While attending a funeral for a loved one, conversations turned to those good old days when things seemed better. It got me to thinking about a homily I heard a few days before, when the priest talked about nostalgia for times in which we never lived.

I’ve lived in parts of eight decades — from the 1950s into the 2020s. I was on the younger side in the 1950s. But history reveals we had the Korean War, Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus, the Suez Canal crisis, the Cuba revolution, the death of Stalin and the heating up of the Cold War. We also had the beginning of the H-bomb era. Does anyone else remember atomic bomb drills and hiding under desks at school? Were the 1950s all that great? I only remember that parents, grandparents, families and teachers kept us protected from such nightmares.

What about the 1960s? We had the assassinations of JFK, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. We had the civil rights movement and a conflict in Southeast Asia broadcast on our TVs each evening. We had troubles in Ireland.

The 1970s ushered in the Kent State massacre, gasoline shortages and the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Paul McCartney announced the Beatles had disbanded.

The 1980s had disco. Need I write more?

The 1990s brought us the fall of the USSR as well as the first Chechen conflict. We saw the Rwandan genocide, the beginning of the Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait and onset of economic upheaval with the introduction of the Euro. We had Kosovo.

The turn of the century brought us 9/11 and the longest protracted involvement in United States military history. We witnessed the Boxing Day tsunami, global recession, Darfur, Hurricane Katrina, the Iranian nuclear race, housing market crashes, financial bailouts and the last time the Yankees won the World Series.

The 2010s brought us Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, a seismic change in our political landscape, Brexit, impeachments, more hurricanes, the Boston terrorist attacks, mass shootings and the Me-Too Movement.

So far, this decade has brought us a pandemic.

These are but a sampling of the tragedy and chaos we’ve endured.

Yet, there are some who say we need to go back to a time when things were better. Really? When, exactly, was that? We’ve never lived in a time when things were peaceful.

So, are we nostalgic for times in which we never lived?

What I’ve learned is the thing I need to address is me. I’ve realized I can’t do much about the world, But I can become a better version of myself.

If that means I need to become more empathetic, more sympathetic and more loving, then that’s what I need to do.

Why? Because we’ve never lived in a world of peace and harmony. We likely never will.

Perhaps, though, I can make my part of the world a little more peaceful and harmonious.

I guess I’m actually nostalgic for a time when I was a little softer, a little kinder and a little more caring.

How about you?