We have a curious habit. We like to smile at our own past.

When an old photograph from the 1990s turns up, we laugh at the clothes, the hairstyles, the music. It is almost as if we are a little embarrassed by that world. But back then, no one thought it was embarrassing. Back then, it was simply the present.

A friend of mine sends me a song from time to time. "Listen to this," my friend says. "I think you'll like it." Sometimes only the melody stays with me. Other times, it sparks a thought. This time, it was Majka's Everyone Danced.

As the song recalls the nineties—the cheap vermouth, the worn-out discos, the lack of money, and the unmistakable atmosphere of those years—I found myself smiling and reflecting at the same time. Because that is exactly how it was. We didn't have much money. Many times, we counted the last few coins in our pockets before deciding what to spend them on. And yet, when the lights came on over the dance floor on a Friday night, it felt as though we had everything.

Our world wasn't perfect.

But it was ours.

Today, it is easy to say those were simpler times. It is easy to laugh at the old songs or the neon lights of those discos. But those places did not stay with us because they were extraordinary. If we walked into the same building today, we might not even recognize what we once loved so much.

Because it wasn't the place that was special.

It was us.

That was where we laughed until dawn and danced as if tomorrow did not exist. It was where first loves were born, where hearts were broken for the first time, and where friendships began—some of them lasting a lifetime. Walls do not preserve memories.

People do.

I believe every generation goes through the same thing. Today's young people have their own places, their own music, and their own fashion. One day, another generation will smile at them and perhaps say, "You looked so strange."

But they won't have been strange.

They will simply have been young in a different time.

And when they look back on these years someday, they won't remember their phones, their clothes, or the songs that topped the charts. They will remember the feeling that life was still ahead of them, and that every Friday night they left home believing that anything could happen.

That is why we should never laugh at our past.

Because what seems embarrassing today is someone else's most beautiful memory.

And perhaps one day we will all realize that it wasn't the discos, the cheap vermouth, or even the 1990s that made those years unforgettable.

It was the simple fact that everyone danced.

Back then, we had no idea that these would become the evenings we would cherish the most.