1969 Revisited

Alot has been said over the last couple of weeks about 1969. After all, it was the year of the first moon landing; Woodstock; the Sharon Tate killing; and Nixon becoming President. So, I wanted to take a few minutes and write about 1969. As you know, our trip to Europe in 1973 was a pivotal time in my life. A lot of things changed about me because of that trip. A close second was 1969. I was in high school. In History class, my teacher had us debate the Vietnam War. Due to where I was sitting, my half of the room had to support the anti-war movement. The other half took the pro-war stance. I had not been too concerned with the war prior to that time. I was more concerned with surviving getting beaten up, and trying not to get caught for doing stuff I shouldn't have been doing. So, if you believe in karma or fate, that moment in class was a moment of karma. I was destined to be debating the good things of the anti-war movement. It forced me to study it, and I found a lot of truth. 1969 was the year I became politically aware. It was the year I became what I called myself--"a short-haired hippie". My parents would not let me grow my hair long. But, I had the mindset of a hippie. My friends were hippies, or at least politically conscious people. I became a debater. When the astronauts landed on the moon, I realized that our planet was small, and anything was possible. When Sharon Tate was killed, I wrote in a movie magazine next to her picture that she had been killed by "a maniac". I knew nothing of the Manson family then. I just knew of the slaughter, and it affected me. Then, there was Woodstock. As I have written before, my hippie name became "The Woodstock Kid". Peace and Love. My parents gave me the soundtrack to the film for Christmas. I played it at a church social that we had at our house. The kids wanted to listen to side 2, but that had bad words on it, so we played the other sides. Later in my hippie experience, I joined the anti-war movement in college. My hair got longer. Many of the hippies were also in Theatre, so we fit right in, especially at PC. The philosophies of the day were many. Some dropped out mentally. Some did major drugs and liquor. Some wanted to change the face of politics or stop the war. But, whatever road we took on any given day, the idea of making a difference was very strong in my life. Despite some people not understanding, or criticizing me, I became a stronger person. And, I would like to think a gentler person. Peace and Love are powerful forces, and we need to get back to that mentality somehow. Who knows what I would think now had I been sitting on the other side of that room in History class in 1969. It was karma. It was fate. It was beautiful. I may not have been at Woodstock in August of 1969. And, if everyone was there who said they were there, it would have been much bigger than it was. But, Woodstock became me. The force surrounded me. And, I was never the same. Higher.