haves and have nots

So I may have made a major life decision tonight; rather than wishing I grew up in the 80's as opposed to being born in them, I might just wish I grew up in the 60's.  I went to see Hair with my mother, 2 aunts, and my grandmother.  Really not as awkward as you would think considering the night consisted of 3 hours of sex acts, acid trips, and a full-fontal of the entire cast.  As great as the theater experience was (highly recommended), the message it offered was even greater.

Obviously it was the typical message you think of when you think of the 60's- "hell no we wont go," "make love not war," "peace & love."  And obviously this is right up my ally seeing as I own a shirt that says "make love not war."  Now that I think about it is in neon 80's colors, hmmm... there's an interesting coincidence, but we'll leave that for later.  So even though there are so many places I could go with this type of idealistic viewpoint being thrust (and I literally mean thrust) upon me, what stood out the most is something even more basic.  There is one point in the story where one of the main characters is asked the series of questions all us young adults dread: "What are you doing with your life?" "When are you going to grow up and make the responsible choices?" "What do you have?"

The character's response was a song (it's a musical, duhh!) with a canorous list of body parts.  He literally listed everything from eyes and ears to arms and hands to legs and toes; then, more importantly, moved on to highlight that he has his mind, heart, and soul.  Pretty basic stuff.  Was is the answer to the question?  Yeah.  Was it a total wise-ass response?  Of course, he was a hippie people- fight the man and keep up won't you!  Was it a GREAT response? Hell yeah- in so many ways.

So what if it wasn't much than he was born with?  That's what really matters in life, these are the basic things that make us who we are- the things that no one can take away from us or discredit us for in any way.  Not only is his highlighting the basics as important a powerful sentiment, the mindset that drives this enhances it as well; he is focusing on what he has, not dwelling on what he doesn't.

As a culture we get so caught up in what we don't have; we get concerned that others have more than we do, are doing better than we are.  We get lost in the "if only's" and forget what really matters and all we really do have.  We have so much, there are always so many things that are going right in our lives.  But somehow one negative outweighs 2, 3, 4, or even more positives.   This is not a way to lead a happy life and so we need to be reminded of these things.  This is what the purpose of art (as idealistic as it is) is- to remind us not to get bogged down with the unfortunate realities and reinvigorate our sense hope.  We need something to motivate us to get up everyday- positivity and idealism work for me.