Copyright 2001 by Debbie Porter

The house was completely quiet as I carried my crumpets, smothered in honey, to the kitchen table. Everyone else had gone to bed, but I wasn't quite ready to do the same. In fact, it was the perfect time to finish reading the one magazine that appeals to three out of four members of the Porter family.

What makes this particular magazine appealing is the constant aim to provide a middle of the road approach to news and entertainment. It's not too heavy, and definitely not too light. Sensationalist journalism doesn't have a place and for the most part, the same is true for gossip.

Kylie and Steve usually battle over first reading privileges when our weekly subscription of "Who" is delivered. The winner is most often the one who arrives home first and manages to steal the magazine away before the other walks in the door.

As for me, I'm quite happy to wait. I often don't get to browse through the pages until somewhere closer to the moment when it makes its ignoble way into the recycling bin.

The only problem with being the last person on the reading list is that everyone else knows the "news" before you do. Nothing is more guaranteed to leave you feeling like a wet firecracker, than to exclaim over some surprising news story, only to have your husband or daughter just nod and say, "Yes, I know."

But in the stillness of the quiet house, I could quietly "ooh" and "aah" to my heart's content with no one around to dampen my enthusiasm.

With my crumpets long gone and my eyes just starting to feel a little gritty and tired, I began to close the magazine, when something caught my attention. It was just one little quote, but as soon as I read it I couldn't help but laugh.

A well known Australian Producer, Harry M. Miller, made the following comment after announcing that the planned revival of the musical, "Hair", would not be going ahead:

"Not likely!" I snorted, in a very undignified way.

It would be very reassuring for the Promoter to be able to apportion blame or find an external reason why the public showed a complete lack of interest in seeing this 1968 musical brought back to life. But the smash hit stage show, "Singing in the Rain", blasted Mr. Miller's comments out of the water.

With a third season of tickets to the Sydney show going on sale just last week, any possible concerns people may have regarding the economy certainly aren't keeping them away from the Theatre.

As I closed the magazine and headed to the shower I began thinking about the real reasons for "Hair" needing to be cut! I could be totally wrong, but the one thought that seemed to almost explode was that for the last 30 years we've been living with the consequences of the counter-culture that inspired this musical. Stepping into a new decade, century and millennium has perhaps left many of us with a desire never to go back to those days again.

Although I was only 7 at the time the "tribal love rock musical" first made an appearance, the songs and posters were everywhere. I even remember "Good Morning Starshine" being sung on Sesame Street! My sister, Diane, had the album and I never really thought anything about it except that the music was catchy and I enjoyed singing along with some of the lyrics.

After becoming a Christian I recognized the danger of the Eastern Religion/New Age message that was being promulgated. Although "Hair" didn't create the attitude or the decline of morality in the late 1960's, it certainly helped to promote it!

In spite of the fact that we're now living in a world that's almost without boundaries regarding morality in the media, it appears that there's a swing back to those things that are wholesome and good. In fact, a return to the very things that would probably have been despised by those who were once considered "trendy" and "hip".

This morning, while researching "Hair", I was stunned by what I discovered. To be honest, I'd thought that there was very little that had the ability to shock me these days, but I was wrong. While reading through the lyrics, I had to keep checking that these were actually the words from the musical. The first song I recognized, but from then on it was alien territory! I also had to keep reminding myself that this was something that had been presented in front of a live audience over three decades ago. Surely some of those who attended the first performance must have been offended!

How subtle are the influences that impact our way of thinking! It appears that the act of desensitization was already well on the way when "Hair" erupted in 1968.

There were a number of reasons why the youth of the late 1960's turned so totally against the morality of the previous generations, yet I believe that there was only one root cause. As King Solomon wisely wrote:

When people start to turn their backs on the God of the Bible and fail to live what they proclaim as true, it won't be long before the next generation will completely reject their parents' beliefs and values. It won't be long before they cast off restraint and do whatever feels good for them.

Each generation since those rebellious days of free love, drugs and disrespect, has struggled to find a system of morality or beliefs that they can build on. Each time the search has largely ended with a deeper decline into immorality, self-centeredness and emptiness. The search for meaning, purpose and significance, has for the most part, ended in fruitlessness.

But here we are in the year 2001, and in Australia at least, there seems to be a desire to return to a time when an entire family could watch the same things without any fear.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into what is, after all, a very small event in the big scheme of things. Yet there's a hope rising in my heart that the tide has turned, even if only by the smallest of ripples. That just maybe, after every other alternative has been tried and rejected, there may be a return to our awesome and loving God. That finally this jaded world will stop looking for the "Age of Aquarius" and start singing in these days of the latter rain!

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