Somehow, I am 39. I am 39, even though I still feel like I am maybe 17 and I still look around for thereal "grown-ups." As I stare down 40 and gear up for another phase of life, I find myself going back to the things that comforted me when I really was a teenager, and TV and movies were both very big parts of growing up for me in the '80s and early '90s. I cut my teeth on old school Sesame Street and The Electric Company, I grew up with the Cosby Show and Family Ties and later 90210, and the movies I watched over and over starred people like Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Ethan Hawke and a whole lot of hairspray. Recently, I realized -- with some amusement -- that a few of the lessons I am trying to teach my kids didn't come from my parents or from school. Instead, they came from scenes in those movies that I can still recite in my mind:

不知不覺我已三十九歲了，我三十九了，盡管有時候我以為自己還是十七歲，甚至還把年長的人看做“大人”。我等待著四十歲的來臨，準備好進入人生另一個階段，這時我卻開始懷念起少年時的事物來了，它們曾給我以慰藉。上世紀八九十年代，我尚年幼，青春歲月都由電視和電影伴我渡過。孩提時期，我愛看《芝麻街》（Sesame Street）和《電力公司》（The Electric Company），然后是《考斯比一家》（Cosby Show），《家族的誕生》（Family Ties）以及后來的《比佛利山莊90210號》（90210），這三部電視劇則一路伴我成長。這些經典的影片也捧紅了不少明星，例如莫利·林沃德（Molly Ringwald），安德魯·麥卡錫（Andrew McCarthy），伊桑·霍克（ Ethan Hawke ）等等。年歲漸長，我才驚奇地發現學校的老師和家長并沒有教會我多少經驗，反倒是那些從小看到大的影片使我受益匪淺，種種人生意義我都從中學得，至今仍沒有忘記，我甚至還想要告訴我的孩子。

1. Each of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. (The Breakfast Club)

1.我們每個人都是書呆子、運動員、神經病、公主和罪犯的集合體。電影：《早餐俱樂部（The Breakfast Club）

Even in sixth grade, my oldest is starting to classify himself and his friends. I did the same thing at his age; I know how it goes in middle and high school. But I try to remind him that everyone he meets has so much going on behind the fa?ade he sees in the hallways at school -- that everyone is fighting a hard battle of some sort, and that no person fits neatly inside a simple label. It's a lesson I learn over and over again, even as an adult. In the end, as Patrick Dempsey's "geek turned chic" says in another favorite, Can't Buy Me Love: "Nerds, jocks. My side, your side... It's hard enough just trying to be yourself."

我的大兒子在六年級的時候就開始給同學分類。當年我也這么干過；中學時期，青少年總是渴望標新立異，脫穎而出。但是我還是試圖告訴他，學校里的每個人都有不為人知的另一面——每個人都有難處，不能輕易為他人貼上標簽。在今后的生活中，我反復印證了這一點。此外，在電影《愛情買賣》（Can't Buy Me Love）中 ，帕特里克·德姆西（Patrick Dempsey）扮演的角色經歷種種，最后由“怪胎”變成了“帥哥”，坦言道“運動健將，蠢貨。你來我往……做自己太難了。”這部電影我也很喜歡。