American Idol Anthem:

Well, this one is coming from multiple perspectives.  First, there's my perspective as a participant in 21st Century American pop culture.  Then there is my perspective as a teenager growing up in the 80s.  And finally, my perspective as a world citizen.

Tonight my husband and I had the 'opportunity' to watch the latest American Idol finale.  It seems like reality tv has become an integral part of current American pop culture.  On one hand, how sad - Hollywood has come up with the perfect formula for dummies.  Put ordinary people on tv, in one goofy situation or another, without paying them... and then take the concept to the advertisers, who eat it up and pay billions of $$ in ad revenue to Hollywood, to get us - yep, back to us average Americans - to pony up trillions of $$$ on junk we don't need or possibly even want.  The bottom line for Hollywood is $$, but what is the bottom line for the average American tv viewer?  Willful ignorance, hopefully.  The alternative is too sad to contemplate.

Now, that being said, my husband and I enjoy American Idol because overall, it seems to be a positive concept and have a positive message and probably because we don't have to think too much when watching it and can just relax.  So, that basically summarizes my first perspective.

Secondly, the American Idol finalists performed music by George Michael / Wham! from the 1980s - Gosh, not only another decade, but another century!  My teenage decade, no less.  And many of you out there... you know who you are, folks: cousins and other family, friends (N.H., C.D., M.M., S.A., C.W., P.E., E.Y., and on and on and on).  It really brought back memories of fun, upbeat music - not only from Wham!, but from Madonna (80s Madonna, people), Van Halen, Duran Duran, and so on and so forth.  There is still plenty of music like that out there now though, so I obviously I'm aging myself dramatically here.  Sigh.... oh well.

And finally, as a world citizen, I thought the song George Michael chose to personally sing was moving and profound at this point in time.  It may be debated that the themes this particular song touches, have been issues for centuries and will never be changed.  But, I think that gives mankind too little credit.  Some people I know argue that we should be helping other Americans - so, do it then.  Some people want to focus on their families - noble, so do it then.  A lot of people don't have the money, or possibly the time to give, so be courteous and smile instead.  Some people want to help but don't know where to start - think of what you value, and then find a way to contribute to that cause.  Some people really want to make a lot of $$ and that's it, so do it then (this helps quite a bit too, folks.  It's called a robust economy).  

Yes, in this world there will always be natural disasters, poor crops, personal failures, bad people, etc, etc.  And it may be trite to be moved by the lyrics to a song - but I don't think so.  For good poetry and music have a way of simplifying a most complex problem and illustrating, whether by content or by implication, a way to solve or mitigate the worst circumstances we may come up against.  From my perspective, the song G. Michael sung tonight touches on this - so, below are the lyrics and maybe something to think about:

"These are the days of the open hand

They will not be the last

Look around now

These are the days of the beggars

And the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man

Whose place is in the past 

Hand in hand with ignorance

and legitimate excuses

The rich declare themselves poor

And most of us are not sure

If we have too much

But we'll take our chances

Because God stopped keeping score

I guess somewhere along the way

He must have let us all out to play

Turned his back and all God's children

Crept out the back door

chorus

And it's hard to love,

There's so much to hate

Hanging on to hope

When there is no hope to speak of

And the wounded skies above

Say it's much too late

Well, maybe we should all be praying for time

These are the days of the empty hand

Oh you hold on to what you can

and charity is a coat you wear

twice a year

This is the year of the guilty man

Your television takes a stand

and you find that what was over there

is over here

So you scream from behind your door

Say what's mine is mine and not yours

I may have too much

but I'll take my chances

'Cause God stopped keeping score

and you cling to the things

they sold you

Did you cover your eyes when

they told you

that he can't come back

because he has no children

to come back for

chorus"