Forever Young

Didn't I promise I'd talk about 'Way back then'?

Of course, I didn't live as far back as I would have liked. I do love the generation I was born into, but sometimes I wish I was from my grandparents times. Black and white television, legendary musical artists, The King of Rock and Roll, Bob Dylan.
Where local dinners were the hit spots to hang with your friends. Not the mall, or alley ways behind large buildings.
Where cheeseburgers cost about fifty cents and a coke was a dime.
Where walking down the streets alone wasn't a death sentence and you didn't have to look over your shoulder when night fell.
Where family time meant sitting on the living room floor playing a card game, because not everyone had a TV yet. Shows were short, snappy and had really bad actors, but made us laugh anyways.
Where our presidents weren't trying to deny our rights to be a free nation. They stuck to the constitution and even in war they never gave up, but at the same time, kept our nation from dissolving under the malice it created.
Where a vacation meant an extremely long car ride to the Grand Canyon or the Rockies, or just to the local park, to sleep in your car and relax.
Where music didn't sound like someone was trying to blow up your eardrums.
Where 'calling up your friend' meant walking all the way to their house to visit, even if it was only for a few minutes.
I watch old video clippings from these times and just wish our nation was like that today. Sure, we've advanced in technology and in health and money. But what about Unity?
What happened to 'United We Stand, Divided We Fall'?
And The Pledge Of Allegiance?
One Nation Under God?
In God We Trust?

Where did it all go?

It was ripped and corroded away by people who say they don't 'believe in it' and that it's an insult against their religion. Torn from the people who do use those words to define how they live their life.
Why should we change our history, for the sake of their own?
Open a History book, flip through the pages of one of the books from the Library of Congress. Dig into that world and tell me what you find.
Sure, there's war and death. Destruction and misfortune.
But what about faith? And hope?
What about the ending of it all?
Didn't we win?
And if we lost, didn't we do it with our heads held high?

Didn't we take one large hunk of land full of Indians, rich plantation owners, poor people and bring them together to live together?
If not in true peace, but one that kept us comfortable?

There is never peace. In order to create the perfect 'peace' we must first all be perfect. And we're not. We're only human.
We are selfish and greedy, malicious and barbaric, but we live by the choices we make. What we do and say, effect not only ourselves, but the people around us.

So when you watch your great grandmother take a seat on her chair and just stare out at the sunset. Ask her what her childhood was like.
War, loss and happiness.

Because when I look at it, as unhappy as it may have been. It couldn't have been any worse than how people live today.

Forever Young - Pepsi Commercial for the SuperBowl. It was my favorite one.
Enjoy



Until We Meet Again,
Lynn