Not Much Really Changes but Everything

There was a major discussion in our house when the Beatles were to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. My parents were of the variety that believed the shock would be a life changer and my sister and I would instantly travel to the hot place after life. But that doesn't even speak about the reaction of Elvis and parent-child relations. There was a fairly common belief that the twist would make one sterile, the mash potato could cause instant blindness especially among males and that fast dancing was going to lead to an invasion by the communists.

I don't remember a period when the dances of the young were considered appropriate. The roaring 20s and the speak easies are now romanticized but at the time were thought to be the work of the devil progress. Hollywood made a fortune in The 70s and 80s with films of young people wanting to dance and their hypocrite (and according to the film clueless) parents wanting their children to waltz and country line dance. I think that about covers our students' parents, grandparents and in some cases great grand parents.

Most thought it was the wars to end all wars and the fast living and women working at the Ford plant and whatever happened to skirts? The fashion and language and rituals and the dance of the young have constantly been criticized as too much something. The teenager wants his/her own look, own style. The fact that in general they are repeats doesn't matter. Does it look different then the adults I know? Will this upset them?

There was a period in time believe it not that a girl would never be seen in public with a bra strap showing. Now they come in bright colors and frequently there are multiple straps as part of the fashion statement. In the name of modesty girls wear dance shorts under the extremely short skirts or are those too long tops? Guys are wearing the same things they have for decades. The difference is showing your too cute boxer shorts and what hat or kind of hat do I wear?

Today the dance is standing in the middle of hundreds of people and jumping up and down. Sometimes with hands raise and sometimes not for variety. The girls are screaming the very loud beat never stops for the three hours and one jumps mostly in time of the music. Yes, the hidden idea to to bump into someone else. From my observation, the gender of the bumpee is not of concern and probably not controllable anyway. The young person gets in this mass of bodies and is stuck there for the evening. It looks about like it does on those prime time detective series where the in the know people go to let off steam and meet people.

I think that from the view point of the observer, the dancing looked about as strange now as it did for our parents and their parents and probably the parents behind them. That doesn't mean that we now have no values or we shouldn't care. Maybe now we need to be talking to our children and maybe we should know what reasonably reflects our faith and value as a family. But I wonder what you thought once upon a time when you were 16 and Mom started on your style or friends or dance? We need to say something to our children but what?