Timelessness.

I've recently bought the DVD box set of The Wonder Years. I'm up to season three, and though I'd seen the show before, re-watching it now has I suppose reminded me about something. You may recall it was made in the '80s and '90s but set in the '60s and '70s; and naturally it explored many issues prevalent then, namely the Vietnam War. But even so, it's in those aspects intentionally dated, but in others it's not dated at all.

Why is it that the more things change, the more they stay the same? New technologies supersede the old, governments and monarchs come and go, laws are made and then repealed, but humanity never quite seems to resolve its conflicts. By that I obviously don't just mean emotions and mental demons either. Too many forms of hatred hang over us still. Many things should and will never go out of style, but just because we still inhabit a very hateful conflicted world doesn't mean we always should.

And then, I guess to take a nihilistic view of everything, each of us has dreams, wishes and of course memories of any nature stemming from childhood, which can strongly influence us throughout life. What comes to mind for me here is tinned fruit. I was a very sickly toddler and whenever hospitalised then, I always had to eat tinned fruit for dessert. Besides stewed apple (which I never got then), to this day the mere sight of it still repulses me. These pet hates from childhood are very subjective, but surely the subsequent feelings have never been. How long can we let them affect us? Or are they automatically entrenched?

I do acknowledge, though, how natural and appropriate it is often to be emotional, scared or angry. Which is another reason why those sensations are permanently encoded in our brains. Just as when every past generation felt compelled to take a stand, so should we, against too many wrongs.

But, back to art and entertainment, in conclusion. All forms of both have not endured for so long because they captured the current zeitgeist (although they can depict that). They have lasted for so long because far more than aesthetic pleasure, we have and still need escapism, nourishment, connection, reassurance, and the chance to choose. That's the epitome of timelessness to me.

Styles and tastes come and go, and sometimes deservedly. But many very old wrongs remain unrighted. If this is read in years to come, I hope by then they will have been.