Products of Our Times

"What's happenin', Hot Stuff?" - Long Duck Dong in the movie "Sixteen Candles."

Day 111. I love that number. One's just don't lend themselves to anxiety or neurosis.

I spent the evening cleaning my scary, scary house. The one in Norman, where the teenager dwelt for over a week. As a young and later not-so-young mother, I was deeply fearful of passing along my obsessive-compulsive tendencies to my son. I didn't know at the time how strongly biologically determined this particular trait is. I'm more of the counting, checking, and number fixating kind of obsessive (duh). Though I adore symmetry, excessive cleanliness was never really my thing. I may have erred a touch on the cautious side when it came to avoiding contributing to my son's genetic vulnerability to OCD. In nearly two decades, the child has never voluntarily picked something up. I haven't seen the floor of his room since I bought the house when he was two. In honor of his recent move to an apartment, I cleared a path to this fossil of a computer I've grown attached to. Come to find out, there are original wood floors in here. Who knew?

As the great karmic Wheel of Life inevitably turns, the universe promptly rewarded my efforts. I turned on the TV just as the movie "Sixteen Candles" was beginning. Yes, I am unabashedly admitting that I was (probably still am) an enamored fan of Molly Ringwald. What female born in the '60's wasn't? The Brat Pack movies were as influential in my coming of age as leg warmers, Jane Fonda aerobics, and gyrating to Madonna. We are all products of our times.

I am presently swooning with nostalgia. The movie is an 80's comedic work of art, and a touchstone in time for anyone currently approaching their 50's. It was a kinder, gentler, time. I don't find the absence of technology and the presence of a degree of youthful naivete coincidental. No cell phones, no home computers, no internet, no Facebook, no email, no Blackberry, no cyberspace, no IPods. Adolescent archetypes of friendship, love, jealousy, emerging sexuality, betrayal, rebellion and impulsiveness haven't changed over time. It seems, however, that the stakes have become higher, the behavior more extreme, the consequences perhaps more dire. And everything, EVERYTHING, happens so much more quickly. Life feels like it happens in rapid fire, with little time to process both mundane and significant events.

I identified with every quirky, hilarious, exaggerated plot (and I use the term loosely) twist that occurred in Sixteen Candles. My adolescence was bumpier than some, steadier than others. Like most of us, I got through. Like most of us, I now reflect upon that time with increasing perspective, compassion, and wisdom. Like all of us, I am profoundly impacted and forever fond of the cultural reminders of that ever-so-memorable segment of my life. So fond, in fact, that I'm stopping my blog to watch the end of the movie. The scene with Samantha and Jake sitting on the dining table blowing out her sixteen candles is one of my all time favorites.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc