[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I enjoyed growing up during that time frame. I would wander the woods in the late ‘60s all day. Play football in the neighborhood. Ride bikes everywhere. Kids would bring rifles into high school. My college years were among the most fun years of my life. But this idyllic view ignores a ton of reality.

1. The AIDS epidemic that emerged in ‘82-‘84 had far more to do with the end of the sexual revolution than Anita Baker did in 1991. Big Daddy’s experiences aren’t really relevant to 98% of the population because he boasted of his swinging lifestyle on CP well into the 2000s. No judgement, but his experience is an outlier.

2. How many people does our generation know that died from the freedom of being able to drink and drive when it was socially acceptable? A guy in my Boy Scout troop dead at 22. A guy in my wife’s HS class of less than 100 died before graduating. My college roommate killed someone drunk driving. Me and my college roommates had too many stupid moments.

3. How many rape victims do you know from that time period? Considering that 1 in 6 women are raped, it is not hard to know of several.

4. I was on a church youth group camping trip. One of the “older” girls went off with some older guy outside of our group for the night. Titillating gossip at the time. She was probably 15 or 16 years old and the dude she went off with was probably 18-22. I just can’t believe that was a positive experience for her. I’m not a prude but I suspect that ‘70s freedom was not a net positive in her life.

5. I played a game of chess in 8th grade against a kid (excuse the use of gender neutral pronouns) wearing nail polish in a conservative suburban school district in the mid-70s. I didn’t know them well, but I can’t imagine their life was easy and that they decided to wear nail polish on a whim. From their overall demeanor I would take all bets at 10:1 odds they were a trans girl.

6. Why were there not more LGBTQ people from earlier generations, you ask? 1) they were repressed and 2) the died of AIDS in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Don’t act stupid and pretend you didn’t know that you had LGBTQ classmates. I was way outside of any social circle and the rumors still made their way to me. There have always been LGBTQ people, but haters are mad about them not staying in their closet where they belong.

7. Bullying sucked. Personal experience. Smart, socially awkward, skinny, and different opinions filled my bingo card.

8. Middle aged guy in my parent’s neighborhood riding his bike casually, crashes and ends up disabled due to brain injury. But at least he didn’t look like a dork by wearing a helmet.

9. A friend in our early 20s social circle got hit by a car crossing the street. 6 mo recovery and still never the same. He used to be a great guy to hang out with and became paranoid , unapproachable, and unable to lead a normal life. That led me to a life long vow: do whatever I can to reduce risk of a brain injury to me or my loved ones. I’m not living in a bubble but yes, I am extra sensitive to situations where I may get a brain injury.

10. Kid in my high school has a “gun cleaning accident”. Everyone knew it was suicide but no one knew why.

11. I got into music and had a mid-range stereo system ( reciever, speakers, turntable, and tape deck) that I probably had $600 invested in. An equal amount in records. With my phone, a $350 Bluetooth speaker and $11 per month I can access virtually all music in the universe that sounds better. This ignores 45 years of inflation.

This is a great post...gotta take the good with the bad and have perspective.