I really like punk rock. I think that's rather obvious.
It made me laugh to have you poking fun at it during our drive Saturday. I can't say I hear the Circus in it like you do, but it is a funny genre of music. It's my childhood though, so there's a lot of nostalgia in it for me. I'm not using that as an excuse for why I listen—I love the energy from it. That's why I listen. I think that even if I'd only just been introduced to it I would still listen to punk rock.
I recognize that I have to be careful with this type of music. A lot of it can be rather crass or destructive. I try to filter that. There's enough good punk to not need the less uplifting kind. And I'm not too proud to say that my favorite punk band is still Blink 182 no matter what anyone else says about them. I still love that stuff.
I had a young men's advisor when I was in high school who listened to punk rock. I stress LISTENED. He would talk with me about it and, at first, I just assumed he still listened. We'd talk about music and concerts and the punk rock lifestyle. Then, one day, it came out that he didn't listen to it anymore.
What!?
I didn't understand how he could know so much about it, love it so much, and yet have nothing to do with it anymore. It turned out it was his wife who had convinced him it wasn't good for their family. She convinced him (and probably he convinced himself too) that he had a responsibility to his children to not listen to punk. As if it was inherently a bad thing.
I don't think that's true.
I think that almost anything has its good and bad. For my part I choose to believe that punk rock (my punk rock) is good. I don't mind exposing my kids to it. In fact I hope my kids enjoy it. I don't care if it's their favorite music, but I hope they don't hate it.
Even if all they think of it is that it makes good clown car music . . .
.a Boy
