It's hard for me to remember the 60's, as the saying goes, because I was there. But I do remember how deeply the hippie motto "make love, not war" resounded then. My generation was sick of war.Sick of the daily body counts.
Sick of hearing the warmongers' justifications for sending our young men overseas to a foreign country which was supposed to be the right place to fight an "ism" (communism) because of the "Domino Theory."
Sick of seeing men coming home missing limbs or, worse, in body bags.
Sick of the "credibility gap" between the information the executive branch put out for public consumption and the real data they kept secret.
Sick of the persecution of a courageous whistleblower who thought the American public ought to hear the truth about the war.Sick of a Congress that bled the nation's treasury and couldn't figure out a way to stop the bleeding as the war dragged on for years without a clear vision of what victory could really be.
Sick of the most arrogant and hateful president in American history, who misused our intelligence and law enforcement agencies and even his own loyal friends.
Sick of how the growing disagreement over continuing the war split father from son and friend from friend, causing a rift among the American people that would last for decades.
Sick of having to contemplate all this mess year after year and facing the draft, while we were young and vital and should have been building our careers.
Is it any wonder we were "Sha, la, la la la la, live for today," in the words of a hit song of the day?Is it any wonder we created our own, radically new culture?
Is it any wonder we spoke of love?
Today I took a walk in the park to fight the winter blues. I passed by our veterans memorial and read the names of men that families, loved ones, and friends lost to war in Korea and Vietnam. Let's not have to add any new names to our Iraq War plaques.
And despite the cultural changes and the resignation of Nixon - here we are again.
ReplyDeleteI remember a fearlessness, too, a willingness, across many levels of society, to voice opposition and there were lots of riots and arrests that followed.
Today, I sense mostly a fearfulness - a rampant paranoia that serves to keep us isolated from each other and a sense of helplessness at the thought of making change.
I do not remember much about the sixties as I was born in the midst of it and started kindergarten in 1970.
ReplyDeleteI did have a progressive parent who despised Nixon and feared the legislation of morality. The thing is that is exactly what happened in 2000 and 2004. The issues of ethics in government(as well as competent leadership)was were sidelined for the shrill voice of people listening to the current administration that gay people were going to invade their homes, abortion and a plethora of other issues that dealt with morality was the spin of the moment and, although I do have hope, how patient are the American people? Or is the reality that the majority of people don't care?
The thing is when you get people in a fervor, there is no reasoning with them.
Jon Stewart had a great quote the other night on Larry King saying that democrats have 49 percent of the senate and congress and only three percent of the power.
I honestly just would like to see people acting brave in their political idealogy instead of following the company line because they are afraid.
Wintermute, what happened? Great post and I couldn't agree with you more.
History is repeating itself because our President and Vice President never had to deal with the Vietnam War in a personal way. Dubya was assured of his spot in the National Guard despite the two year waiting list. Cheney had "other priorities." Is it any wonder they are so cavalier about making war when neither man raised an eyebrow over Vietnam? The outrage is that Bush was trained by our military to be a jet fighter pilot, was in favor of the Vietnam War, yet chose not to serve.Then had the arrogance to stroll around the campus at Yale wearing his Texas National Guard bomber jacket while his less fortunate peers had to find refuge for themselves, go to jail, or go to Vietnam. Dubya's no Jack Kennedy. He's no Bush, Sr. either.
ReplyDeleteIn our government, there is too much "let's you and him fight."
ReplyDeleteI graduated from high school in the late Sixties; boys I grew up with died in Vietnam at ages 18 and 19, gone before they could begin. When the Vietnam War "ended" a few years later, I thought surely in my lifetime I would never see another senseless slaughter of our young people with the "blessings" of our government. I was wrong.
Well said, my friend.
ReplyDeleteEmail me, please.