new thread
I came across a newspaper website which was publishing letters to the editor they had received over the years. Some go back to the early 1940's. Anyway, here's one from 1972, which you guys might find interesting:
Long Hair And Roller Skates
March 4, 1972 . . . Recently I read an advertisement in the newspaper about the Levittown Roller Skating Rink which brought back fond memories of my not-so-long-ago teenage years. My wife and I decided to call another couple and we were off for an evening of what we thought was to be roller skating. To my complete and utter amazement upon walking inside, a man at the door said I could not go in because my hair was too long. To begin with my hair is not very long by today's standards although it does cover my ears. The important thing, however, is that here I am a teacher, a coach, an adult, taking his wife out and not being allowed inside a public facility because my hair was, by the judgment of the man at the door, "too long."
Longer hair is the vogue of today. . . . A place, or should I say disgrace, like the Levittown Roller Skating Rink with its antiquated rules is a prime reason for the young adults of today being alienated further and further away from so-called older and wiser adults.
Jeffrey Medved
Port Jefferson Station
I guess we should all be thankful that our society has moved forward from the attitudes of those days.
Jann
Hi Jann,
that's an interesting article, and the sentence "A place, or should I say disgrace, like the Levittown Roller Skating Rink with its antiquated rules is a prime reason for the young adults of today being alienated further and further away from so-called older and wiser adults." is strikingly true, of course.
It reminds me of what my grandfather said many years ago. Before he died, he recalled a young active member of his church parish who got a dress-down from the back-then conservative pastor for growing his hair long. In the following years, that young man drifted away from the church. My grandfather, a devout parish member, said that the pastor's attitude most likely was a major factor. He was angry at the pastor who, according to traditional church doctrine, possibly endangered that young man's salvation.
Even though my grandfather wore his hair quite short himself, he always felt that every man needs to sport his own style.
Hans-Uwe
I've often thought that people who worship a god that would become offended over something as trivial as hair (that he created) had picked a very small god to follow.
That would have to be the line of the year.
Lets see.....in 1972 my hair was alot longer than my ears.
Alot longer.
I had started growing it 1964.