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

What Say YOu?

Interesting Trader Joe's Encounter

I have always loved Trader Joe's (TJs)- the produce is fresh, the meat is happy, the aisles have rows upon rows of interesting non modified products, which is always changing, and the people are progressive- intelligent consumers and friendly helpful staff; at least that has been my experience and my perception. So when I politely and kindly offered my services to a woman who was struggling with her groceries I was quite taken aback by her gruff resounding NO!

The Scene: I was filled with excitement at being in TJs (food makes me happy) and even though I was only picking up a few items I wanted to give the wonderful goodness that is found within the walls of TJs my full attention so I was standing off to the side responding to some very persistent texters so I could proceed with my culinary journey. As I am sending my responses I notice a woman coming towards me who is struggling with a small 'granny cart' overflowing with goods and two armfuls of boxed berries- she obviously needed help. Being the kind person that I am I offered to help her with her parcels because I could see if she ventured any further up the aisle in her current state innocent bystanders may have been assaulted with berry pulp.

photo credit: kobochangirl-aka

Not looking me in the eye she replied very curtly, 'No'. Generally I respect a person's right to say no...no means no...however, she was clearly in need and I persisted against what I thought was her stubbornness and asked if she was sure she didn't need help, 'No!' again, this time a bit more forceful. So I backed off and resumed the task at hand but I just couldn't help watching in awe as this same woman who refused to accept help from me practically pleaded with a young man to help her with her packages because she just didn't know how she was going to make it up to the front of the store to the line with all of her stuff.

'Thats interesting' I said, more to myself than to anyone else, 'what?' she replied 'but you didn't want me to help you'I said still in shock. 'No!' she said and shuffled away with her ignorance and food items.

I was so taken aback and did not quite know how to wrap my mind around it- I found a similarly complected person and described the scenario to see if anyone else thought it odd that someone in 2012 would turn down the help of another even of a different skin color. The kind woman with whom I spoke told me that 'I knew what that was' and gave me a knowing look- but I wondered as I thanked her and walked away 'Do I know what that was?'

What she was implying was that I had had a first-hand encounter with racism and I suppose I am still trying to wrap my head around a concept I have always had trouble understanding: treating someone different or judging them based on their color or how they look alone and it did not seem to matter that I was dressed nice and was offering a kindness...

That was interesting

CL

What Say YOu?