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Columbine
Posted on 8/3/16 at 7:54 am
Posted on 8/3/16 at 7:54 am
I was 8-18 years old through the 90's. I remember faintly the OKC bombing and I had two boxes of Gulf War playing cards. Like most people, I remember my childhood as being completely care free. Fast forward to today and ISIS chopping people's heads off, filming it, editing it, and uploading it all online in the time it would've taken you to get your Mom to go to Blockbuster to buy you some stale theatre candy and a 'buy1get1' new release.
My wife asked me last night "when did your childhood end, and the reality of what you're aware of today set in? What event happened that is the line in the sand?
For me it was Columbine. I remember watching the tv and never having felt the confusion and sadness of senseless random murder before. Hearing reports of them smiling as they killed. My carefree childhood had come to an end.
What was it for you?
My wife asked me last night "when did your childhood end, and the reality of what you're aware of today set in? What event happened that is the line in the sand?
For me it was Columbine. I remember watching the tv and never having felt the confusion and sadness of senseless random murder before. Hearing reports of them smiling as they killed. My carefree childhood had come to an end.
What was it for you?
This post was edited on 8/3/16 at 8:10 am
Posted on 8/3/16 at 7:55 am to Back to the Future
A girl wearing bell bottoms in 1976 named Patti
This post was edited on 8/3/16 at 7:58 am
Posted on 8/3/16 at 7:59 am to Back to the Future
9/11. I was 13, and my family lived on a military installation.
shite got real with a quickness.
shite got real with a quickness.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 8:18 am to Back to the Future
I'm 28. Still pretty care free. 9/11 didn't really bother me. I just remember being pissed that the college football games were cancelled that weekend. I don't worry about ISIS at all. I vaguely remember Columbine happening.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 8:21 am to Back to the Future
for me it was the one year window of getting married and then buying a house. adding a shite ton of responsibilities to life will end your carefree mentality with swiftness like no other.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 8:22 am to pvilleguru
The 2011 Tuscaloosa tornado affected me more than any of that other stuff.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 8:39 am to pvilleguru
The tornados did directly effect me more than columbine as well. But that was a natural disaster, not a case of someone choosing to take people's lives.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 8:39 am to TbirdSpur2010
quote:
9/11. I was 13, and my family lived on a military installation.
shite got real with a quickness
What was that like?
Posted on 8/3/16 at 8:53 am to Back to the Future
I don't equate my childhood ending with any catastrophic event. My childhood ended the day I got my diver's license when I was 16. The freedom that simple rite of passage granted me was liberating, while also sobering knowing the responsibility it held. It was even more awesome being before the time of cell phones. Certainly there were rules I had to follow, but once I was out of the driveway and on the road, the world was mine for a while. I could go where I wanted without asking permission, and no worry of mom and dad checking up on me. It was one of the greatest feelings in the world, and to this day one of my favorite pasttimes is just driving by myself on some back roads with no destination in mind.
Now, loss of innocence is maybe what you're asking. That happened for me a week after I turned 18 and one of my best friends died in a car accident. Life got real from that moment on.
Now, loss of innocence is maybe what you're asking. That happened for me a week after I turned 18 and one of my best friends died in a car accident. Life got real from that moment on.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 9:12 am to TbirdSpur2010
For some reason I always thought you were older.
Posted on 8/3/16 at 3:52 pm to Back to the Future
Columbine is when I began to notice the world around me change. School protocols, what you could get away with saying on the playground. Scuffles at recess and imitating WCW machismo went from "hey, knock it off" to "better call their parents and put them in ISS, stat".
9/11 is when I really felt it myself. I was still a kid at the time, but it's the first moment I can remember really really wanting to go to church and to be close to my dad. First time I was ever frightened of the world because my parents were frightened and they couldn't help it. The next day at school, we were coached up by our teachers to help the younger kids understand what happened. It directly forced a lot of us to have to grow up and try to be involved with world news
9/11 is when I really felt it myself. I was still a kid at the time, but it's the first moment I can remember really really wanting to go to church and to be close to my dad. First time I was ever frightened of the world because my parents were frightened and they couldn't help it. The next day at school, we were coached up by our teachers to help the younger kids understand what happened. It directly forced a lot of us to have to grow up and try to be involved with world news
Posted on 8/4/16 at 12:53 am to TbirdSpur2010
I was 10 living on a navy base which changed overnight as well
Posted on 8/4/16 at 9:56 pm to TbirdSpur2010
9/11
I was in fifth grade. Remember watching it in first period. I went to Belle Chasse so a lot of students were military and the whole school was on lockdown.
I was in fifth grade. Remember watching it in first period. I went to Belle Chasse so a lot of students were military and the whole school was on lockdown.
Posted on 8/4/16 at 10:43 pm to Back to the Future
The Gulf War was when it got real for me having some HS buddies call me to say you won't see me for awhile, they were Guard and got deployed. Up until then it was just stuff that happened in some country that I had to look up.
The Reagan Shooting was strange as they took us in library to watch the coverage, seeing teachers almost cry was strange.
Challenger in JHS was sobering because the day before we were talking about how cool a regular person was going to space and on live tv it was an explosion. It wasn't a movie.
The Reagan Shooting was strange as they took us in library to watch the coverage, seeing teachers almost cry was strange.
Challenger in JHS was sobering because the day before we were talking about how cool a regular person was going to space and on live tv it was an explosion. It wasn't a movie.
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