"You see us as you want to see us."

I was flipping channels today and came across Revenge of the Nerds. It got me itching for some nostalgic 80's movie fare. I perused my DVD collection, and came across The Breakfast Club. Although it is not listed as one of my all time favorites, it is probably just a step or two away from that distinction. The last time I watched it, I was probably about 23. I was still close to those teenage years, and I had always pictured the characters as older than I was, even after I entered my twenties. Today, I finally saw them as the age they were meant to be, and that proved that I have indeed surpassed that age, by quite a few years. Does this mean I am older, or just more mature? This really struck a blow to the age image I hold to myself. Not that it is a bad thing, but certainly it was a vivid realization. Several other things really stood out to me, from something as small as the ridiculousness of the music montages, to the big idea of how these characters must have evolved, following this day of discovery. Other than the fact that I now saw them as the appropriate age range, the biggest realization is how much the situations of these kids, holds true today. But to a much higher degree. Each of the characters had their place. Kids today, have a piece of each pie. The stress and craziness of these characters 20 years ago, certainly is multiplied to an unbelievable level today. You have kids involved in every kind of activity, before school, during school, after school and on the weekends. There is no time to be free, and the responsibilities piled on the children of today, are overwhelming. I would love to see the Breakfast Club of today, both our beloved characters as they are now, and a Breakfast Club for the current generation. What craziness must they deal w/ now? Gun violence and security in the schools, a childhood obesity epidemic, AIDS, discrimination, fear of terrorism? These things, added to the mountain of pressure for good grades, good sports performance, and the peer pressure of the original Breakfast Club come up the Mt. Everest of living an accomplished life. The original club had it easy. But John Hughes was quite adept at showing us the beginnings of the pressures applied to children, and how it affected their relationships, futures and views of the world. And oh yeah, I still loved it, despite Emilio's glass-breaking screams.