Retreating to Youth

This afternoon I pretended to be much younger than I really am (very dangerous!). Two ear buds were inserted and tuned to a local Kansas City country music station while I cleaned the car from top to bottom, just like I might have done 50 years ago (substituting a Sansa mp3 player for the car radio).

So what did I learn? First, I learned my arthritis and other problems don't bother me with lively country music sounding in my head. Second, my car really needs to be cleaned more than once every three years! Third, hazards are associated with ignoring REALITY, as taught by some country songs that I heard.

Country music is usually a good bellwether of civilization (or the lack thereof). One song by Brad Paisley struck me as a sorrowful window into the souls of many young people who (1) are lonely, (2) are unsure of their own worth, (3) want to be more than they are, and (4) are driven to exchange acting for reality.

The lyrics to Paisley's "Online" are sung by an overweight, five-foot-three, asthmatic youth who works at the local pizza place. On MySpace, he pretends to be six-foot-five, lives in Malibu, and drives a Maserati. Obviously, he gets the girls' attention with his lies and exaggerations. When he logs in every night, "I grow another foot and lose a bunch of weight."

Unfortunately, this sung fictional autobiography is typical of many young people today who waste their free time by sitting in front of computers, eating snacks, and making up stories about being someone they are not. I wonder if they can ever stop telling stories when they eventually get a girlfriend and wife. Doesn't anyone ever talk about "bad habits" anymore?

A second song may illustrate the unwillingness of modern souls to accept growing old and the reality of dying. "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" by Kenny Chesney ends with:

Everybody wanna go to heaven
Hallelujah, let me hear you shout
Everybody wanna go to heaven
But nobody wanna go now
I think I speak for the crowd.

A third song by Rodney Atkins, "Cleaning this Gun (Come on in Boy)", is more my type. A daughter is now old enough for dating and the father recognizes the young man needs a reminder, "she deserves respect, that's what she'll get!" Of course, the father is cleaning his gun as he talks to the boy! There will be REAL consequences if the boy does the wrong thing!

Lastly (if you've gotten this far), P_L_EE_AA_SS_EE listen to the www.GodTube.com music about two roosters walking arm in arm by Lewis and Lewis, two Christian country singers. My husband laughed and laughed--even though this is a very serious song.