Moody River

Remember Pat Boone and those white buckskin shoes? The good old days of early rock and roll. Back then the giants of the pop music world were Elvis, Pat Boone, and Ricky Nelson. But if my recollection still is sound it was Elvis who captivated audiences with his unique style when he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. I remember my parents so aghast that anyone could appear on national television and perform the way Elvis Presley did. My father was a concert violinist back in the roaring '20's. I guess my whole family when I was growing up was very musically inclined. But it was my parents who couldn't quite fathom the notion that rock and roll was actually a new kind of music much like rap and hip hop has become today.

To fit the mold of family tradition I became a violist in my grammar school orchestra. My sister took up the cello. As I recall for two years I toiled away at becoming somewhat a novice beginner playing the viola. But, as I entered junior high I became more inclined to sports through my farther's intervention. Music gave way to track and cross country. My sister though, continued to pursue her music and practiced the cello all through-out high school and into college. Me on the other hand, I never did pick up that viola again for it was athletics that propelled me into a life long career and a lifestyle that has maintained my love for sport.

Those songs whose ease of lyrics have played over and over again in memory keep the rhythm of my life steady. Every now and again I look back at those wondrous years and smile thinking how blissful we all were in those moments of peace and harmony. Now, as I ponder the reality of today it is quite refreshing to think back and conjure up many of the tunes that carried me through my teenage years. How lucky we were back then.

The harsh reality of today brings to mind the constant fact that so many youth don't have the experiences that came with going through adolescence of my generation. Truly a sad commentary for the children of today. Schools are being gutted, teachers are overwhelmed and in most parts so underpaid while our whole society has succumbed to a lower common denominator.

I guess it is up to my generation to set things right for we were the ones that gained the benefits of a time now long since past. To expedite the reality that what was once can become again. Some would say that is foolish and others would say we can never go back to the way things were, while most continue to say we must go forth which each new day and accept the reality of the way things are. To all those skeptics, granted the world that I once knew has morphed into a realization of things so far removed from that distant past, yet so many instances are quite similar. The youth of today are just as precocious, the music just as rebellious, and the fashions just a tad bit more scanty or baggy. But none the less each generation grows up not so much different. The only things that have changed is the way technology has influenced the evolution of societies.

"Moody river flowed so gently," quite a beginning to a most memorable song. The rhythms of today have become more pulsating. Our youth are deprived for the most part of an educational and social experience that does not even compare to that of the generation of the 1950's. This, while the whole demographic of America has changed. Still there are those who insist that pop culture today has only increased the sociological revolution where our youth are lost in transition between childhood and adulthood. And, that is what is so disturbing. When the youth of a society are channeled into a life progression that they are not equipped either to mentally or physically comprehend, as they are today, the evolution of stable societies won't and can't happen.

When the music revolution of the late 1950's occurred many parents were very concerned about the moral breakdown it was causing in my generation. On the other hand the parents of today's generation are not quite as concerned about the effect of today's music is having on morality. In reality the music today reflects the growing change in acceptance of behavior that just 50 years ago was considered very risque to say the least. It has affected the moral decline in as much as the schools systems have now practically condoned what we called scandalous activity. It is as though it is now an almost commonplace occurrence in high schools all across the country. Our society today, either through the music or the over exposure to saturated public media, keeps enticing our very impressionable youth into situations they are neither ready physically or emotionally to handle.

Now the question all parents have to ask is how their children can have a adolescence that brings fulfillment with lasting memories that will sustain them over their lifetime. Perplexing, maybe not! We should think back to the lyrics of those popular songs of yesteryear. Not only do those lyrics showcase a moral distinction higher than today but the rhythms incorporated within each song are unmistakably so catchy we remember them even long after we forgot them.

Will our children today look back at their wonder years with fondness as my generation does? The reality of today places a big question mark on that assumption. The changes that were made from the late 1960's through today that directly affect our youth were thought to improve our sociological structure only to have the reverse come true. Sure, great technological innovations and medical marvels abound but the disingenuous affects of all that was done in the name of social liberalization the injustice to our society remain. Our country and our youth are paying a hefty price now because of it. When will we ever learn?