Growing Up in the ’80s Part 3: True Freedom
By Destro Designs-Viper Den Studios
There was a long stretch of being a kid that I swear, no matter what my friends and I did, we never got caught. Adults left kids alone a bit more back then.
Adults weren’t up kids’ asses, making them spend endless hours every week in structured sports, coupled with piano lessons, dance class, and two intramural activities at school.
I coach a lot of youth sports, and these kids today don’t have any time to just be kids.
George Carlin touched on this, and he thought it was integral to the young mind to be able to just do whatever they wanted—run around, play, daydream, and just be kids. I mean, within reason, of course. Perhaps my friends and I had a little too much freedom, but it was almost perfect.
There was an ice rink for the local Rockets teams that stayed open all year. In those dog days of August, when it’s damn near 100 degrees and no one had air conditioning anywhere except maybe the bedrooms, we were always looking for a way to stay cool. We’d walk to the ice rink, jump the fence in the back, and walk in through the concession stand door like we’d already paid at the front. Then we’d just sit there in the freezing cold without a care in the world.
I’ve been riding bikes with my kids lately, and it’s truly brought back those memories and feelings of true freedom.
Seven years old. No clue what responsibility is. No bills. No job. Just G.I. Joes, my bike, and my friends.
THAT, my brothers and sisters, is true freedom.
Part of the reason G.I. Joe resonates so deeply with me four decades later is because the Joes represent a time when my mind was happiest and most carefree. Now, I love my life as it is—don’t get me wrong. My family is the best, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. But the rigors of being an adult dull some of that shine from those childlike eyes. You simply cannot replicate the feeling of having the wonders of the world stretched out in front of you, waiting to be discovered, the way you could when you were seven years old.
I find myself harkening back to those times more and more lately as my kids grow into themselves and I wrestle with the worries that come with raising children. I think I had freedom and was raised a particular way almost by default. My parents were kids themselves, and they worked all the time.
Back then, no babysitter? No problem.
We learned independence at a very young age. Some of us also learned neglect. Not me, of course, but I had friends whose parents were completely checked out.
As I said, my mind has been in the ’80s these last few months, so I appreciate you taking this trip down memory lane with me.
