ns through Our Town and reminds us of a Golden Age we cannot let go of.

High divorce rates, low job security, college payments, retirement and high crime rates leave 55% of Americans to say that the “good old days” were better than today, according to the Roper Starch Worldwide Survey. Maybe in recreating the past, we depress ourselves even more with the realization that the past is the past, and the future will never be the past. The closer we age in the future, it seems the more intense we try to grab onto the olden days that were so quaint and so innocent. The real failure is that we romantically reconstruct the past as only positive and blocking the negative. Nothing can be utopian or perfect, and everything must have its downfall. For Celebration, the exterior was ideal however the inside problems made residents extremely unhappy. It was very disappointing that the nostalgic neighborhood they lived in was not as ideal as they remember it should have been. Politicians are lying and making it harder to address life as it is, not as it used to be. Facing the real problems and making them better is today’s issue, not trying to ignore them.

Robert Putnam creates valid evidence in Bowling Alone that the good life was once, but is deteriorating at the present. Statistical evidence of trends in Community Participation reveal that the largest percent of projects was held in the late sixties and ever decreasing since. The perception of “leading a good life” was higher in the 1950’s by about 28% more than in 1998. Perhaps the reason we are nostalgic is because we lack the involvement and enthusiasm we held yesteryear, and it makes us regret not recreating the past. This is the reason consumers purchase vintage and old school items, this is the reason we move to Celebration and other planned communities and this is the reason we vote to have our children kept in uniforms and under tight curfew.

Some topics in this essay:
Survey Maybe, Business Week, , Community Participation, President Clinton, Meg Greenfield, Celebration Chronicles, Thornton Wilder, Week Classic, Congress Urbanism, political social, political social economic, social economic, recreating past, nostalgia essential, planned community, thornton wilder, warm fuzzy, celebration chronicles, robert putnam, reliving past,