Page 3 | Will we ever look back with nostalgia?

Christinaismyperson · 2021-01-27T09:38:18+00:00

I was just thinking about how the pandemic and lockdown are often compared to WW2 and I was wondering if one day we will ever look back with nostalgia? And if so what will we be nostalgic about? It also got me thinking how strange the nostalgia for WW2 is, surely living through it would have been far worse than the pandemic? Husbands, sons and brothers being shipped overseas to fight. Rationing and going without food, the real possibility a bomb will drop on your house killing you and your children. Seems mad people look back with such fondness? Is it a survival technique or is it mainly people who were children in the war who didn’t understand or weren’t even born?

Original poster

Christinaismyperson · 27/01/2021 10:36

I think @SquishySquirmy and @MintyMabel have it spot on.

I can totally see future arseholes berating younger generations and using covid as a measure of superiority. This will definitely happen. Conveniently forgetting the time they cleared out the local Sainsbury’s of loo roll and pasta leaving nothing for the poor old dear next door.

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Monkeytennis97 · 27/01/2021 10:38

@MintyMabel

The kids might when they are older and all effects of their education being disrupted have subsided.

Like my generation does about the teacher strikes which resulted in two day weeks. I remember having to go to school as I was still in primary and they weren’t affected. My brother and sister went to the house of a woman who was taking in kids and teaching them whilst they were off. At no point did I ever consider how hard it must have been for my mum who had a full time job and my dad was working in the Middle East. It was all just fun.

Same as my DH remembers the teacher strikes. He had 2 years of permanent disruption and now as a secondary teacher himself he thought it was great and looked back on it as a bonus

. He also recalls no one being up in arms that they were a 'lost generation'.

Monkeytennis97 · 27/01/2021 10:38

@MintyMabel

The kids might when they are older and all effects of their education being disrupted have subsided.

Like my generation does about the teacher strikes which resulted in two day weeks. I remember having to go to school as I was still in primary and they weren’t affected. My brother and sister went to the house of a woman who was taking in kids and teaching them whilst they were off. At no point did I ever consider how hard it must have been for my mum who had a full time job and my dad was working in the Middle East. It was all just fun.

Same as my DH remembers the teacher strikes. He had 2 years of permanent disruption and now as a secondary teacher himself he thought it was great and looked back on it as a bonus

. He also recalls no one being up in arms that they were a 'lost generation'.

ThePricklySheep · 27/01/2021 10:39

My 12 yr old is already looking back on the first lockdown fondly, compared to this one, because the weather was better, we could walk on the golf courses and then she had a summer of playing in the woods. It’s not a great leap to see how people could remember the positives more than the negatives from the whole thing I suppose.

CherryValanc · 27/01/2021 10:40

Also I think those that lived through WW2 look at it more as "how did we do it" rather than fondness nostalgia. For children, it was easier to shield them from the negative news when WW2 was on.

Done2021 · 27/01/2021 10:42

[quote LakeGeneva]@StressedTired agree that nostalgia from WWII comes from people who didn't live through it. When I was little it wasn't much talked about. We didn't even have minute's silences or anything - they did in the immediate aftermath but not by the 70s. Certainly not street parties for significant dates.

People didn't want to think about it. They wanted to move forward. It was only much later that the WWII nostalgia machine came along, and it was largely driven by people born in the 50s and 60s.

I think this will be the same. It's a horrible time. Once it's over I won't want to think about it again. Doubtless some fool 20 years down the line will dredge it all up for whatever purpose they wish to pin on it. Maybe they'll even make "stay the fuck at home" tea towels? It'll be bullshit and false nostalgia though, just like all the talk of WWII has been from the 90s till now.[/quote]
This!! I remember stumbling across one memorial celebration a couple of years ok and all these people were in fancy dresses lots of dancing around old army tanks from the war it made it seem like it was a jolly old time to be alive....then you think of the reality it wasn’t!!

I won’t be nostalgic I’d be glad to see the back of it and pray it never happens again!!!

Bluntness100 · 27/01/2021 10:42

For the vast majority of people no. But some folks lived their best lives due to it. At home, furloughed or wfh, didn’t need to see people, no commute or no work, time with immediate family. It was fabulous for them. So yes some will be nostalgic and wish life could always be like that.

For nearly everyone else it’s a fuck no.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 27/01/2021 10:42

There will be a lot of happy memories despite the background.

I hope my children look back and remember the nights camping, the baking, the walls with hide and seek, the painting, the science experiments, the Hogwarts birthday party etc rather than the loneliness, stressed parents and school/activities being cancelled.

TempsPerdu · 27/01/2021 10:45

Those with nostalgia for the war likely weren't that close to it (or weren't separated from family)

Precisely. My parents are nostalgic for the war years. Much better time then, apparently. Mum was born in 1946, so wasn’t even around when it was happening. Dad was born in 1939 but has no real memory of the war itself - if you dig a bit deeper it turns out they’re actually nostalgic for the post-war period which was fairly dull and had it hardships, but was also characterised as optimism for the future, focused on rebuilding, saw the advent of great institutions such as the NHS and welfare state, had a sense of national unity etc.

OliveTree75 · 27/01/2021 10:47

I had a much awaited little girl in 2020 so will always be grateful for her. Other than that, no, it can all fuck off

Lelophants · 27/01/2021 10:47

I think so. People always do. It may be a while though.

When everyone is back to hours of commuting, never seeing family during the week, being exhausted, weekends full of plans.

Lelophants · 27/01/2021 10:48

My ds is with us both constantly. Probably a dream for him!

CookEatRepeat · 27/01/2021 10:54

Yes. I can see through the sheer horror of it all and know I will always treasure these days when the DC all came home from university and we hunkered down against the world together. It will never be enough to find it in myself to forgive the appalling government, nor the deniers, but serve to remind me that despite the darkness and death we managed to find some beauty. I will also remember how our team at work turned up every day to keep children's education going to the best of our ability and at considerable personal cost.

Pinkcanoftan · 27/01/2021 10:55

Thewiseoneincognito

You again, with your anxiety inducing rhetoric. Do you get some kind of kick out of your doom mongering . The most inaptly named poster ever.

Original poster

Christinaismyperson · 27/01/2021 10:56

So will the babies of 2020+ appropriate the pandemic and have false nostalgia?

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merrygoround88 · 27/01/2021 10:57

If it had all ended in December 2020 then yes I would have looked on it with great nostalgia. Now its different and its different for almost everybody I think.

I am hoping that as time goes on I will forget about 2021 and only remember the good times of 2020!

ForeverBubblegum · 27/01/2021 10:58

I might, but we have been monumentally lucky and avoided most of the bad bits. I'm a SAHM, DH's income has not been greatly affected and DC's are 4 and 1, so homeschooling (from preschool) has mostly consisted of crafts, singing, dance videos and games. We also don't know anyone who has been especially ill, or who works in the nhs etc. As a result our lives have been remarkably shielded, and not really representative of what the pandemic has been like for many.

I suppose it's in a similar vein to my grandfather remembering the war fondly. Of course he knew it was horrific, but for him as a 7 year old, his experience was positive. When he was evacuated he left abusive parents and ended up with a loving family, who later adopted him. It doesn't mean evacuation wasn't traumatic for his peers, but for him personally the war was the best thing that had happened to him.

ThePricklySheep · 27/01/2021 10:58

@Bluntness100

For the vast majority of people no. But some folks lived their best lives due to it. At home, furloughed or wfh, didn’t need to see people, no commute or no work, time with immediate family. It was fabulous for them. So yes some will be nostalgic and wish life could always be like that.

For nearly everyone else it’s a fuck no.

Wfh isn’t necessarily a bag of laughs either. Harder to do, in my case, and very much harder with three children being homeschooled.

x2boys · 27/01/2021 10:59

We are right in the middle of it now ,but in 20,30 years time people may look back with rose tinted glasses I suppose ,my Grandad fought in Africa during WW2 I don't suppose it was a great time for him but he did talk about it .

SpiderinaWingMirror · 27/01/2021 11:03

No we won't.
My grandmother was 20 at the start of ww2. By the end of it She had 3 small daughters. Neither her or my greatgrandparents (died when I was 19 And were 50 at the start of the war) ever expressed any nostalgia at all

They described a grinding fear of being bombed (living in London and Portsmouth), friends and colleagues dying, grabbiness and underhanded behaviour in making sure your family didn't go without. Education being disrupted...........
So no.
I have been so far lucky apart from months of no pay. Out of my group of 6 school friends, 4 have lost their parents to this.

TramaDollface · 27/01/2021 11:06

Are you bloody kidding?

Two children having nightmares and sleeping problems

Husband pretends he is fine but looks increasingly strained

I’m a fat miserable bastard
Even the dog’s misery

And we’re the lucky ones without any obvious impact

I will probably need smelling salts if I hear words like
Zoom
Alas
Mor even smell sanitiser

OliveTree75 · 27/01/2021 11:09

@Thewiseoneincognito

We’ll be looking back to pre 2020 with nostalgia. Children will ask what was it like to go to a concert or football match and be so close to strangers. They’ll also ask how it was when people didn’t have to wear masks in stores or public spaces.

I’m not kidding, Watch.

Oh ffs

AuntyClementine · 27/01/2021 11:10

We’re reaping what we’ve sown for the past decade, voting in governments who have starved the NHS of adequate funding and resources. They pay lip service to supporting the NHS because it’s a vote winner and a psuedo-religion but they have no ideological commitment to it as a system; they tolerate it so long as they can run it on the cheap. Then, when the shit truly hits the fan, shock horror, we don’t have enough capacity or resources to deal with it.

AuntyClementine · 27/01/2021 11:11

Nothing to be nostalgic about.

Original poster

Christinaismyperson · 27/01/2021 11:11

@TramaDollface

Are you bloody kidding?

Two children having nightmares and sleeping problems

Husband pretends he is fine but looks increasingly strained

I’m a fat miserable bastard
Even the dog’s misery

And we’re the lucky ones without any obvious impact

I will probably need smelling salts if I hear words like
Zoom
Alas
Mor even smell sanitiser

That’s the thing though, it seems incomprehensible but for some reason people do get nostalgic about difficult times.

I expect there’s a paper or book about the psychology of nostalgia. It would be interesting to know more.

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