You know what sucks? We as a people don't get as excited about Things That Came Out a Long Time Ago as we do about Things That Have Just Come Out. Now I know that sounds obvious. But what I really MEAN are Things That Came Out a Long LONG Time Ago, so they're new to us. We should be AS excited about those things as the song 'Blurred Lines' (omg so catchy), but that is usually a no-go.
At least a part of that is because we don't want the 'Uh, obviously' reaction. "YOU GUYS I JUST LISTENED TO 'TRAGIC KINGDOM' AND IT'S THE GREATEST." "Yeah, we know that. We were all really excited in 1996. But now we're over it. We still like 'Spiderwebs' though. Man, what a great song."
There's the calm "Of course it's great" reaction of others, which is inevitably coupled with the Plight of the Lone Excited One. One of my favorite analogies for the importance of church is that a coal burning on its own soon burns out, but a pile of coal burns on. So if you're the only person excited about something (*cough*FrancesWillard*cough*) it can be difficult to maintain that enthusiasm, because no one else cares. Except the lady archivist at the FW Library. She will TOTALLY GET IT when you talk about Mary Bannister and the calamity of 1860.
So. What to do. My philosophy in life is to be jazzed about as much as possible, because there's SO MUCH AWESOME STUFF and it should be recognized as such. Sure, other people have known about it for a while, but that doesn't make your discovery of it any less fantastic. The Grand Canyon's been around for-fucking-EVER, but if you came from seeing it, people wouldn't say "Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty great, I guess. Way to see it ten years after I did, though." LET US APPLY THIS TO MAN-MADE THINGS AS WELL.
Things I Have Discovered This Year and Will Discuss Excitedly With You If You Want:
Footloose
Gossip (the band)
Frances Willard
Diana Victrix
Lillian Faderman
Les Troyens
Xena: Warrior Princess
Warehouse 13
Pitch Perfect
Agatha Christie
American/British women's suffrage
AND OTHER THINGS I CANNOT REMEMBER. I want it to be culturally acceptable to rave about the song 'Mrs. Robinson' despite it having come out in 1968. And to tell everyone there is the BEST painting by Whistler at the Frick and let's all go stare at it and then maybe come up with an elaborate backstory and write some fanfic about it.
More excited appreciation of old things.
At least a part of that is because we don't want the 'Uh, obviously' reaction. "YOU GUYS I JUST LISTENED TO 'TRAGIC KINGDOM' AND IT'S THE GREATEST." "Yeah, we know that. We were all really excited in 1996. But now we're over it. We still like 'Spiderwebs' though. Man, what a great song."
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| They will not jump on your excitement train |
There's the calm "Of course it's great" reaction of others, which is inevitably coupled with the Plight of the Lone Excited One. One of my favorite analogies for the importance of church is that a coal burning on its own soon burns out, but a pile of coal burns on. So if you're the only person excited about something (*cough*FrancesWillard*cough*) it can be difficult to maintain that enthusiasm, because no one else cares. Except the lady archivist at the FW Library. She will TOTALLY GET IT when you talk about Mary Bannister and the calamity of 1860.
So. What to do. My philosophy in life is to be jazzed about as much as possible, because there's SO MUCH AWESOME STUFF and it should be recognized as such. Sure, other people have known about it for a while, but that doesn't make your discovery of it any less fantastic. The Grand Canyon's been around for-fucking-EVER, but if you came from seeing it, people wouldn't say "Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty great, I guess. Way to see it ten years after I did, though." LET US APPLY THIS TO MAN-MADE THINGS AS WELL.
Things I Have Discovered This Year and Will Discuss Excitedly With You If You Want:
Footloose
Gossip (the band)
Frances Willard
Diana Victrix
Lillian Faderman
Les Troyens
Xena: Warrior Princess
Warehouse 13
Pitch Perfect
Agatha Christie
American/British women's suffrage
AND OTHER THINGS I CANNOT REMEMBER. I want it to be culturally acceptable to rave about the song 'Mrs. Robinson' despite it having come out in 1968. And to tell everyone there is the BEST painting by Whistler at the Frick and let's all go stare at it and then maybe come up with an elaborate backstory and write some fanfic about it.
More excited appreciation of old things.
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