What Was The Most Important 1980's Historical Event That Changed Your Life?

Self (somewhat) ^

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

What 1980's event helped re-shape your life, thoughts, person and/or change your focus and outlook on life?

You can answer as many times as you desire.

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

My favorite and most memorable moment was this one:

I was a freshman in college in 1984, and this landslide victory made me realize that, in fact, we are really THE GREATEST NATION ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH!

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

For your ping list.

[FReepaholic]

Jimmuh Catah. The last time I voted Dem.

[gridlock]

Probably the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut. You just knew that we were in for a long fight there.

[Rebelbase]

I married my now ex wife.

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

Historical Ping (I thought you’d be interested)....

[elcid1970]

I met my lovely wife in 1980. She walks in the halls of Heaven now, but no one changed my life so much as she.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Joe Satriani issued Surfin With the Alien.

[Nervous Tick]

>> I married my now ex wife.

HA! +1

[Michael.SF.]

Does that come under the heading of: Taking the good, with the bad?

;)

[xcamel]

Reagan, and Marrying my (still) Wife.

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

When this guy died in 1983 (Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov) the USSR went through dramatic political changes, starting with Gorbachev and then Yeltsin -- culminating in the end of Communism of the Soviet Era.

Thank you, President Reagan!

[CAluvdubya]

The day President Reagan was shot. I sat in front of the tv all day with a teething baby. (that baby grew up to love Reagan!)

[jongaltsr]

I heard Rush Limbaugh for the first time.

My first reaction was that he was just another political blowhard but that evening a little bell went off in my brain and next day I tuned in again.

After a couple of days the light came on and I came to the conclusion that he was just telling me the core beleifs that I had forgotten because I had become lazy after returning from VietNam.

I had quit fighting the media drum beat and accepted the standard liberal mantra but hidden in the recesses of my brain was the truth and he set me free to think for myself once more.

[MarineBrat]

I think the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger was the biggest punch in the gut to me.

[mass55th]

I don’t know about any historical events, but personal events that started with a divorce in ‘79, raising two sons by myself, and a new career in 1980 changed my life, and my political outlook.

[Bon mots]

[rabidralph]

I became a citizen in ‘87 and realized how blessed I was to be in raised in the greatest country on the face of the Earth!

[dfwgator]

The emergence of Solidarity in Poland, woke me up to politics, and led me to gain a greater appreciation for the land of my ancestors.

[Danae]

I am sorry.... I have to admit this.... MTV.

*crawls under desk rapidly sucking thumb*

OK Just kidding. I Graduated High school. So there.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

[Kimmers]

I found God, Rush and Regan......

I was a person that did not pay attention to what was happening in the world and thought the environment was really the most important thing to worry about ( liberal) to developing a relationship with Jesus and one day my friend Louise said I really need to listen to this guy (Rush) ....... I grew to love the Lord, love this country and love and respect the great men that formed this nation. Great idea for a post

[DieHard the Hunter]

Ollie North testimony during Iran-Contra. Definitely.

[sauropod]

It was probably Tianenman Square. That began my lifelong addiction to news and Talk Radio.

[fso301]

Meeting Isabelle

[americanophile]

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

MTV influenced my life, too! I grew up in Puerto Rico, so MTV taught me to speak English, pop culture and the American way which I respect and adore to this day. My appreciation for 80's new wave punk rock began with 80's era MTV.

[LongElegantLegs]

Um...My birth.

[DCPatriot]

Aside from three of my children being born in the 80s, it would have to be Ronald Reagan’s winning two elections in landslides.

[americanophile]

The fall of the Berlin Wall, in late ‘89, that signaled the imminent collapse of the Soviet Empire, has got to be the top historical moment.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Ah, yes. The day Ronaldus Magnus kicked Walter Mondale’s sorry rear end from Maine to California. That was one of my favorite moments in history, as well.

It was even better when he evicted Jimmy Carter’s sorry rear end from the WH in 1980.

[Clemenza]

1984: Roberta Vasquez in Playboy contributes to my obesession with well-formed Latin women. I was eight, btw.

1986: Watching my Dem Socialist grandfather go through "Reagan Derangement Syndrome" while watching the Iran/Contra hearings.

1986: Watching the ball go through Bill Buckner's legs in Game Six, and seeing my Mets take the series the next day.

1987: Release of "Appetite for Destruction."

[qam1]

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

[Clemenza]

Satch was Steve Vai’s guitar teacher, and Vai taught Joe Scarolla, my guitar teacher on Lawn Guyland. So that makes me two degrees removed from Satriani.

[Straight Vermonter]

Wow, I loved that album!

[Patrick1]

Watching Walter Cronkite near tears as he announced the 40th President of the United States would be Ronald Wilson Reagan.

[pogo101]

Winning the Cold War — yet watching the Tienanmen Square Massacre that same year (1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell). Hope, but vigilance.

[Clemenza]

How can I forget! Hearing from my great aunts and uncles about the importance of the Solidarity movement (not having much of an understanding of politics at the time), and then, a few years later, seeing these same folks cheer when the iron curtain fell, and the REAL Polish Republic returned.

[JennysCool]

[wastedyears]

10/14/85 for me

[Kakaze]

The 80's formed me. I was I was 14 years old when Reagan took office and I saw how things changed.

I think I was extremely lucky, it was really a different time. I Lived 12 miles fromm the center of Indianapolis, in a suburb but close enough to ride my bike to the farm and work. I had all 3 environments city, suburb and farm, heck I picked strawberries with migrant workers and supervised them later on.

I know a lot of people say that the president doesn't really affect how children grow up, but he sets the tone.

There is a distinct difference in those of us that grew up with Reagan and those that were influenced by clinton.

[Clemenza]

I remember being sick with the flu when MTV premiered the “With or Without You.” Couldn’t understand why the Edge kept humping his guitar. Begged my mom to buy me the cassette at TSS.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I discovered FEAR ...

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

I woke up, along with my dear grandmother, at 4 a.m. in Puerto Rico on the morning of July 28, 1981 (or thereabouts) to watch this wedding. I was 15 years old and I loved watching all sorts of royal weddings and beauty pageants with my grandmother. Every time I go down to Puerto Rico now (about twice a year), I still spend hours on end sitting down with her, watching fun T.V. shows and specials like this one.

[LS]

Uh, does Loverboy breaking up count?

[JSDude1]

Being born :)

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

10/14/85 for me

GADS! I was a sophomore in college when you were born! Were you a c-section baby or natural birth?

[Clemenza]

My grandparents were visiting us, and I can remember them waking me up because they had the television on in the next room watching the wedding.

Fieldmarshal, didn't your brother meet Charles Hanover Saxe Coburg once?

[Grunthor]

“What Was The Most Important 1980’s Historical Event That Changed Your Life?”

Got married at the age of 18 in 1987.

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

Uh, does Loverboy breaking up count?

I cried and cried and cried for days (perhaps months) when the Go-Go's broke up the first time in May 1985.