Friday, January 29, 2021

Black or White

      I recall back in the 60s when I was a teenager.  Life was certainly different than what it is today.  Most of the time the only thoughts I had going through my head were those of how am I going to graduate from high school, what was I going to do after I did, and was I ever going to find a girl who would like me as much as I did her?

     Understandably, those are the types of questions that would probably go through the heads of many teenagers at any point in history.  But, the cares and concerns of a complicated world scene never crossed my mind.  It always seemed that the problems of the world, as they may develop during that time, would in some way eventually work themselves out for the better.  No one WANTED war, or crime, of domestic violence, or hatred, or sexual harassment, or prejudice, or any of the other problems that are so prevalent today.

 

     Don’t misunderstand me!  I’m not saying that those things didn’t exist back in the 60s when I was growing up.  But they were the minority of events in the world that I lived in then.  They were things that happened, but not on a major level that you were consumed on a day-to-day basis with these problems.  When they occurred, they were dealt with at that moment.  They were not highlighted as an everyday event.

 

     And while being unaware of actual events in the world during that period of my teen years, I have been amazed as to what was really happening.  “Americans who lived through the 1960s and 1970s remember the fear associated with a real surge in violent crime. In fact, the violent crime rate increased by 126 percent between 1960 and 1970, and by 64 percent between 1970 and 1980” ( https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/americas-faulty-perception-crime-rates#:~:text=Americans%20who%20lived%20through%20the,percent%20between%201970%20and%201980. )

 

     I was more concerned about those things that I mentioned above that were directly going to affect my personal life.  I never gave thought to reality!  There was turmoil within cities and within the country.  There were protests about what the government was involved in and because of the thing that were not being done for the “average” citizens.  It seemed to be a period of times that was completely different from that of the 50s!

 

     “Ordinary families had little spare money for treats like cinema trips and holidays. Before most homes had televisions, people spent their spare time listening to the radio or reading the newspaper; they played board games rather than computer games; and in place of the selection of fast food outlets we have to choose from, they had a takeaway from the local fish and chip shop.”( https://www.mylearning.org/stories/family-life-in-the-1950s/204 )

 

     As now, many wanted things to be simpler.  We longed for a time when you could once again know the “good” guys from the “bad.”  Even without them having to wear white hats.  Most things were just plain, black or white!  THIS was something acceptable, THAT was not!  You knew when you were told something, that’s the way it was going to be.  When I ponder that by-gone era, my thoughts return to a song that was performed by the Monkees, a singing group from the 60s.  The song was called “Black or White.”  The lyrics very plainly expressed a desire for a simpler time in life.  I think that today the words are even more apropos than they were then.  You might enjoy listening to their rendition of this song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SubpzqswJRE

 

      We find today that most things are no longer “black or white”, but they are only shades of gray as the song mentions.  Many no longer want a compromise.  They want things THEIR way or no way at all.  And there are many who will go to great extremes to see that it happens!  Most problems are enlarged by the fact that we are greedy and prideful.  We most often refuse to admit that we might be wrong in a given situation or that another person could possibly come up with a better solution than we did.  Some will stubbornly defend an idiotic course to the very end rather than admit defeat or offer a willing spirit of compromise.  The simple truth is that as imperfect lumps of molded clay, we’re only human!   


QUOTE TO CONSIDER



THOUGHTFUL GEM


"Nothing is as simple

as black and white!"




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