Shake, Rattle 'n Roll" by Susan L.

For several weeks now I've kept waking up with a song in my head. It's not the alarm clock, it has an across-the-room-tossing-teeth-grating buzz. The songs range from this morning's 60's (?) hit, "Delta Dawn...what's that flower you have on?" to"Smile, Darn Ya Smile" from the 30's. Classical favorites like Pachelbel's Canon in D or gospel favorites have popped as well. It's odd, putting the kettle on for coffee with an internal iPod playing full blast. Some of the songs trigger a bit of anger like the 1940's hit, "Smile Though Your Heart is Breaking". Over and over the lesson has been drilled in to simply hold in the bad stuff, the "socially inappropriate". It's no wonder the rate of diagnosed depression is on the rise. That ideology is so prevalent in our culture and has roots that are centuries long. It's not just in music but art as well. Norman Rockwell, the New Yorker's leading artist for many years illustrated quaint and idyllic images of the "perfect American family". Every time I see one, although sometimes cute, drives home the understanding that because my life has been no where near that standard somehow I've failed to succeed. (It doesn't last long, thankfully!" Such subtle pressures to conform! It's even worse now, the marketing pressures that bombard us every day. You must have this..You are nothing without that...be thin...eeeew! Wrinkles!... and on and on and on.Every aspect of our lives is under constant attack, our homes, our lifestyles, our children and even our bodies. We embrace it wholeheartedly or is it that we are being conned? "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" Lk 9:25