Youth is a state of mind.
This is one of those things that old people say to make themselves feel better. Now that I’m getting closer to “old” I’m starting to understand why.
Growing up in the 80s things were good. All you had to do was want it, go get it, do it, be it. Hippies seemed passé. I guess the 60s were not yet far enough behind us to be cool again. For me, it was all about being a yuppie. Now that the 60s are 40+ years in the past, being a hippie seems like the thing to do. Maybe it’s because caring more about things in the 80s has proven to be an empty way to live, and caring more about people gives you a better feeling than anything you can buy (except a great Gucci handbag – there’s a little yuppie in me still). Remember this?
All kidding aside, I’m glad I have been able to experience both periods. I loved the ambitious attitude of the 80s, the big hair and especially the music. I think the younger “hippie” generation is much more accepting of us, than we were of our previous generation. We were kind of pretentious, but that’s what the 80s was all about. This point was made clear to me when I was listening to We Are Young which made me think of the 80s “youth” anthem by Alphaville. While they are young only for tonight, we said we wanted to be Forever Young. We were pretentious.
