The Internet and the Human Condition

Countless experiments have been conducted to show that, whatever our hopes or fears, reality rarely measures up or down to what we expected or dreaded. This truth is reflected in such expressions as "the thrill of the chase" and "it's better to travel hopefully than to arrive".
Amongst it's many other features, I think that the Internet serves as a very good illustration of this point. All of a sudden, we are able to harness the powrs of the web to trace the name of a long-forgotten place, person, book or song.
For instance, I had for years been longing in a lackadaisical sort of way to hear that wonderful old song called "We're Busy Doing Nothing", as it is full of very fond memories for me. Well, just the other day I decided to do a Google search for it and lo and behold there it was on YouTube! Not just the music but also the extract from the film in which it appeared. Thus emboldened, I tracked down Noel Coward's Stately Homes of England and of course that came up without any problem, either. In fact, if you care to set your mind to it you could chase up just about everything from the pre-digital past. But wait a minute. Chase up or dredge up? For in my view, the pleasure is tinged with sadness and, dare I say it, a touch of disappointment. There is the feeling that perhaps these memories from the past are in fact perhaps best left to the past. Or rather, that the pleasure of reunion is much greater when it comes about by accident - on the radio for example - rather than as a result of a relentless campaign on the Internet.
My darling mother always used to say that the best part of a holiday was coming back home at the end of it. I would like to return to this question on another occasion. I mean, the difficulty we have in living "in the moment" and our preference for looking forward to - or back on - events.

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