02/11/2026
Old El Dorado in motion.
I created this edit with a few things in mind.
The past is dark, and we're often predisposed to looking back at it for what shines. At times that can be the radiant light of innovation... or the warm glow of human connection, and other times it might be an inferno of misplaced ideas that rage with atrocity.
The internet age has allowed us quick access to the Cliff's Notes of our history - bullet points of lives once lived without the context of emotion. We look forward in color, but the rear-view is just so black and white. It hangs in frames, and sits pressed between cellophane in dusty old books from the back of the shelf. The past fades, and iconizes, and leaves us with the shell of a memory like the bodies from Pompeii.
I often wonder if we're getting the most out of our hindsight.
Whether good or bad, we tend to pay the most attention to the things that stand out. And that's great, of course. Observing milestones and soaking up all the beautiful parts of what came before gives us a sense of pride in the journey, and in turn hope for a brighter tomorrow. On the other hand, we observe the shameful parts as well, but with the reminder that we can make better decisions and avoid the doom of foolish repetition. These are wonderful notions, and we should surely keep them intact.
What I've been thinking about lately, though, is what about all of that life in between? What's to be said of the dull, throw-away parts that aren't worth remembering? Do they have value? Most of what makes up our days doesn't seem to be that important in the bigger historical picture. We do our morning commutes to work, stand in lines at the grocery store, and maybe even share nods with strangers in passing... but we forget most of these things, and they certainly aren't being written down for posterity.
They are, however, significant.
The mundane is what threads our minutes, days, years, lives, and history together. They may not necessarily be worth noting every detail of, but they're worthy of recognition because they're familiar to us all. And it's the time between moments that we'll exist the most in.
That may sound pretty humdrum, but there's profundity.
Because no matter whether you're looking at the past, present, or even your own self in the mirror, we all walk through life. Sometimes it's uphill in a snow storm, and sometimes it's a quiet walk through the park on a warm, gentle day. But it's a walk. And I can't help but feel like the ideas that separate us might not drift so far apart if we thought more about the road that we're all kicking up this dust for.
Please enjoy this edit, and have yourself a beautiful day. :)
The past is dark, and we're often predisposed to looking back at it for what shines. At times that can be the radiant light of innovation or the warm glow o...
