..I’d give all my tomorrows for a single yesterday…?

Nope, not a chance.

Listening to the much covered and much loved song Me and Bobby Mcgee1 in the car this morning, it struck me what a poignant and heartbreakingly beautiful line this is. I guess the author/singer feels that life is no longer worth living without Bobby, to the extent that he’d give away the rest of it just to be able to go back and spend a single day with her.

Social media and in particular Facebook present us with memories from the past on a daily basis. Usually (but not always) these are great memories simply because it’s human to want to post the good stuff as opposed to the unpleasant or downright painful stuff. I’m sure I’m not alone in regularly feeling some sadness that they are gone, and never to be repeated, and while they can induce some yearning for the past I still think they are a good thing.

How many of us regularly go through the hundreds or even thousands of photos we take these days – remember the old 24 or 36 exposure films we used to have, wow – and take the time to look at them? With phone cameras taking digital photos and the incredible cheapness of data storage I suspect we’re at a point where more is indeed less.

So Facebook chooses memories for me, and while they’re not always the ones I would have chosen had I actually looked through the posts myself, they often have me smiling fondly. Yearning too, occasionally, but hey, I’m looking through photos and posts from the past that I otherwise wouldn’t have.

I enjoy these regular glimpses into a mostly happy past, but rather than descend into sadness I am  choosing to believe that there are equally great times still to come. Life moves on, and damn quickly, so I am trying to remember to slow down and savour each of these moments as they happen.

Finally, it’s not often that I sing the praises of our social media giants and in this context they’re hard to fault, but hold on to your hat, there is also a lot that isn’t so great, so watch this space.        

Have a great day.

  1. I’d always assumed that this song was written by Janis Joplin but in looking it up this morning I discovered it was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster. Janis had a #1 hit (posthumously) with it but other artists like The Grateful Dead (the version I was listening to) Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers and many others have also covered it.

9 Replies to “..I’d give all my tomorrows for a single yesterday…?”

  1. I enjoyed your blog. Got me thinking of my own memories and songs that remind me of people and places.
    I liked that you gave facts about the authorship of the song. 👍

  2. Any Tits on here ? 😯😅 asking for a friend !

    Strong work mate , great idea to have somewhere for your thoughts and musing , good therapy

  3. I enjoyed reading that and look forward to others. I love seeing my memories on Facebook. Like you, they don’t hold sadness for me but happiness that I had those experiences. I think being in SA has me thinking a lot about my childhood lately and how this country offered hope and a solid future. Obviously that is not the picture today but somehow I still have hope. Whether it’s staying here and things improving or an adventure to other pastures I’m still not sure but I live one day at a time.

    1. Hey Veronica, thank you for that reply. I love your positive outlook and know you guys will be happy and successful wherever you end up. I can tell you first hand that the world is full of beautiful places.
      X

  4. I´m with you bro, I treasure so many memories, but I think the tendency to always hanker for the “Good Old Days” is nonsense. We look back with nostalgia, forgetting the crap, and look forward with fear and uncertainty. The past almost always looks better than the future, but only because we KNOW it. The future is exciting, the present is real, the past is a memory. They are not the same. Loving the present, and bring on the future!

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