Do you ever look at someone who is “your age” on a television show or movie and realize that in 20 years when you see someone “that age” you’ll think of them as being young?
I recently thought of this again while watching some shows on iTunes. People who are in their 20′s seem young to me now. But when I was in my 20′s they didn’t. Makes sense, right? Here’s the funny thing though… if I watch, say “Different Strokes,” “The Facts of Life,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” or something else from my childhood, those people are still relative to not only the age they were when it was filmed, but to the age I was when it was filmed.
So, for instance, Gary Coleman is still “my age” on “Different Strokes.” That he’s my age now isn’t what I mean. That he’s “MY AGE” is what I mean. I’m a kid again… or the age of him on the show. Kim Fields is older than me. So is Tom Wopat. People who are my age on shows that are filmed and airing now will forever be my age. Or, better said, I will forever be their age when I watch those shows. But I don’t think it’s based on when I originally watched the show. I think it has more to do with the constant of time… or time relative to my personal existance. (Yeah, I know, this is deep.)
Take, for instance, Andy Griffith. When I watch that I am not the age of any of the characters on the show… because I wasn’t born yet when it was filmed. I watched it when I was young… so it seems that I might have thought I was “Opie’s” age. But I didn’t. I never felt I was the age of any of the characters. This idea, or realization, made me think about our coming baby and made me smile to think that all “this” existed before them… and they will, Lord willing, get to experience so much of it as I’ve experienced so much that pre-dates me.
