Permit me a personal remembrance.
1990 was a watershed year. I was 35 and at the prime of my physical and mental abilities, except for the relative lack of life-knowledge you might expect someone to have acquired by that age. A discrete lack of responsibility for anyone other than myself up to that point could be given as a reason, and I'll happily live with that conclusion, should you make it.
The 80's had been a tough decade for me; a failed attempt at post-graduate academics; a failed relationship which left a long-lasting friendship in ruins; and, of course, a long slog with that Republican Saint, Ronald Reagan in charge of national matters. (He'd been an actor I'd admired growing up, but as a politician he wrecked havoc on the progressive gains of the 70's, in which I and many of my generation had invested much hope).
I had also lost my father to lung cancer, and my mother had been diagnosed with the same disease; she would lose her battle not long into the 90's.
1990 rang in with rumblings of War in the Middle East, the consequences of which we are still experiencing, but that had little impact on me at the time. My attention was taken with a new love and a new career.
The new love was truly new; but my new career had actually been percolating for much of the second half of the 80's. I had changed from science to computer programming, and it was a refreshing change to enter a field where the importance was on capability rather than credentials; on talent rather than seniority. Those of you in the business today know that this has largely changed, but trust me, the field of computers and IT was heaven for the independent-minded oddball back then.
The 90's turned out to be my big decade; the best of my life, despite ominous signs of national political turmoil to come. My new love turned into a lasting relationship. It brought happiness, stability, two wonderful children, and a healthy dose of responsibility. My career has been stable enough too since then; no great achievements or successes, but steady employment and something meaningful to do.
The end of the last decade of the 20th century saw me in a situation the goodness of which I wouldn't have imagined at the end of the 1970's. I hadn't achieved stardom or won the Nobel, and I certainly wasn't Jacques Cousteau or Kenny Roberts, my two 70's heroes, but I was in a good place. A very good place.
The '00s come next, but from then to now is a story I'll keep to myself. My purpose here was to reflect on what for many of my generation was the seminal decade of our lives. It seems such a long time ago now, but if you think about our collective hopes and their ups and downs through the years leading to the 1990's, then think of how we felt at the end of those years, and finally reflect on where we are now, you might begin to understand the foundation for the general malaise many of us are now feeling. And this despite the Hope raised by the 2008 election and recent re-election of the nation's first African-American President, something we would have hoped for but hardly expected at the end of the 90's. A bright light in an otherwise politically dim time.
Here's hoping you are experiencing your seminal decade now, and that if so you are mindful of the seeds that are sown for our future, good or ill, as well as the current benefits you are reaping. Too many of us didn't when it was out turn, and look how that's turned out.
1990 was a watershed year. I was 35 and at the prime of my physical and mental abilities, except for the relative lack of life-knowledge you might expect someone to have acquired by that age. A discrete lack of responsibility for anyone other than myself up to that point could be given as a reason, and I'll happily live with that conclusion, should you make it.
The 80's had been a tough decade for me; a failed attempt at post-graduate academics; a failed relationship which left a long-lasting friendship in ruins; and, of course, a long slog with that Republican Saint, Ronald Reagan in charge of national matters. (He'd been an actor I'd admired growing up, but as a politician he wrecked havoc on the progressive gains of the 70's, in which I and many of my generation had invested much hope).
I had also lost my father to lung cancer, and my mother had been diagnosed with the same disease; she would lose her battle not long into the 90's.
1990 rang in with rumblings of War in the Middle East, the consequences of which we are still experiencing, but that had little impact on me at the time. My attention was taken with a new love and a new career.
The new love was truly new; but my new career had actually been percolating for much of the second half of the 80's. I had changed from science to computer programming, and it was a refreshing change to enter a field where the importance was on capability rather than credentials; on talent rather than seniority. Those of you in the business today know that this has largely changed, but trust me, the field of computers and IT was heaven for the independent-minded oddball back then.
The 90's turned out to be my big decade; the best of my life, despite ominous signs of national political turmoil to come. My new love turned into a lasting relationship. It brought happiness, stability, two wonderful children, and a healthy dose of responsibility. My career has been stable enough too since then; no great achievements or successes, but steady employment and something meaningful to do.
The end of the last decade of the 20th century saw me in a situation the goodness of which I wouldn't have imagined at the end of the 1970's. I hadn't achieved stardom or won the Nobel, and I certainly wasn't Jacques Cousteau or Kenny Roberts, my two 70's heroes, but I was in a good place. A very good place.
The '00s come next, but from then to now is a story I'll keep to myself. My purpose here was to reflect on what for many of my generation was the seminal decade of our lives. It seems such a long time ago now, but if you think about our collective hopes and their ups and downs through the years leading to the 1990's, then think of how we felt at the end of those years, and finally reflect on where we are now, you might begin to understand the foundation for the general malaise many of us are now feeling. And this despite the Hope raised by the 2008 election and recent re-election of the nation's first African-American President, something we would have hoped for but hardly expected at the end of the 90's. A bright light in an otherwise politically dim time.
Here's hoping you are experiencing your seminal decade now, and that if so you are mindful of the seeds that are sown for our future, good or ill, as well as the current benefits you are reaping. Too many of us didn't when it was out turn, and look how that's turned out.
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