Seeing this question made me think deeper, and if I had the power to bring just one thing that has gone extinct back, it would not be dodo, or an old product I once admired, or the passenger pigeon. What I will bring back is the way of life, that is, people being genuinely available to one another.
I have so much missed this kind of availability that I saw while growing up that didn't require any appointments. There was this time when we could easily visit our neighbor like this in the evening by just knocking on their door, sitting down and gisting about each other's day, and actually waiting for a good response. We played outside until our parents shouted out our full names and asked us to get inside because it was getting late even though it was just next door. People used to share foods, borrow salt from neighbors, and exchange news that would benefit each other, and we paid close attention to each other to know when something was wrong or different.
Even though everything wasn't perfect then. Everyone has a private problem together were dealing with, things they won't even talk about, family problems. But there was this level of closeness then that the technology today has now made it so difficult to maintain.
And now, with the look of things, we have different ways we now use to reach each other, and still with that, we are so hard to reach. You can ask someone, "How are you doing" and they can say, "I'm fine" while carrying the weight of the whole world on their shoulders. We can watch each other's status every day and still won't know when we need each other's company. We have become very good at staying connected without necessarily being present. And you see that part; it is what I would bring back.
I won't bring back the old house, old phones, or even the old routines... But you see that habit of simply showing up, that is what I'll bring back. Sitting with my neighbors on an evening like this doesn't need a special reason. Having to eat from the same place because we don't have to make that moment a complicated one.
And after all, maybe what went into extinction was not a particular custom. Maybe it was the feeling that another person’s ordinary day was worth entering. And if I had the power to bring that back, that is definitely what I would do... And I'm also sure that a lot of people will immediately recognize that.
Thank you for reading.
Images created by Gemini AI
