80's Hair Found in the Flickr Creative Commons

Growing up as a kid and a teenager, I remember watching movies from the 80's and thinking "Wow, did people really dress like that back then? That is so cheesy!" Of course, I was only born in '88 so I could ridicule the teased out hair and high jeans without any of that reflecting back on myself.

I've recently found several movies on Netflix released back in the mid 90's that I had never heard of before that sounded interesting, so I sat down and watched them. They were entertaining movies, don't get me wrong, but there were multiple times when I just thought to myself, "Wow, I cannot believe how cheesy the 90's were!" I was only a kid during the 1990's, but even as a teenager in the 2000's (is that how we're referring to the last decade?) I remember listening to a lot of 90's music and watching 90's movies and genuinely enjoying it without realizing how lame some of it may have been

(Full Disclosure: I still love 80's rock and a lot of 90's metal, hardcore, and grunge.)



Perspective
What I am driving at is the concept of perspective. As we look back on the past, our perspective often changes drastically, and so we wonder why people dressed like they did or acted the way they did in decades past.

As I pondered this phenomenon, I wondered to myself, what would it be like to have the perspective of old age?

I remember having a conversation with my grandparents over Christmas vacation about technology and the rapid rate at which it is progressing. My grandma commented to us that "I used to try to keep up with everything, but now it is all just too much." Grandma's perspective was implicit in her comment, when she said that they had felt like they had to "keep up" with technology. I'm sure that some of us in the younger generation feel that we're behind the ball when it comes to technology (I want an iPhone), but I personally never feel like I have to consciously "keep up." I just live life, and change with the advancements.
I can understand why she feels that way, though. Computers only barged into the main stream roughly 20 years ago. My grandparents had already been around walking this earth for 50 years (of course I'm rounding here) when computer technology landed in culture with a massive splash. Think about the perspective that they have, seeing everything change so dramatically.

How Should We Live in Light of Perspective?
Because of her age and long life, my grandmother has a unique perspective that I could not possess at this moment. Maybe we all are expending way too much time, energy, and money focused on things that don't matter in light of eternity, such as technology. Do we need to take a step back and gain some perspective? Or are we just living life and adapting easily? I think the answer can vary from person to person.

As it usually does when things boil down to questions of time, the answer lies in our list of priorities.   We must all decide what is most important to us. We've got to decide if that iPhone will really make our lives better, or if it'll just be a big distraction.

Your Turn: In the face of time and perspective, how should we evaluate the way we are spending our time and resources today?