I understand and appreciate nostalgia, and have indulged now and again along the way like everyone else. Reminiscing of times past, good times, before times and when everything seemed and was different. Now we have more of a perspective on that than ever before, because things have changed so dramatically around us while so much looks the same. At the moment the country still stumbles on, people still go to work, shops are still open and people are going about their lives, because they have to. And I’m sure we have all looked back to simpler times in our lives, before we knew so much, before we had to pay bills and make our way in the world. Well, that psychological world has been turned upside down and inside out for some people, and rightly so, they are thinking back to when it wasn’t like this.

But, for people like me, it has always been slightly like this. Because when I think back to that simpler time, although it appeared to be as it was, something was still not quite right. Feeling that there was something else going on, that we were only given half or no truths, that corruption wasn’t on the side or running as a vague underbelly, it was the foundation and the keystone of everything holding ‘society’ together. As if what we see is just ‘the performance’ as you would being in the audience watching a play unfold on stage. Not seeing the set designers, the wardrobe and makeup department, the prepping, the pre-written script that has been so carefully rehearsed, you don’t get to see all that goes into getting it ready, or when it rolled out. Only seeing one aspect of it, perfectly presented and arranged for how they want it to be perceived. Often with twists and turns, shocks and laughter, to try and captivate an audience and keep them entertained. But not in a fun, amusement type of way anymore, where there is joy and cheer and people can come and go as they please.

More like the creepy movie theatre, where after the movie has finished, the doors are locked and once the lights come on you realise you are not where you thought you were. Instead, the paint is peeling, the chairs are collapsing and the crumbling ceiling no longer seems that it can old its own weight. And instead of characters to keep you occupied and distracted so you don’t notice, it’s now an empty stage with no lights and dazzle. Like the Green glasses of Oz get taken off and you see it as it is, now how it has been painted. So, although I may not like how it is now, I do not crave how it was before, because that wasn’t normal either, just a calmer more stable version of now. I guess that’s why they say that ignorance is bliss, because once you know, something psychologically adjusts, and there’s No Going Back…

(c) MKW Publishing