We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first "lost
generation" nor today's lost generation; in fact, we think we know just
where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak. We are the ones who
played with Lego Building Blocks when they were just building blocks and
gave Malibu Barbie crewcuts with safety scissors that never really cut.
We collected Garbage Pail Kids and Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little
Ponies and Hot Wheels and He-Man action figures and thought She-Ra looked
just a little bit like I would when I was a woman. Big Wheels and
bicycles with streamers were the way to go, and sidewalk chalk was all
you needed to build a city. Imagination was the key. It made the Ewok
Treehouse big enough for you to be Luke and the kitchen table and an old
sheet dark enough to be a tent in the forest. Your world was the
backyard and it was all you needed. With your pink portable
tape player, Debbie Gibson sang back up to you and everyone wanted a skirt
like the Material Girl and a glove like Michael Jackson's. Today, we are
the ones who sing along with Bruce Stringsteen and The Bangles perfectly
and have no idea why. We recite lines with the Ghostbusters and still
look to The Goonies for a great adventure. We flip through T.V. stations
and stop at The A Team and Knight Rider and Fame and laugh with The Cosby
Show and Family Ties and Punky Brewster and what you talkin' 'bout
Willis? We hold strong affections for The Muppets and The Gummy Bears
and why did they take the Smurfs off the air? After school specials were
only about cigarettes and step-families, the Pokka Dot Door was
nothing like Barney, and aren't the Power Rangers just Voltron
reincarnated? We are the ones who still read Nancy Drew and the Hardy
Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Beverly Clearly and Judy Blume, Richard Scary
and the Electric Company. Friendship bracelets were ties you couldn't
break and friendship pins went on shoes - preferably hightop Velcro
Reebox - and pegged jeans were in, as were Units belts and layered socks
and jean jackets and jams and charm necklaces and side pony tails and
rats' tails. Rave was a girl's best friend; braces with colored rubberbands
made you cool. The backdoor was always open and Mom served only red
Kool-Aid to the neighborhood kids- never drank New Coke. Entertainment
was cheap and lasted for hours. All you needed to be a princess was high
heels and an apron; the Sit'n'Spin always made you dizzy but never made
you stop; Pogoballs were dangerous weapons and Chinese Jump Ropes never
failed to trip someone. In your Underoos you were Wonder Woman or Spider
Man or R2D2 and in your treehouse you were king. In the Eighties,
nothing was wrong. Did you know the president was shot? Star Wars was
not only a movie. Did you ever play in a bomb shelter? Did you see the
Challenger explode or feed the homeless man? We forgot Vietnam and
watched Tiananman's Square on CNN and bought pieces of the Berlin Wall at the
store. AIDS was not the number one killer in the United States. We
didn't start the fire, Billy Joel. In the Eighties, we redefined the
American Dream, and those years defined us. We are the generation in
between strife and facing strife and not turning our backs. The Eighties
may have made us idealistic, but it's that idealism that will push us and
be passed on to our children - the first children of the twenty-first
century. Never forget: We are the children of the Eighties.
If this is familiar, you are one of us... pass it on to all the others...
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