Vintage Culture

In a grip of nostalgia, yearning for something wholesome and good, I found some episodes of one of America's favorite families- The Huxtables.

As I sat watching the growing pains & the everyday life events of Rudy, Theo, Vanessa, Olivia, Denise, Sandra, Claire, HeathCliff, both sets of grandparents, & friends I reflected on the times we now find ourselves in and the land from whence we came not so long ago.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Our entertainment is a reflection of our society- today we are surrounded by sex, drugs and violence; not that these things have not held us hostage since the beginning of time but something has changed. Sexual and violent images have gotten bolder pushing the limits of acceptability in movies, tv shows, within song lyrics to down right vulgarity; the drugs of today are chemical compounds that have unheard of and unparalleled affects on the ingestors and are even perhaps untraceable by the standards of our drug testing systems. Even our "news programs" are only glorified scripted advertisements shocking us into new products because the stories told to us play on our insecurities and fears.

Perhaps what is most shocking of all is our apparent need for this hyper stimulation. As a child I was content with a few coloring books, dolls and books; on a sunny summers day you could find me racing down the street on my bike or roller blades or on my belly studying the patterns of ants trying to figure out how they found their way home. Today's child must have constant external stimuli- cell phones, video games, ipods, ipads, wii and who knows what else- they are disconnected from the world around them, the line between reality and fiction are becoming blurred as they careen down into twisted worlds of fantasy except the damage that is being done is real and cannot be undone by hitting the 'previous' button on the remote or the 'reset' button on a console. 

Lives are shattering, somewhere during our cultural "evolution" we lost our moral fibers, we are losing our children at an alarming rate and as a species in large part we ourselves are lost and know not where to turn. We have lost our capacity to feel and therefore seek greater and greater risk, we forget to acknowledge that our actions not only help or hinder us but have far reaching effects on others. We dismiss acts of violence as 'senseless' but perhaps it is time to take a deeper look and uncover the 'sense' so we can stop what is happening to our world- only by facing what ails us can we begin to heal.

Watching the Cosby Show did something for my soul- I laughed, I cried, I reflected but most of all I was urged to action. We all have the power to touch the lives of others, to give a kindness, to teach there is a different way, to reflect in our own lives what we wish the world to be. It takes time, patience and courage but I must remain hopeful that it can be done- even if just one life is touched perhaps that is enough.

"Only you can prevent forest fires"
Smokey the Bear

CL

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