Last night my family watched a bunch of family videos - some compilations of photos and some home videos - that brought back a multitude of memories and lots of laughter. Some were of elementary school reports, or kindergarten introductions, ultrasound videos, wedding and anniversary videos, etc.
One that struck me in a different way was my great-grandma Sarah's funeral video. My mom paused the video regularly to identify people she knew in the old photos and I learned a little more about the family I come from. My great-grandma grew up extremely poor, but ended up literally traveling around the world as she got older. The pictures were almost exclusively of Sarah with her family members through the years.
I'm reasonably sure I remember someone saying of my great-grandma that she never looked sloppy and always dressed her best. I thought of that as I watched the old photographs roll by, and I don't believe I ever saw her wearing a t-shirt. I think that's something that our society values less every year - the "it" look is tousled, casual, and at least a touch messy. It's a "lived-in" look; polish and perfection is seen in cold, heartless TV villains. I like the tousled, slightly unkempt style, but I'm wondering if that's the best I can do. I thought about other old-fashioned virtues like punctuality (being early, not on time), selflessness, respect, gratitude, etc as I worked on writing more wedding thank-you cards. Those values are fading too.
So this is another aspect of development that I'm thinking about. A lot of this blog has been directed towards academic classes, but this kind of class is something I want to work on too. Being a more classy person.
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