June 25, 2009 became a wake-up call for my Generation...Generation X. We grew up without computers, cell phones, cable tv, i-tunes, facebook, and twitter to name a few. We played with toys that could've killed us and were the offspring of the Baby Boomers. We had no real wars and arguably the greatest President of all times, Ronald Reagan. The Cold War (not a real war in case you didn't know) ended, the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up before our eyes, and AIDS was our number 1 health issue. And in all that we had two of the most famous icons EVER...Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett who died yesterday. One death was expected that we had been preparing for and the other a total shocker. These guys were superstars. Not like superstars today where there seems to be one on every street corner but exceptional standouts. Farrah Fawcett was Jill Monroe..Charlie's Angel. There were three little girls who went to the Police Academy....cue music....this show was "must see" tv! I did have her poster. Actually alot of girls did...it wasn't just the guys. This wasn't ooky like it might be today. She actually was wearing a bathing suit AND a truly wholesome smile. Mega-watt smile and way better than Jennifer Aniston HAIR! Charlie's Angel was "played" by little girls all over America on the school grounds during recess. We all fought over who would play Jill. Not there was anything wrong with Kelly or Sabrina or even Chris (who replaced Jill). We still wanted to BE Farrah. I mean she was married in real life to the Six Million Dollar Man Steve Austin (Lee Majors!)...Hellooooo! We watched her later in life make loads of mistakes in the public eye but we didn't care. She was still Farrah Fawcett. I watched her documentary of her journey with anal cancer just a few weeks ago. It was the most tender, touching, honest program. I am not ashamed to say that I cried alot watching it. She was a very brave soul who fought a very brave battle. Although she may have lost the battle with cancer, I would like to think she won the war.
MJ, the gloved one, was the coolest. I posted my favorite picture of him above. This is how I will always see Michael Jackson. I still have this exact Thriller album. He brought us the glove, awesome frickin' dance tunes, global awareness to hunger in Africa, and the Moonwalk! To this day I still turn up the radio when Billie Jean comes on (which is not as rare as you would think). I know every word to every song and sing aloud while "dancing" along with MJ. Yes I know that he became less and less like the Michael Jackson we all knew and loved but that will never change my memories of him from my youth. I didn't know him personally so I cannot really say why he would choose to alter his looks, prefer the company of chimps and children, and/or any of all the stuff he "weirded" out on. What I can say is he is someone's son, brother, uncle, AND father. For that alone he should be respected. He will definitely be missed.
Their passing reminded us, my generation, that we are truly older. I imagine the coming years will bring us closer and closer to the realization that yes, we have now become our parents. These were the first two major players to lose for us. Those that leave us in the future will probably not have near the impact. So, if you are a GenX'er like me this totally sucks. If you're not, well be a little kinder to us over the next few days/weeks/years. This is hard on us.
Rest in peace Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Later blog readers....
1 comment:
I love this - very well said! I could not have said it better myself.
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