The 70's are back
From bell bottoms to war and a crook in the White House

Ocotober 26, 2006
iranian.com

The Webster dictionary states NOSATALGIA as “wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable”. A rather pleasant feeling, for the most part, rather than unpleasant. 

I wasn’t in a good mood tonight.  Besides the fact that the wife and I had some “words”, if you would, I just wasn’t chipper.  I felt that the news for these past few days have been rather disturbing.  So, when Reza got the wind of it and asked to go to the hookah place, I didn’t hesitate much and agreed. 

We were sitting there, trying to top one another in the amount of smoke we could exhale with a single puff, while shooting the breeze.  I didn’t have to elaborate much as to what went on tonight to put me in a foul mood, he understood.  We talked about many different man/woman issues and when we both thought we had enough, the subject diverted to politics almost automatically. 

We were both deeply disappointed in what is going on in the Middle East.  We both agreed that once the oil dries up in the region, everything will settle down and there will be peace.

I realized then that the 1970’s have really made a come back.  I mean it isn’t just in the bell bottom pants and long hair and beards any more, the whole decade is back.  I did thank “W” for the war he created in Iraq to make this decade feel a bit more like the 70’s.  You know, Vietnam War? 

But I thought, it isn’t just the bug eyed glasses and hip-hugger pants.  We have a war just like we had in 70’s, we have oil crises just like the 70’s, we have a serious Arab/Israeli conflict just like the 70’s, and ... yes, ladies and gentlemen, we do have a crook in the white house.  Yes, Milhouse, history proved that you were a “crook”, despite your cries that you weren’t one.  I’m quite sure history will also proves that “W” is going to make Nixon look like a priest, perhaps not a Catholic one, but a priest, none the less.

I never forget the news back in the day and my father’s relentless cursing at the producers of the Vietnam War and how he would shake his head side to side while reading about the destruction of Beirut.  He would always say, “It was the bride of the Middle East”.  That’s what Beirut was famous for.  The Lebanese endured it, while seeing their “bride” riddled with bullets and set on fire.  We read about the young American soldiers dying every day in Vietnam and even though we didn’t feel the oil crises living in Iran, we knew of the shortages and rations the Americans had to withstand. 

So, thank you, the new production company, for this new mess.  The nostalgia you brought does not make me homesick, does not make me yearn for those days that are gone, and I sure as hell don’t want the 70’s to come back.  If I could do without the fashion and Bee Gee’s, I could sure do without all the pain and uncertainty. 

For the most part, the 70’s brings with itself unfound memories of puberty, leaving home, and the fear of Iran getting involved in a war.  My pimples have long been gone, I have a manly voice, I don’t really have to dress up in checkered pants and polyester jackets, but I have that awful feeling of an endless war, whose flames may very well grasp my home land and burn the innocence.