Plain Speaking
Passing of Time Doesn’t Dim Memories
I tried searching for a clever quote to put at the beginning of this column but I simply couldn’t find the right one.
Sometimes it’s hard to find the right phrase to sum up what you are saying — especially when those words were spoken by someone else. So I decided for this column I would skip the opening quote I use at times and simply let the words flow from my pen, or keyboard as it were.
Every year at this time I think back to my own high school graduation. I still can recall walking across the stage at my high school and closing the book on a chapter of my life. This spring that graduation ceremony is now 20 years in the rear view mirror.
It baffles me to think just how in the world two decades could have gone by since that time. I know it’s cliche, but it does seem like yesterday that I was walking the halls at my high school, hanging out with friends and doing the typical things young people did during the late 1980s in small town America.
High school seniors graduating this year were not even born when I graduated in May 1989. That takes a little time to get my mind around. In essence, an entire generation has come of age since I turned the tassel.
I still enjoy keeping track of culture from the 1980s but I decided to do a little research into the year 1989 for historic events which took place. Like my own graduation, it’s hard to believe it has been two decades since the following took place:
• In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the late Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang. Later, Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
• Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and was acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, are later overturned on appeal.
•The blockbuster movie “Batman” is released.
•Drew Berrymore, then 14, attempts suicide.
•In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot and kill their wealthy parents.
•Televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for defrauding investors of $3.7 million.
•In California, convicted murderer Richard Ramirez ( “The Night Stalker”) is sentenced to death.
•The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas vs. Johnson that flag burning is protected speech under the United States Constitution.
These are just a few events which shaped the news 20 years ago. Of course, we didn’t know about the Internet then, MTV still devoted much of its airtime to showing videos, the Atlanta Braves had not become one of the hottest teams in baseball, Ray Goff was named the football coach at the University of Georgia and Chicago, Bobby Brown, Poison, Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson could be heard on pop music stations.
I wish this year’s graduating seniors the best as they move into a new chapter of their lives. You will find out soon, however, that high school really wasn’t all that bad.
Still, there are many great things to see on the road ahead. You’ll learn by trial and error like all of us who have gone this route before. That, as they say, is life.
Monticello native Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal in Winder. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at chris@mainstreetnews.com.
