I’ve been watching the Woodstock movie again. I have watched
it several times over the years and every time I see it, or another documentary
about the late ‘60s, I ask “What happened?” What happened to the ideology, the
naiveté, the good music? Why didn’t this peace and love thing catch on?
Many people say it was the drugs. I don’t think so. The drug
thing was just a side show, a distraction. That is not why so many people
turned from the ideals of peace and love and helping one another to materialism
and distrust. I believe that most people of the Woodstock generation didn’t
really want to change the world; they were just there to party. When the party
was over, they started building houses that were three times as big as their
parents. The average new house today is more than three times the size of the
average house built in the 1950’s and ‘60s. They eventually returned to the
materialistic lifestyle they learned from the previous generation.
For some of us, we found the true source, faith in Jesus
Christ. Often the traditional church was slow to accept these folks who had
little regard for stained glass and 19th century hymns, so they
started their own churches. The Bible lists the whole list of ideals in
Galatians 5: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” That is it.
That is how you identify a follower of Christ. Except for maybe the
self-control part, that pretty much describes the hippies of 50 years ago.
I have often thought about what Jesus would
have said and done had he walked on earth during that time. That is the subject
of my book, “Jesus of Kansas.” It is available as a free download at
JesusOfKansas.com. Check it out.
