Will we ever look back with nostalgia?

[Christinaismyperson]

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?

I’ve never heard anyone talk fondly of WW2. You might occasionally hear tales of the community spirit, and definitely the jubilation at the end. But even the end wasn’t great for everyone. Many men were left fighting overseas, Burma for example. After one of the VE commemorations in particular there was a massive mental health bubble that burst with older gentlemen as it brought back so much they had kept hidden for decades.

I personally don’t know anyone who is enjoying the current situation either. I think the novelty of getting so much close family time just about kept people going through lockdown 1 but certainly everyone I know is well and truly over that now. I try and think of positives for the sake of my own mental health but really that’s just clutching at straws. (The fact I have put DC2 to bed every day of their life so far is sort of a plus from someone who used to travel a lot for work. But my god I need a break!).

Fuck no

Depends on what comes after it! This is terrible but I don't think everything will return to stability the moment the pandemic is over. For one thing, climate change is going to bring more extreme weather events - it might make this seem like a cakewalk.

I have 2DC who have passed many milestones in the pandemic, I will probably be nostalgic for this point in time and the lockdown etc is part and parcel of it.

But let's maybe get through it all in one piece first before we decide what to remember!

@Aimee1987

Ok replace the word fondness with nostalgia and my comment remains the same. No one who was alive at that time would have these type of feeling. The singing in the underground was a way to mask the sheer terror and attempt to distract people.

But it that in itself beautiful. Same as some posters on here hope that their children remember painting rainbows and going on long walks. How wonderful would that be and how wonderful is it that some children that were around in the war will remember singing in the underground.

My own grandma remembers them putting on talent contests in the bunker. She was only very young at the time.

What the sort of Mark Francois nostalgia for WW2? You know the kind where you weren't actually alive at the time?

I think a lot of people will be traumatised, much like the war, and smells like hand santiser, sights like masks will trigger them, crying etc

This has already happened to me to an extent. My view from work overlooks where the ambulances come in and I get involuntary teary whenever I see one now. Hopefully it will pass as time goes on.

There are definitely certain trips/moments that will be remembered fondly but as a total period of time? I can’t see it.

I think some people will. For some young people this is really hard but I know some are socialising a lot and it’s in that WW2 way of having to make your own fun - all fancy dress parties and that kind of thing, which are actually far more fun than going to pubs and clubs. They’ll be making really firm friendships as well spending so much time together with fewer outside distractions. I’m sure they’re desperate for things to get back to normal but in hindsight this will seem like a great period in their lives.

Plenty of people did enjoy WW2 by the way, especially women who suddenly had far more opportunities in work and in their social life. That was all taken away when war ended but they have very fond memories.

fancy dress parties and that kind of thing, which are actually far more fun than going to pubs and clubs.

Fancy dress parties? Really? I'd prefer pubs myself.

And how can people have 'fancy dress parties' in lockdown?

No
I’ve been reading a few interesting papers written during WW2 and how crime, looting and poverty went up - neglect. How the government had been provided written papers by physiologist on how much bombing the people could take before giving up - i wonder what similar papers are being written now advising the government on what to say and how to use it to control public to do what we told.
I guess everyone has had a very different experience- I’ve worked throughout and failed/attempt homeschooling.My experience will be very different to a SAHP or a furlough person or people that have lost jobs , a nurse or a doctor on a covid ward. It’s not a all in it together as we not all having the same experience.

And how can people have 'fancy dress parties' in lockdown?

I was just thinking that myself 🤔

I think the novelty of getting so much close family time just about kept people going through lockdown 1 but certainly everyone I know is well and truly over that now.

For many people who live alone or whose family situation is less than ideal there was zero close family time in lockdown 1. I had nothing to keep me going through lockdown 1 - it was utterly shit and each week I felt worse and worse. The shitness was only relieved when support bubbles were introduced.

I think WW2 is pretty unique in that respect as I don't think anybody looked back on The First World War , The Depression or Spanish Flu with much nostalgia.

@southeastdweller

No, I think there’ll eventually be a collective ‘why the hell did we become hysterical, let the government control us and fuck up our kids lives?’ reaction.

Already there with this

I haven’t personally done it, but I have seen Facebook updates etc of people have a whale of a time doing weekly Zoom parties with quizzes and various themes. In the first lockdown anyway, I haven’t seen much like this since about June.

Fuck no. I think the war was quite a different thing but don't actually know anyone who was nostalgic.

The first lockdown in the sun, perhaps.

Certainly not this winter.

@Pyewhacket

I think WW2 is pretty unique in that respect as I don't think anybody looked back on The First World War , The Depression or Spanish Flu with much nostalgia.

It’s weird isn’t it? I can’t think of any other traumatic time which is memorialised with the equivalent of Lindy hop dances, victory rolls, spitfire flybys, dressing kids up as evacuees etc It does feel like we celebrate a war in which millions died and there was a genocide.

I can’t imagine dressing kids up as Syrian refugees or plague victims for a fun day reliving the past at school!!

@Christinaismyperson

I haven’t personally done it, but I have seen Facebook updates etc of people have a whale of a time doing weekly Zoom parties with quizzes and various themes. In the first lockdown anyway, I haven’t seen much like this since about June.

I suspect the novelty of 'Zoom parties' has long since worn off and few are still having a 'whale of a time' grinning at a screen. If Zoom 'parties' were so great, you'd wonder why they didn't catch on years ago, as the tech has been available for ages.

@IcedPurple personally my worst idea of a good time, I hate being on video and avoid it at all costs!

@TheKeatingFive

And how can people have 'fancy dress parties' in lockdown?

I was just thinking that myself 🤔

Students in halls and young people living in shared houses. That kind of thing. They’ve all had COVID already. It’s going on whether you want to believe it or not!

No.

If I'm being honest, parts of it have been enjoyable. We had some lovely weather and I was able to sit in the garden and read (once I'd finished battling with the kids to get their school work done!) But that's a very small part. It's mostly been frightening, stressful, relentless, worrying, frustrating...

Students in halls and young people living in shared houses. That kind of thing.

Regardless of fancy dress, I think they’re all aware how shit an experience they’re having compared to a regular fresher in normal times.

@RichardMarxisinnocent
Not sure I understand this, are you saying they will keep us in lockdown and the majority of the economy closed forever?

Not quite that; but I think it's very likely that the government will set things up so they can spring lockdown on us at any time, and the threat of this will never be quite over. They've hinted at this already: said it might happen next winter, when the subtext is the next winter after that, and after that, and after that. There's also no going back on the fact the the massive precedent of lockdown with no notice has now been set, along with the public accepting, embracing and welcoming it very readily indeed.

@wanderings but why would they want to do that? What benefit is there to the government for repeatedly locking the country and economy down?

I joke to the kids that there'll be a Horrible Histories about how everyone went batshit crazy for bog roll but privately I never will look back on this with nostalgia - my mental health disintegrated to the point of a nervous breakdown, I lost half my fucking university marks, my child standing sobbing about how sad she was and terrified to leave the house... I have my FB memories set to filter most of the last year so I'm not reminded of it.

Worst thing I will always remember are the people who delighted in sticking the knife in, in relishing the doom, in kicking those struggling when they're down - and we've met a few of them on this thread.