This is in response to Wilbur's excellent diary of reminiscing, which you may read
here.
We might both be from the United States, but we come from different universes.
Nuclear missles thousands of miles away were "pointed at" us, threatening every inch of the land at any moment and there was no realistic hope that this condition would ever end. Then -- a guy with groceries in front of a tank, people with hammers at a wall -- through these bizarre events, democracy had inexpicably won. We learned this in one hour chunks every day at 6:30pm from respected newscasters (of which there were only three.) We were safe from external threats forever!
Man had walked on the moon, that was old news now. We had a failed space station, a shuttle blew up. None of those wild-eyed predictions I read about in my (c) Copyright 1963 encyclopedias were coming true. Space Station Freedom was too darn expensive. Hubble was broken. Maybe we should just give up on this space thing. What's the point?
People on the radio were talking about the information superhighway. One Thursday night, my dad and I listened to the nice sales guy at Radio Shack talk to us until after the store closed about a Tandy with Prodigy. That was the future.
AIDS was no longer just spreading among 'bad' people (read: gays and drug users) but also unfortunate souls who got tainted blood transfusions. Dentistry was thought to be Russian Roulette. People were suddenly concerned.
I was rarely allowed to go outside my yard, especially if it was getting dark out. The sidewalks were always empty. The majority of my neighbors moved in and out of their houses without me ever saying a word to them. Crime was thought to be pervasive in my crimeless upper middle class neighborhood. A burglar in every doorway, murderers around the corner. Everyone locked their doors with three deadbolts. The burglars never showed up.
The nice old priest at our church who told us how to live our lives according to what Jesus taught died and was replaced with a priest whose one-song repetoire involved the ever-present dangers of some 'a' word I had to look up in a dictionary.
No one talked to strangers. They could be kidnappers! At school we had assemblies that told us to never, under any circumstances, talk to people we didn't know if our parents weren't there. My classmate got lost in the woods, trying to get to Disney World. She wouldn't tell the people she saw that she was lost. She did get home fine eventually.
We all went to Sex-Ed (with our parents) at night to learn about STDs and placentas, and it really, really did not make us want to have sex.
All the poor people lived in the cities, where they were poor because they were criminals. No one ever went to the cities for fear of being shot. If you went to the city for some reason, you left as fast as possible.
America's economic empire was failing, and Japan and Germany were quickly overtaking us. They were smart, efficient, coordinated, and hard-working. We were antiquated, lazy, and overly-burdened by our government. We were becoming poorer because of our poor moral choices. American cars were a joke.
It was expected that you would grow up to get fired one day, and that when you got fired, you wouldn't be able to turn to someone for a "handout" (and if you did, you'd be a welfare queen) so you shouldn't get fired in the first place. Getting fired was shameful. Work just as much as you need to avoid getting fired. Failing that, kick someone in the balls on a home video and make $100,000.
A three-boobed woman appeared in a sci-fi movie -- only rated R -- and no one feared society would crumble because of it. I saw a nipple on broadcast television! No one was fined. No one cared. Everyone has those things.
Thinking one of the political parties was "anti-science" would have been preposterous -- what did that even mean, anyhow? How will we build our weapons?
Putting your hands in the river was rumored to be a death sentence by my friends. The sound was filled with sewage and hyperdemic needles. I was upset when my dad told me we couldn't eat the fish I caught.
Seeing another friend after school was a big deal, involving telephone calls, rides organized, permission slips written, school officials notified. It was a rare treat.
Video games were a rising, sinister force, exposing children to violence, however pixelated and symbolic it was. Klaxons and alarms were going off. I thought the games were fun. I watched The Wizard to see the footage of Super Mario Bros 3. I stayed up all night playing Zelda at my friend's house until I dreamed about blinking rupees.
Apple orchards and corn fields were being replaced by condos and houses (at the time, only two stories tall), which were worth more. New streets were everywhere. The stream which ran behind my house was displaced by a cul-de-sac.
Chasing color Christmas lights were a Big Thing at Christmas time. Plain white lights were hoity-toity.
Some guy named Saddam was being a jerk. Everyone hated him. Everyone got together, shot the bad guys, and left real quick.
Taking a midnight train to anywhere was not yet a reason for suspicion of terorist activities.
Greed was good. That's what kept the economy going, after all. We were able to see the lifesyles of the rich and famous on television. Maybe someday we could have that too, if only the financing were available.