Hand the Girl a Coke

In 1971 I was a blond-haired, blue-eyed second grader at Dean Goodsell Elementary School.  Mrs. Inez Nelson was my teacher and the most devastating thing that happened to me that year was not getting invited to Cherie Kelsey's birthday party.

1971 is also the year I fell in love with Coca Cola.

It was this commercial.  Even today it still ranks as one of my all-time favorites!

And I don't mean it was the soft drink that I fell in love with.  My family rarely drank soda or pop... or as we called it soda pop.  That is a bad habit I didn't pick up until my college years.  What I fell for was the whole idea of granola-munching, tree-hugging, sandal-clad people (even though I'd never think to string those descriptions together until much later in life) whose only interest was sharing the love worldwide.  Seeing this on tv is about as radical hippie-peace-freak as my ultra conservative little community ever got.

I'd like to buy the world a home
And furnish it with love.
Grow apple trees and honey bees...
And snow white turtle doves!

What a way to sell a lifestyle!  And Coca Cola was at the very center of it.  When I pick one up today, that's still the jingle I hear begin inside my head more than 40 years later.  That's powerful!

Last night and today, the social media world is buzzing about Miley Cyrus' performance... appearance... spectacle... I'm not sure what to call it at the 2013 MTV Awards.  Except shocking.  It was shocking!  And it leaves me wondering if she, and other young (and often equally shocking) performers today are shaping the thoughts of today's youth the way this Coke commercial affected me.

If you're a parent, that's got to be a sobering and frightening thing to consider!

Rather than rant with outrage like so many folks are doing, maybe today I'm going to just retreat into my happy place and count it as a blessing that I won't be here to know what the world is like in 2055.

Now... hand me a Coke!!  I'm gonna go work on furnishing that home with love!