Hey Retrojunkers JPDRAVEN here.

Something dawned on me tonight that I felt compelled to share with all of you and didn't want to put in an article because there are no pictures to accompany this.

I was watching a block of 80's shows on the HUB Channel here in NY. Happy Days, then the Wonder years, and one of my favorite shows Doogie Howser M.D.

I've watched this block of shows for months now late at night and simply enjoyed them, nothing more, nothing less BUT tonight something dawned on me that I haven't felt since i was a kid.

Our beloved 80's shows focused very heavily around a moral to the story. Doogie Howser M.D. ended every show with Doogie sitting at his computer and writing in his diary.

As a kid I remember always paying attention to what he wrote, and sometimes those words seemed to come out of the TV and BITE ME. The moral to the story made sense to me and I did learn from them, which I suppose does play a role in my development into an adult and my views on life and my morals and values.

So tonight I watched an episode of Happy Days, where Richie tries to tell Fonzie just how much he means to Richie. It was actually a powerful moment between them, and it got me to thinking about my own best friend and his family and how much they mean to me. I'd say a good 10 minutes I sat here just thinkin' about that.

but later on Doogie Howser M.D. came on and for some reason at the end when Doogie sat down to write it REALLY caught me, and I found myself just kinda focused on what he'd write.

After the show ended I sat here for a moment and a swell of emotions, memories, etc came flooding over me and I realized something about life.

Each and every one of us has a gift, we are alive. And for those of us that grew up in the late 70's and into the 80's we share a VERY special time in human history. We are truly the age before the technology craze. We are the last generation to truly be children and enjoy that innocence to it's fullest potential. We are the last of the old timers morals and values.

All around us we were taught the morals of life, the right and wrongs, and we were taught to work hard, help others, don't take advantage of people, etc, all leading to one end.... Simply to grow up and live good lives and to be happy in life.

I cannot describe in words exactly how special a gift that is. I see a hell of a lot of injustice in the world, I see the corporate capitalists and how they prosper on the hard work and backs of their workers, I see how our own government sells us out for the interests of people from foreign lands. There is so much in this world that is unjust and consistently fights against the ability to live as a good person and it bothers me.

But then I think about WHO I AM, and WHERE I COME FROM, and how my past has influenced WHO I AM and I feel VERY lucky to have that past, and that upbringing, to have the external stimuli I had as a kid. And so many of us are in the same vote.

The 80's generation is the last real boom since the baby boomers. We are the Last of the Mohegans so to speak. The younger generations have a VERY different outlook on life my fellow retrojunkies.

So in short what Im trying to say is this.........

When life gets you down, when things seem tough and we are confused about what path we should be taking in the game of life, REMEMBER what we were taught as children. REMEMBER how things used to be, and strive to live life that way and embrace what we were taught and what we learned.

Live life to it's fullest, stand by your convictions, work hard to achieve our goals, appreciate everything we do have, and the people that are close to our hearts and our lives and ENJOY them for as long as humanly possible.

We are the last of our kind and we need to NEVER FORGET where we came from. Life only comes around once, let's try to live it as best we possibly can without losing sight of who we are and where we come from.

This is Awesome.

You took these thoughts right outta my head jpdraven and I couldn't have expressed them better than you have, right here.

Watching old shows and cartoons always bring back good memories for me. Times were so different then the way they are now.

eddstarr88 and odd11673:

Sometimes we just gotta take a step out of ourselves and this insanity called society and kinda just SLOW DOWN, take a look around, and take in life for what it is.... ya know?

Doogie Houser endused moment of clarity, nice lol.