Wednesday, December 14, 2005

"One-upmanship"

Sorry Paul, I didn't have my code to log into your site handy, so this goes here.

I wonder how far the one-upmanship will go. By this I mean everythings attempt to "top" everything else in some sense. Tylenol wasn't good enough, we need extra-strength, then maximum strength. I'm ready foe tylenol Infinity - one tablet lasts forever! Elvis & The Beatles were as extreme as it got in the 50' & early 60's, now we have music so vulgar that it even makes me blush.

There has to be a cap to it all, but there is no end in sight, and the further you take it, the harder it is to come back. Simple pleasures should be paramount, revered even. A walk in a park in spring, playing with a puppy, watching the leaves turn colors in Fall, these things are all precious. Wonderful things like children laughing seeing a shooting star, finding a 4 leaf clover, these are the magical things in life.

We've become slaves to pop culture. It's all "extreme" and "in your face". Why does it have to be in your face? We have music that makes you want to fight, TV shows that numb you to everything, books that are never opened, and video games that have our kids vicariously dismembering people and causing wanton destruction for "fun".

And the values have gone away. We were in such a hurry to be rid of them, now they are gone and we see why they are so important. We have mothers & grandmothers raising children and fathers with no accountability. Boys especially cannot grow up proper without a man there to show them the way.

I can only hope we've hit the crest of the "extreme" mindset.

No comments: