“For
what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And
not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And
did it my way.”
— Paul Anka
Individualism is the
spirit of this present age. And actually, that is not an unmitigated evil.
I used to think it was. When
I was young Christian and more inclined to overreact, I found Anka’s lyrics,
popularized by Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, more than a little
cringe-worthy. I can’t take credit for the impulse since it almost surely came by
osmosis from a church environment that tended to read the worst possible motives
into every pronouncement of popular culture. Looking back on it, it seems to me
the reaction of older Christians to the observations of the pop philosophers of
my teen years was generally spot-on, if ever-so-slightly paranoid at times.
But not always.
