Paradise Lost

I have had an idea kicking around my head the past few days. Not anything that coagulated into solid form, but lingering nonetheless.
Why is paradise lost a common belief, or an almost universal longing?
Obviously, the Book of Genesis kicks off and is followed almost immediately by a personal foul on the only two people on the planet. It is certainly not just a biblical theme, though. J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth was full of longing for lost days and great heroes who had fallen in the battle with evil, and majestic cities that no longer stand and who's beauty will never be matched. Tolkien was biblically influenced, but I don't know that we can say the same for Rush. The old rock band wrote the 2112 Overture, which describes at length a single man trying to restore life to the wonder of old days by, naturally, the means of a 'prehistoric' guitar.
I know that, for my own part, I was a little saddened to see that the McDonald's restaurant in my hometown was remodeled. I have no great love for the place, but it's where I worked my first job, and now I can never be in that place with the same atmosphere, whatever it's worth. Going back to the house where you grew up and seeing another family's car parked in the driveway, or other kids playing in the yard, can be downright jarring. It seems as though the plodding of time is acceptable as long as we can restore our present world to a past moment, thus regaining it. Thus, that memory, that time is lost but for the frail thread of our own mind.
Of course, The Ancients who occupied Paradise Lost where also of greater might than can be found today. The Good were great and the Bad were wicked beyond match. I often wonder if the hero worship portion of this phenomenon may even go back to our childhoods. Your father's strength and wisdom were incredible until you became an adolescent, and the devoted selflessness of a mother sets the foundation for your view of love and tenderness. How can anybody you encounter as an adult ever match these outsize traits. Only now as my own family grows can I see any sort of bonds of that magnitude emerging in the all-consuming, hyperbolic EVERYTHING of children and the understated love and care of Wifey.
This entry feels rushed, because it really needs to be about twice as lengthy, but it's time to cut out.