I Made My Brain Cry.

I realized about five minutes ago that there are people alive now who could have a conversation on a decently intelligent level who were not even born when the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were hit by hijacked planes. There are millions and millions of Americans who don't remember the world pre-9/11. That got me thinking, and I further realized that in my relatively short life, I've seen a lot of things happen. I watched OJ Simpson's trials on TV, saw the rise and fall of Power Rangers and Pokemon, was online when YouTube launched, watched the Towers fall, listened unknowingly to Clinton's impeachment hearings. I was around when Google became a verb, when computers became not only commercially viable but nearly standard, and when TV started going HD. I read Harry Potter when it first came out, before anyone realized it was going to be one of the highest-grossing books of all time. I listened to pop stars and boy bands and then smiled as they faded, and now I'm seeing some of those same stars come back. I was alive during the Rwandan genocide but didn't know about it. I remember hearing about Dolly the Sheep and wondering what the big deal was with cloning. I remember the Hubble telescope, not the launch but a lot of the pictures that came back, and how amazing it was to look at space. I remember Microsoft's rise, and Pentium processors, and a time before the iPod. I remember the battle between Nintendo and Sega before Sony put out the PlayStation, and I remember telling people to get out of my light when I was playing my Game Boy. I don't remember a time before color TV, before cable, or before a telephone in every house. I do remember a time before terrorism, international relations, and World of Warcraft. I look back to the movies I grew up with and I see Toy Story, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Sandlot. I remember when the Disney Channel showed Mickey Mouse cartoons and MTV showed music videos, though I don't remember the latter as well. I remember the premiere of Survivor, and dial-up internet, and Napster.

There are people out there with entirely different experiences. Every person who reads this will have a different take, different experiences. I am young to some, and old to others. And it's all just a part of the human experience.