I wrote a post last month entitled “I AM”. One of the quotes I shared was….
“Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet
The other evening I was sharing my love of the Andy Griffith Show with my wife. With the passing of Mr. Griffith this past week I was reminded of my fondness for the show and I was eager to re-visit a few of the episodes.
What a surprise! The old cozy, warm feeling of the show was mostly hidden by the blatant and pervasive deception of the characters. My favorite episode, “Barney and the Choir” was all about deception in lieu of honesty. Funny, without doubt, however I was seeing another layer. Then the episode about Aunt Bea and her pickle recipe, then another favorite showing Andy getting physically ill by eating several back to back spaghetti dinners…all because he couldn’t bring himself to tell his personal truth. There was not only a common thread in all of these reruns, but a repeating concrete foundation of beautiful lies.
Now at the risk of taking this all too seriously…do we shrug this off as just a television show? Just entertainment? What struck me is that this show was not alone. Virtually every form of sitcom in that day and age carried the same reluctance to display honesty…to be true to self. Could this possibly be a pervasive theme setting the stage for an entire generation?
What did we (OK…those of you in the middle and tail-end of the “Baby Boom”) learn about communication and basic foundational concepts of integrity from these portrayals? If we were less than transparent and forthright in our relationships…what basic fear was this displaying?
Fear of acceptance. Fear of confrontation. Fear of leadership…to name a few. My children seem to display a cynicism that my generation did not have. Not saying this is entirely unhealthy, in fact in some ways it is very healthy. To be able to unemotionally call into question belief systems and character traits that we took for granted seems to be a talent and virtue of the younger generation. Whether in the form of the recent ‘occupy’ demonstrations, a distrust of our banking and political systems, this cynicism is the result I ‘fear’…of what my generation and my parent’s have sown.
The good news is that with the cynicism is a greater awareness and accountability. No longer will we sit numbly and absorb without questions the morals of values of the preceding generation. The challenge is to turn cynicism into certainty. Fear into quiet observation.
I am hopeful for the journey of my children and their peers.
“It is our duty to question our government and public officials.” Thomas Jefferson
We are moving into another sometimes exhausting and dispiriting round of campaign promises and elections. Perhaps the tendency of preceding generations for deception can be left behind. Perhaps our children will practice alchemy by turning deception into integrity, beautiful lies into unadorned virtue.
Good luck with that….may their opened eyes see the value in this path.
IN-JOY your day,
Perry
©2012 Perry Chinn,D.C. All rights reserved.
Dr. Chinn is a 1986 Life graduate (Marietta), has been practicing in the Seattle area for 25 years and is a board member of the Gonstead Clinical Studies Society. He is the co-creator of the nutritional cardiovascular formula Acctrix (www.Acctrix.com), co-founder of Unisal Wellness Technologies and is the author of Symphony of Wellness and Soaring Beyond Fear ( www.PerryChinn.com). His book Symphony of Wellness focuses on the science and benefits of the Nobel Prize winning science of nitric oxide for cardiovascular health and whole body wellness. He can be reached at DrPChinn@gmail.com or info@perrychinn.com
