Day (44) - Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes (Started Day 43)

I love the David Bowie song "Changes' for more than a few reasons. I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but all things being equal this song has a lot of meanings for me. This song goes back (for me) to when I was a young and impressionable teenager. One of the best lyrics for teens was written by Bowie...

And these children that you spit upon
As they try to change their worlds
Are quite aware of what they are going through
They are immune to your consultations...

This part of the song appeared in one of the most influential movies on my life, "The Breakfast Club."

I can honestly say I have seen this movie over 300 times in my life. I wore out 2 VHS copies and when it came out on DVD, well, I bought it. Obsessed, not any more, but at one time yes, I think so because John Hughes' movie was so brilliantly written. The older I get the more I appreciate the fact that this movie still speaks to me about a teenage generation who is in a state of emotional crisis.

There is a letter that is written by "the Breakfast Club" - termed by Anthony Michael Hall's character, Brian Johnson. The letter is written in two parts and defines the changes we all go through.

Brian Johnson (although that is unknown at this point): Saturday, March 24, 1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois. 60062.
Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong...and what we did was wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us... in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed.

The second part of the letter shows what happens as we age, we accept others for who they are and we stop looking through the rose colored stained glass windows we sometimes find ourselves hiding behind.

Brian Johnson: Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong...but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...
Andrew Clark: ...and an athlete...
Allison Reynolds: ...and a basket case...
Claire Standish: ...a princess...
John Bender: ...and a criminal...
Brian Johnson: Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

So what does all this have to do with the price of coffee at Starbucks (or something like that?) There are some BIG, MONSTER changes coming up in my life and I have to say I feel a lot like I did as a teenager - a little uncertain, a little naive, and a little scared. I have some preconceived notions about the things to come and I need to take those notions and chuck 'em out the window. And just maybe in 25 years, I'll have aged as well as the members of the Breakfast Club...

Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon you're gonna get a little older
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can't trace time
~~~David Bowie~~~