Fond moments of childhood…
Do you remember what it was like when you were young? Would you ever think of being a young kid again? Maybe even a teenager? Could you picture yourself going back and doing it over again or living as a child in the year 2014? Would you change anything? You probably have, but I bet anyone of us would take the chance to be that young free individual who felt like they had the world in their hands all the time. In order to be free from whatever we don’t want to be doing right now. Work, school, bills, future, and all the other set of responsibilities that is swarming in our brains and causing constant heart palpitations, anxiety, and sleep deprivation. Which can also happen to you as a child, but then again there are small moments of childhood that allow you to escape from whatever that is effecting you negatively, but you tend to lose more and more of those moments as you get older. Those moments of innocence, imagination, and adventure slowly slip as you enter the real world. You lose the fun and games and get hit in the face with hard work and responsibility.
I was a 90’s kid. I miss the 90’s so much. If you were a 90’s kid you could probably relate. It was such a calm and peaceful time at least that’s how I remember it. I thought I was filthy rich and could get anything I ever wanted. Well, that’s how my upbringing felt like. Now, I wasn’t really spoiled, but I did feel like I was on top of the world. Never really had any responsibility besides having to clean my room, but it was nice knowing that I had my Saturday morning cartoons to entertain me. Allowing me to enter my subconscious and absorb the characters to see which one fit the identity I wanted to be and explore new worlds. It was all from my imagination of course, but it was what I had. It was my sense of escape from my own world. There were so many choices to choose from and even in college you’re still choosing your future career and how you want to present yourself to the world. Plumber, lawyer, electrician…I was completely clueless, but I always felt that choosing your childhood passion is going to make you the happiest, but the reality is that passion doesn’t always get food on the table.
Don’t you wish one day, you could be free of all those responsibilities or the constant bombardment of thought stresses going on in your head? The truth is as a kid growing up in the 90’s I liked to escape my world and enter my imaginary world of adventure. I was your Helga G. Pataki from Hey Arnold in Junior High and High School except that there were no crushes. I just loved Helga’s tough character so I portrayed her tough Anti-Boy character as my coping mechanism in dealing with bullies. I even had a friend who I considered my Phoebe aka Helga’s nerdy, best friend. I was your Ginger from As Told by Ginger in Elementary. My constant journaling in my notebooks helped me cope along with the constant odd friend relationships I had… I soon discovered that I have an obsession with notebooks. And my all time favorite…Harriet from Harriet the Spy. I admired her a lot especially the way she would go on her spy adventures. I remember trying to match all her spy gear with whatever I can get at the 99 cents store as I tried to have my own spy adventures. I even had a notebook that looked just like her spy notebook. I remember watching all the Dragon Ball Z episodes with my younger brother and I really admired how strong and physically fit the super saiyans were especially the tough look they would give off. Vegeta was my favorite and every tough girl in the series. If I had to choose to be one of the Power Puff Girls it would be Buttercup every time and maybe Blossom just because she is a bit of mix of all three, but never Bubbles! Sorry Bubble fans, she’s cute, but no match to me. I guess you can see how much I admire the tough look.
Now, that I think about it…are these cartoons supposed to have this kind of effect? I look at myself today and I can take many of my characteristics from these characters. Why does society give you these suggestions of these personalized characters as if they want to mold your personality for you…so much for harmless entertainment? I mean, don’t get me wrong I’m not an anti-TV junkie, but I wonder if I was not introduced to these characters or any role model growing up because of their marketing attraction. Would I still be the same person that I am today? Should I allow these figments of my subconscious decide my future? As human beings we reflect off what we admire about one another and since these characters are made by the subconscious of human beings…I guess, were not so different after all.
As much as I still love these cartoons I worry about the effect it can have on an individual’s mind. It’s kind of funny really. I’m the last person who would take their kid off cartoons, but if I just went and explored the world by myself in my own real life adventure without any rules and not from my subconscious or imagination maybe my identity would have been different. Now, I have had my share of experiences that have changed my personality forever, but what I find interesting is how you spend your whole life trying to discover who you are and how you want the world to see you? It’s like having an identity crisis every day. But these experiences and infatuations of the mind have somehow shaped you in the person that you are today. That you were meant to be this person regardless of your upbringing; that is you and that’s supposed to be you. Now, when I think about it I don’t really see myself wanting to be anyone else. Well, except of course a super saiyan, but otherwise just me, but as human beings we still have a choice. The choices and decisions we make is how we see ourselves as characters.
As you get older, you start to get one of those purposes of life questions that seem to come along the way. Now, this is where religion comes into play, and I bet your wondering what is she up too. Don’t worry I’m not trying to convert you or make you suddenly believe in a higher power, but just think for moment. How is it that we are all so connected? I mean we all have our own life stories, personalities, upbringings, our own, our own, our own, and yet somehow we are all so interrelated then we know. IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING…what was the point of you reading all this? The point I’m trying to make is for you to be happy about the person you are today and still continue to discover yourself anyway and not let go of those childhood moments of escape; it helped make you who you are today. Have those adventures, have those friends, but this time do it different. Try not to immortalize yourself in a fictional character, but instead take what you admire most in those characters and allow it to represent of what you think should be a reflection of you. These characters are not as fictional as you think; after all they are the representations and personifications of the creative minds of others. You can’t change the past and why would you? It helped shape who you are today. As for those who had upsetting childhoods or traumatizing pasts don’t dwell on them and stop telling yourself ‘If only I had done this…’what’s done is done, but the future is in your hands and the present is what you do now that will make up for your past. Learn and move on. You’re still on an adventure, but this time it’s yours.
Author: Amana Hamdan
Thoughts of Amana 