Woodstock was a hallmark of the Baby Boomer generation. I am 62 and remember it well. For many, it still symbolizes rebellion and mayhem among an overly indulged generation of brats who thought that permissiveness and instant gratification were the only virtues in life.
But I see Woodstock as a vestige of hope: that the world can be a better place, that feelings do matter, and that the world can be motivated by love and enlightened by science. All we need to do is apply ourselves in good faith. Perhaps such hope sounds naive and overly idealistic. Today the world is no less dangerous or volatile than in 1969. But when it comes to evaluating the worth of a generation, it is better to be idealistic than cynical, with little positive vision in life.
As the saying goes, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." I fear that situation will apply to too many youth today. There is no question that we Baby Boomers have our shortcomings. So did the generation before us. Even so, it cannot be denied that with our hope, we did a lot of good for the world, too.
What caught my eye was not so much the doe-eyed nostalgia for Woodstock and that entire generation, but the part where he said: “As the saying goes, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." I fear that situation will apply to too many youth today.” Does that sound familiar? It should.
Um, Mr. Indo that is not a “saying” like “A penny saved is a penny earned”, it is a quote from Proverbs 29:18. It reads in the King James in its entirety (emphasis added):
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
On the other hand, it reads in the modern translations as:
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. (Proverb 29:18 ESV)
So where there is no vision, the people cast of restraint. Kind of like the lack of restraint shown at Woodstock with people using drugs and fornicating in the mud like animals. It also says that the man who keeps the Law is happy. A lack of prophetic vision leads to a lack of restraint that is a negative, not a positive. It is not the rebellious lawbreaker who finds happiness but the one who keeps the law. It is preceded and followed by admonitions for discipline especially towards children, including the somewhat well known truth in verse 15: The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. There were plenty of kids who were spared the rod and brought shame to their parents 40 years ago in upstate New York.
It is precisely the sort of lack of the rod and reproof that led to a generation of overindulgent kids who sought freedom through the rejection of all semblances of restraint and responsibility. The world is certainly not a better place because of Woodstock or that generation and I think it is a simple task to draw the line from the worldview of Woodstock and the social ills of modern America.
It is bad enough when preachers and politicians use Old Testament passages about the nation of Israel and apply them to America. It is far more egregious to use a Proverb about the joy of God’s law and the need for discipline to describe the ugly legacy of Woodstock favorably.
1 comment:
We will be lucky to survive all the stupid ideas and actions of those that came out of that self-obsessed, indulgent culture.
Post a Comment