My sweet daughter-in-love gave me a gift. Every monday a question is sent to my inbox stimulating a response about my life. She is such a lover of history; and family stories mean the world to her, so each week i plow through the memories highlighting the ones that i hope will edify, bless and enlighten the readers as the years unfold.
The selection below is a little blurb from a question about the ‘fads’ i remembered. Sharing it here because it matters. :-)…we now join the story in progress:
Upon returning to the USA, the hippy movement was in its finest day! The onset of the movement was centered in the Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco as well as on college campuses across the country. The movement was founded on Peace and Love. It really was a pure thing. We were against the War in Viet Nam and protested very peacefully. We loved everybody. I even put a flower in the pocket of a policeman making him smile. We wore bell bottoms and tie-dyed shirts. We listened and sang along with the Greats in protest folk music and early classic rock and roll.
We really did spread love and peace to all we met. Then the bad people brought the drugs into our midst and the whole movement lost it purity and became a disgrace. Most of us grieved about that, and some began to partake of the devil weed and other mind-altering substances. Our pure intentions were dismissed and the evil ones (the bankers, CIA and mafia that killed President Kennedy) took over. The Nation would never be the same, until now. 🙂
We were a determined bunch though! We would not take any nonsense that threatened our God-given Freedom as Americans. My generation would have called the entire plandemic a hoax from the start, and most of us 60 and above probably did. We have seen this before. The takeover attempt of a generation was perpetrated on the bell bottomed hippies; and we know what it looks like. I guess we neglected to instill that passion for freedom in our offspring, and now, like dumb sheep, we see compliance ushering in bondage.
Back to fads…mostly my generation produced the very best in music. Other than the classic Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin era, the late 50’s and all the 60’s brought the absolute BEST in musical skill and content. We sang our way through the troubles and proclaimed our freedom in songs. Each musician was skilled beyond their natural abilities it seemed; and we wallowed in the giant collection of talented performers.
Woodstock was wonderful, so they say, and our own Northwest had a similar gathering in those years. The Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair hosted Greats like the Doors, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Starship and many others. It lasted three days, and was an event that will always have a place in my memory!
My generation was given a bad reputation over the years; but I lived it, and can testify of the amazing goodness, love and decency that undergirded the baby boomers as they embraced Fads, stuck together and found adulthood. Now, the times they are a changin, and we still ask, how many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?…the answer my friend, is still blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind. (Acts chapter 2)