Legends - Mikey's Take
Fuzzy recently posted on the topic of legends, and how the legends change over time.
I grew up with similar ideas about these "mythical" people, and, like Fuzzy's list, my list contains many of the same characters.
The President was certainly on the list - A man of absolute moral fortitude, who stood for everything that was right about this country. He was what an American was supposed to be. He also had things that were important enough that he had to interrupt my cartoons a few times to be able to tell us. I mean - God... he was a man who could tell Bugs Bunny to hang on for just a few minutes. What amazing power!
And then, gradually, we begin moving towards 'now' on the timeline. Presidents change - perceptions change. Bugs Bunny isn't all the important in the grand scheme of things, so what's the big deal about interrupting it? We're bombing who? Why? They did what to who? You had your what in her where? Weapons of What? Oh, dude, just shut up.
Honestly, I think the biggest legend of all - and the one that I was least prepared to discover was crumbling, was the idea that life in the grown-up world was absolutely nothing like it had been portrayed on Donna Reed, and Leave it to Beaver. Nothing like the Cosby Show. Love was nothing like being twitterpated - nothing at all like a fairy tale. There was no happily ever after - there was just the silent countdown until the inescapable end.
The legendary aspects of life that we were all brought up to honor and respect aren't so legenday after all. They don't give us purpose. They give us more questions - what's next? What am I missing?