Well that was an essay to get me thinking.

I am critical of the hip/hop and rap genres mostly because of the lyrics, which often influence young people with the wrong values to find happiness.

And country music has its own issues of flogging the wrong lifestyles to sell records and fill stadiums.

I was a big fan of Jimmy Buffet. A few months back, I brought a new cassette player. My old Jimmy Buffet cassette got lots of play. I was singing to the music.

I never thought of the values this essay was promoting until this essay. Somehow I was blind to the music I liked.

I've been off alcohol for 29 years. I've been on both sides of this lifestyle, including a few years of drinking way too much. Somehow Jimmy Buffet made it seem OK--even if I was not paying much attention to the lyrics.