Class of 1980–Congratulations! It’s Your 40th High School Graduation Anniversary...And You’re Not Only Old But You Can’t Celebrate!
You survived two of the most tumultuous decades of our country and a damn virus has wiped out your 40th reunion!
But don’t worry.
At least we have Facebook!
Except for all of those friends you un-friended!
At least now you won't have to face them...
Except for all of those friends you un-friended!
At least now you won't have to face them...
And, hey.
Know this:
We survived Vinny Barbarino’s mood swings!
But we survived more than Disco and John Travolta!
Born into the most tumultuous period of our country’s existence, we also survived the Sixties!
And we had a name: Baby Boomers! (The Late Ones!)
As we entered the world, America was celebrating domestic bliss.
The heroes on television represented strong, male role models in Matt Dillon, Ben Cartwright and Andy Taylor.
Everything was fine in Dodge City, Virginia City and Mayberry!
And it was all not in living color but black and white.
Our Greatest Generation parents had survived World War II and discovered suburbia.
The Eisenhower era had passed the torch to a new generation.
A new president asked what not and began a quest for the final frontier of space.
Our parents music, Frank, Elvis and Bing, was still on top.
And our war was a cold one.
It was an idyllic time to be alive and we were in the lucky sperm club!
Is this a great country or what?
Then shots rang out in Dallas and the nations’ mood changed.
Our nation’s collective souls were shattered.
We went from “Ask Not” to “Why?”
But just when our nation was mourning, searching for answers, four lads from Liverpool arrived and not only wanted to hold our hand but spread love and inspiration!
And soothed our souls.
Frank, Elvis and Bing had been replaced by John, Paul, George and Ringo!
The British Invasion soon followed with Mick and Keith, Roger and Pete and friends.
Suddenly the nations’ mood lifted.
Not to be out done, The Beach Boys were “Surfin’ USA”.
Annette and Frankie gave us “Beach Party Bingo!”
And The Turtles gave us “Happy Together”!
Our television shows reflected this mood shift.
We had a genie in a bottle.
A
A magical witch who could twitch her nose and make things disappear.
A Gomer in the Marines.
And a shipwrecked crew of castaways stranded on an island after a three hour cruise in stormy weather (what the hell were they thinking?)
Fun, light-hearted themes.
And just when things had settled down...
Our nations’ mood changed again.
Civil rights protests.
Vietnam War protests.
More assassinations.
A counter-culture developed.
Flower Power emerged.
Peace, Love and Rock and Roll
John, Paul, George and Ringo had been replaced by Jimi, Janice and Jim!
And we got to see them every week in living color on "The Dick Cavett Show", "Sonny & Cher" and "The Smothers Brothers"!
And we got to see them every week in living color on "The Dick Cavett Show", "Sonny & Cher" and "The Smothers Brothers"!
Fittingly, the sixties came to a crashing thud that symbolized the decade in one lonely stretch of the summer of '69:
Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Another Kennedy made "Chappaquiddick" a household name.
And a hippie family killed a movie star and six others.
The Final Frontier and “One small step for mankind” had morphed into “turn on, tune in and drop out.”
And we were watching it all unfold on television wondering “What the hell?”
By the time we were eight years old the new decade began with the National Guard murdering students in Kent, Ohio.
Neil Young was watching and David Crosby handed him a guitar:
“Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own,
This summer I hear the drummin’,
Four dead in Ohio.”
Our new peace president was socking it to our college students!
The Beatles were so disgusted they just said "We're Done!" and never returned.
But soon ABC gave us “Monday Night Football” and Frank, Howard and Don focused our minds on football.
And we watched the first Super Bowl and World Series played on artificial turf!
Then five guys in suits were arrested in Washington and suddenly “The Brady Bunch” had been replaced by The Watergate hearings.
And it wasn’t happening just in the U.S. of A.
Jim McKay told us from Munich, “They’re All Gone!”
And we were still watching!
We watched as Americans were evacuated from the rooftop of our embassy in Vietnam in defeat.
Soon another new president was elected.
A peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia.
We had gone from JFK and Camelot to Jimmy and Billy!
Soon he would give us gas shortages, cardigan sweaters and hostages!
But hey, our movies were smokin’!
The Godfather I & II
Jaws.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
Rocky.
Our television shows, too:
M.A.S.H.
Saturday Night Live.
Welcome Back, Kotter.
Happy Days.
Starsky & Hutch.
As was our music.
The Eagles gave us Hotel California.
Fleetwood Mac gave us Rumours.
Steely Dan gave us Aja.
Jackson Browne gave us Running on Empty.
And, Billy Joel gave us The Stranger.
And we’re still listening to them today!
And later our television shows had segued from Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle into Three’s Company and Charlie’s Angels.
We were hitting our middle teenage years and life was about to become one big disco ball!
Around this time we found ourselves entering high school.
And culturally we experienced some rapid changes.
In four short years, Vinny Barbarino transformed into Tony Manero, Danny and Bud right before our eyes.
Suddenly a new form of music arrived called Disco!
We replaced our older siblings bell bottoms with polyester leisure suits!
And on Sunday nights, we gave up “60 Minutes”, “The Wonderful World of Disney” and “The ABC Sunday Night Movie” for line dancing to The Bee Gees at Twentieth Century! (Tulsa peeps will know what I’m talking about!)
Soon the calendar would turn and our second decade was over.
It was a tremendous whirlwind of experiences growing up in the 1960’s and 70’s.
We went from vinyls to 8-tracks, three television stations to cable and were the first generation to grow up with FM radio and color television!
We had lived through five President’s, a music and cultural revolution, political assassinations, a war we lost, protests, civil rights, equal rights and the first president to resign from office.
We began the previous decade watching students burning our flag and losing a war in disgust.
And started a new decade watching a U.S. Olympic student hockey team draped in our flag and chants of “U.S.A, U.S.A., U.S.A.”!
America was back!
And just as we were exiting the stage, so was our music.
Old friend Paul McCartney reminded us he wasn't dead and had a #1 hit with “Coming Up.”
Billy Joel was no longer a stranger and gave us “Glass Houses” and his first #1 hit: “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”.
And yet, through all of this sensory stimulation, after all of those years of life, by the time we graduated around this time 40 years ago, one song stands out in my mind.
From another old friend.
They had told us to “Take It Easy” a few years before but now The Eagles were telling us,
"I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot,
I used to stay out till the break of day,
Oh, that didn't get it,
It was high time I quit it,
I just couldn't carry on that way.
Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true,
Didn't know I was so lonely, till I found you.
You can go the distance,
We'll find out in the long run (in the long run),
We can handle some resistance,
"I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot,
I used to stay out till the break of day,
Oh, that didn't get it,
It was high time I quit it,
I just couldn't carry on that way.
Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true,
Didn't know I was so lonely, till I found you.
You can go the distance,
We'll find out in the long run (in the long run),
We can handle some resistance,
If our love is a strong one (is a strong one).”
“The Long Run” peaked at #1 in 1979, went platinum in 1980 and was their last album before they tired of the 70's and just left the stage.
For the Class of 1980, we left the stage 40 years ago this month, too.
It certainly was a long run!
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