Last week's column on my train trip across the country on the California Zephyr was a hit. Several people told me they liked it, and that's several people more than usual. That fact that it was first written and published in 1993 didn't bother anyone. No one remembers this column from last week, let alone four years ago.
Books have a slightly longer life span.
Even if we forget, they remember. Books may talk about possible futures, but all were written in the past, no matter how recently. By the time George Carlin's recent memoir Brain Droppings hit the racks he had lost his wife, mourned, and worked out a whole new act. Some enlightened humans live only in the Now. In the Now that sunny day lasts forever.