick is reasonably and fairly examining them and seeing it for what it is. Is our government better than it was? Is our child-rearing better than it used to be? Are we treating people better than we used to? Because we live the way we do, is it necessarily better than simpler times? Are the values we hold today better than the ones of yesterday? Are we headed for better times? I'll let you do that on your own.

(Mom ... "h/t" means "hat tip", indicating a "thank you" to my friend Dan. We had a discussion about this that spawned my post. Just clarifying for people like my mom who may not understand some blog lingo.)