Friday, October 26, 2012

Let Go of My Childhood

I'm getting older, and I'm starting to feel like it. And I don't mean in that tired, cynical way. I mean the nostalgia effect is seriously wearing off. I suppose the Internet helped with that as well. It's not like I've ever been allowed to put all the things from my past behind me. But honestly, I'd rather watch the video of He-man singing What's Up over watching an actual episode of the show.

I feel like these childhood things are being held captive by a generation of kids who didn't actually grow up with them. And they seem to, for whatever reason, want to constantly ram my childhood up my adult brain's asshole. Well, congratulations, you've now successfully helped me replace my nostalgic memories with brand spankin' new adult ones — which are probably similar to my parents' ... yay.

Seriously, stop celebrating childhood. What was so great about being a complete dumbass who sucked at everything? And can we stop pretending like every kid was some creative flower that was stunted by an unimaginative system? In my day, most kids couldn't have cared less about their school subjects or being creative, and I highly doubt that has changed.

The few kids who actually have unique minds are not going to grow up into your typical bro. The desire to learn, to explore, to be creative is an impulse, not a conscious decision. If you don't have it now, you've never had it. The only exception to this being people who're medicated or have incurred some sort of head injury.

Growing up isn't a bad thing; you're adults now. There is an entire world of stuff out there to explore that your formally underdeveloped brain could never appreciate or understand. Don't be afraid to become complex people who don't care when reruns of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles air or the latest remake of some film they've already seen a million times comes out. And don't even get me started on bronies. 

2 comments:

  1. I was thinking about this. How when I was a kid, me and my friends adopted a lot of stuff from our parents adolescence. But we didn't take their kid's sows. We took their music and their hippydom.
    Back then parents couldn't share their childhood with you. You had to discover the bits you liked and if they started talking about way back when your eyes glazed over. My generation was spoon-fed our parents childhoods in media, every movie or T show related to the 50s and 60s. But your parents weren't allowed to talk about it.
    Now it seems, at least with my generation-and I am guilty of this, that we freely share what was great about our childhood. For example, I sat down and watched the first Tron with my boys, and play them my music. There is some of media doing this for me, the new My Little Pony comes to mind. But now it seems more acceptable, again with my crowd, to share our childhoods with our kids.
    Let me be clear, by the time I was old enough for my parents to find me interesting enough to share their stories I was too old to want to hear them (teenagers!)
    With our kids we started straight out the womb.
    I have no real point here. Just an observation. But I do wonder what our parents thought when we all started wearing tiedye listening to The Doors and lighting incense. Did they feel violated? Did they just shake their heads?

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  2. The only thing I stole from my dad was part of his comic collection. But I don't consider things that transcend childhood, appeal to everyone, and that are just timeless bad to celebrate or share. It's just that Dinosaucers isn't one of them.




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