Protect Your Minds

For whatever reason the issue of protection has been coming up a lot in my interactions with people or things I'm reading/learning.

I don't remember who I was talking to the other day, but the subject of what music kids listen to came up. Something that never ceases to amaze me is how concerned parents are with protecting their children physically, yet they don't seem to pay any attention to what the kids are filling their minds with. This is a big problem for many reasons.

Kids of any and all ages model behavior they are perceiving, and today's music makes some awful things seem like a whole lot of fun. Some messages that are really common in secular music today on the top 40 are: sex with strangers is fun which makes it perfectly okay, dancing and clubbing is for finding a partner for the evening, sex is only about pleasure, sex isn't complicated and has no consequences, do what ever you want and when ever you want to, you don't have to worry about consequences, being drunk is the most fun you can have, being feminine means dressing to arouse, cheating is fun and not a big deal, life should be like the movies, single is not ideal, violence can be sexy, sexy is what matters, if life isn't exploding with excitement at all moments then you need to ditch and find something better, etc . . .

You have to listen to a lot of crap to find the good songs most days.

I'm not blogging to get people to stop listening to secular music, but it's so important to think about the messages you fill your head with. I don't ever live out anything in those songs, but those messages can get to me. I find myself at times thinking, "Why am I not out there having all that fun?" Then I have to remind myself "oh wait . . . all that stuff has horrible consequences, not to mention I absolutely love my life and enjoy it! I never want to actually do those things. The fun they are having ALL THE TIME is what is so attractive to me."

I've kind of gone off on a rabbit trail here . . . I'll try to get back to my point, and that is that parents/peers who are aware/roll models need to start paying attention to what kids are listening to. Believe it or not music has a huge influence on behavior. Why? Music gets at your mind. It really does. So many people connect well with music, and if they are connecting well with negative or inappropriate messages then they may tend to dwell there. This could easily lead to inappropriate and destructive behavior. Start caring.

Some people don't even notice lyrics of songs, and just enjoy the beat. I can appreciate that, because I've been there and at times I do listen to a song because it gets me up and moving . . . however, whether you catch up on them or not those messages are still getting in your head. Sometimes people are also watching you listen to inappropriate music which may cause them to think you approve of what the message is. I don't think this is the case most of the time, but . . . food for thought. . .

I'll have to give a little shout out to my mother, because she always knew what we were listening to and what it meant. She used to ruin so many songs for us because she would ask "Do you know what this song means?" Then we would have to actually listen to the lyrics and process it beyond the beat. Often times it was awkward if a song was about sex and then we realized our mother knew that and wanted to talk about it. Hahahaha. . . It really drove me nuts, but I am so grateful that she did that. She really cared about what we were listening to. My parents also wouldn't buy us music that was inappropriate. I mean we found ways to get it if we really wanted it, but still . . . they monitored that stuff and talked about it with us so we knew why it mattered to pay attention to content. I think more parents should be doing this. If they are then great!

This doesn't just apply to music that is about getting drunk and laid, but music that is always about how awful things are or music that simply makes you feel sad. Why dwell there? Maybe having music that expresses your feelings better than you can is good in moderation, but constantly listening to it doesn't encourage you to pull away from that or improve. Ya know what I mean?

I hope this made some sense and is at least slightly encouraging. I don't mean to criticize people who love secular music. I really like some of it too . . . just not most of it and for good reasons.

Oh just to add . . . this same idea applies to Christian music too. Although Christian music is generally positive or trying to point in the right direction some of it really misses the mark or is just dead wrong and causes more damage than good because people buy into the message like with any kind of music . . .

I'm really rambling now. I'll end with this.

Music affects your thoughts, feelings, moods, behavior, you get the picture . . .
so listen to music that will have a positive/productive outcome.