What's on your Pedestal Now?

What makes something or someone important to us? The word in itself is almost like the word "is" in it's definition, in the sense that it has circular logic applied to it.  If you think about it, you know what it means, but then you don't really know at the same time.  The reason why I jumped into all of this is because I was struck with the notion recently that most of the things we feel are important today will soon become menial or even stupid to us later. So what makes that difference for us? Is it time, wisdom, perspective, a combination? I don't get it.  Sometimes things aren't important to us until years later, and sometimes it work the exact opposite.  It's a funny thing because we shed blood, sweat, and tears over these "important" items in our lives and then one day we decide we don't really care anymore.  I can't begin to wrap my head around it.  Whether it be a relationship, a toy, a phone, or a test or a job somehow we find a way to forget it mattered to us.  Which, if we can forget they ever mattered, how can we prove that they ever did?  I question this not to say that nothing matters, or that if we forget why it did that it in fact never mattered.  I am asking because whether it was good or bad looking back at it, it still played a substantial role in our lives.  For something to truly be important to you, you have to put your heart into it.  That's a sad thing to forget about.  Our hearts, they're fragile, but ever hardening.  To me, forgetting why something was important is like hardening your heart.  You are afraid it may happen again, and instead of learning from whatever may have happened, you wish and pretend it never did.  Maybe I'm looking too far into it, but I think sometimes we use our words somewhat loosely. I just hope that in sorting out what is and isn't important to me I won't lose sight of just living.  And more importantly, God.  But at the same time, I want to cure this roller coaster curve that spikes from caring to not caring and make it a much straighter line.  I don't really know where to start, I guess this is as good of place as any.