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I was doing historical research for another column I’ve been working on when I came across an anonymous statement that gave me pause: “People either participated in the 1980s or sat back and watched. Those that engaged it seemed to be trying to recreate the1950s.”
I was 20 at the very beginning of that era, in 1980. At the threshold to my future, I felt really good about what I was doing, and how I was going about it. In retrospect, I think I felt good because I was emulating as an adult what I had watched my parents do when I was a child. It was that traditional 1950s-like family security that gave me a foundation. The plan seemed simple:
- Stay in school and finish with high marks.