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 LittlePonies 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 Snorks off the air? After school specials were only
about cigarettes and step-families, the Polka 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 just 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...
Please, send this essay via e-mail or postal to others of us. True Eighties
Children will understand. A true Eighties child was born between 1978 and 1984,
and can tell you what each and every one of these things is and means. Unlike the
Flower Children, we have never been glamourized, and almost all of us still long
for the youth we have lost. I personally still love to watch Strawberry Shortcake,
Rainbow Brite, Maple Town, Zoobilee Zoo, Mighty Mouse, Thundercats, and am I the only
one who remembers the Beverly Hills Kids cartoon? Or Camp Candy, with an animated
John Candy? Are there others out there?
