Vive la Resistance!

Yes, I know the title is in french. I speak the language because I have relatives there, although that has nothing to do with my entry today.

Today was about revolution . . . sort of.

We are in the midst of Spring Break for our public schools, so there were quite a few teenagers walking around during the middle of the day. I was running errands and saw a group of them walking towards me. They were all dressed in clothes that people would desribe in two ways: either typical teenagers or trying too hard to be counter-cultural. D@!& the Man!

It got me thinking: are they really being counter-cultural if the way they are dressed would also elicit the response of, "typical teenager?" Probably not. The problem with their perceived counter-culturalism is not the well known fact teenagers are constantly bucking the system. No, the problem is what they believe to be anti-establishment is actually now an accepted norm.

There is a culture of consumption, of pleasure at all costs, avoidance of pain above all things dominating the American landscape. It is, as I learned in a prayer, "a culture of death." Oddly enough, these teens were wearing colorful skulls on their black t-shirts. How can consumption, pleasure and no-pain lead to death? That is a loaded question, which I plan to address at a later time. Back to the revolution.

So, if the counter-culture of yore is now mainstream . . . what is counter-cultural? Saying, "no," is not found in mainstream parenting. Credit cards and financing lead to instant gratification. There is more, but take a look at my shelfari bookshelf. The first book you see should be, Crunchy Cons, authored by Rod Dreher. He outlines the new subculture sweeping America. The main cog is the stay-at-home mom.

What? The SAHM? Are you kidding? How in the world is that anti-establishment? Well, here is how: I am a SAHM. I wasn't comfortable in that position until recently. I felt I needed to be out there earning a living, making a name, and being a mom. We needed money to pay for our "stuff". This was stuff we didn't even have yet. Things I thought we might need. Dave Ramsey terms this as, "stuffitis." Hmmm, did I ever have stuffitis. I chose to stay home anyway, because in my heart I knew it was the right thing to do.

Now, please don't think I am against mothers working outside the home. There are plenty of circumstances where is it necessary for the survival of the family. That in and of itself can be a huge sacrifice for a family to make. I am talking about working outside the home for survival of the stuff. I had to make a choice; my family or the stuff. My husband and I chose our family.

What makes that revolutionary? We don't have a great TV. In fact, we only have one TV. Most households have three or more. We had outdated cel phones until I washed and dried mine. (Yes, if you wash and dry a cel phone, it will cease to work.) We didn't even have text messaging plans. We don't have cable outside of the local channels. Majority of our children's toys do not require batteries. We often times spend evenings reading . . . boring, right? Not at all. Refreshing. We chose our family over the stuff, kind of without realizing what we were doing.

Me staying at home made us have to re-evaluate our priorities. We find great pleasure in time with eachother. We aren't worried about what will happen to the main character on that prime time show, we are worried about what is going on in the lives of our family and friends. We throw the ball to our dog and watch our children grow up (too quickly, I might add).

Like I said before, I wasn't all that wrapped up in being a SAHM at first, but now I feel like I am leading a revolution of sorts. We are different because our values are different and we are trying for lives that reflect our values.

Colored skulls and punk rock have been overrun by shirts that hide spit-up and the latest "We Might Be Giants" children's CD. I enjoy my newfound counter-culturalism. It isn't fake or manufactured. And hey, who would've thought mommies would be the next revolutionaries?