Presenting for your consideration, a child of the ’60s, a veteran of Woodstock, and an out-of-touch adult. I haven’t grasped concepts like emojis, tropes, memes, or throwing shade. I’ve never tweeted, and I’m convinced I never will. Owning a smartphone was never a consideration until I found out recently that I can’t buy a ticket to a Celtics game anywhere in the country without having access to a mobile app. Watching other folks staring blindly into their screens in restaurants and waiting rooms, like their lives depended on it, is just not appealing.
Back in the ’60s, no one ever called me a “hippie” because that was a label that the media and politicians of those times used to denigrate anyone with an alternative lifestyle or belief system. Yet I long for those times when there was a purpose for our actions and meaning to our existence.
I wonder, what is the purpose of today’s youth (and adults) when we are on the path to chaos in this country but no one is marching in the streets except for the Neo-Nazis. It seems like folks just don’t want to be bothered about kids in cages, Russians attempting to take over our government, and immigrants dying when they are seeking to bring their hopes for a better life to our country. If that attitude was as prevalent back in the 1940s when my parents escaped the Holocaust, I wouldn’t be around to question my fellow Americans of today.
So now that I’m “woke,” the question is what’s it going to take to get us back out in the streets again? We had our Vietnam then, and we have our horrific gun violence and racial bigotry trying to collapse our democracy today.
Before moving to the beautiful Central Coast, I lived in one of the poorest counties in Tennessee (Hancock County, check it out). My closest friend there, and still one of my cherished ones, is a Baptist minister named Sheldon. Recently I asked him why so many of his flock were Trump supporters. He candidly said that Trump says and does things that they feel and believe in but can’t come right out and say—until now. These folks were always decent to me in the 10 years that I lived there, so I didn’t know their current emotions back then. I was naive and out of my element. It seems that a lot of these folks think that I, and all Jews, need to go to Israel so that we can participate in their Armageddon. Not I folks, sorry. Been there but didn’t do that.
I mention this because it adds to my confused state of what happened around me then and is happening now. It’s so difficult to keep track of the players without a scorecard these days.
As to Mr. Donegan’s question about: “Where are all the Hippies?” (Aug. 29), I suggest that if they joined the Republican Party because of it’s “laissez-faire” policies, my translation to his platform is the “Do Nothing” party.
In closing I would like to leave the readers with these thoughts about where we go from here.
“We were addicted to the hokey-pokey until we turned ourselves around.” That’s what it’s all about. Δ
Larry Schiffer is the secretary of the Paso Robles Democrats Club. Send comments through the editor at clanham@newtimesslo.com or write a letter in response and send it to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Sep 5-15, 2019.
Larry,
I grew up in the same era. I recall it differently.
So far as I can tell, the Chinese, not the Russians, present the greatest threat to our country. Russia has a tiny economy and appears, other than in its purchase of 20% of our uranium yellow cake supply, to not be particularly threatening to our future. (I note that the current administration has pretty much ended Russian hopes for control over Ukraine)
And further, it appears that the truth is the children of captured illegal aliens at the border have greater resources to play with (soccer fields, medical services, choices of their ethnic foods), than do many of our young people living in the inner cities dominated by your political party.
We, who are the “independents,” have also become “woke,” to the many fascinating problems of the day. For me, the most interesting one in the last month was that of 13 schools in West Baltimore, not a single one graduated a student who could pass basic math and English proficiency exams. Now there’s a “crisis,” which apparently no one wants to address.
Sincerely, John Goodrich
Mr Goodman
The Russians not only are continuing their assault on the Ukraine by your hero has decided to cut off funding to them for their defense. Now the bastards are looking to invade Georgia as well while the dimwit in the WH continues to claim that Alabama was under a hurricane alert. I don’t know how but stumblebum will blame this on Obama as well. So ask Betsy DeVoss what she’s doing about the academic crisis if you can locate her on one of her many yachts.
Society was just as polarized in the 60’s as now (longhairs vs. hardhats) but we had the draft. Something similarly threatening will get today’s kids out into the streets, such as losing access to birth control.
Well, Mr. Schiffer and I at least share an enthusiasm for the hokey pokey, showing that political comity is possible. And that also is what its all about. Plus, I also recall enjoying the sense of common purpose of the 60’s, although perhaps it was not quite as noble as we recall. We were able to enjoy the pleasures of life in the US, such as concerts and the other joys of the time, while feeling morally smug about avoiding Vietnam while others of our generation were fighting and dying there. Pretty win/win, at least for us. And, of course, being young and having the clarity of youth, was pretty great.
John Donegan
A truly smug assumption that I didn’t do my part even if I didn’t go to kill innocent men, women and children in a foreign country with no tangible results other than to turn it into a tourist destination. Ever hear of the Peace Corps? I did and did something about it, for 2.5 years
Larry Schiffer
“Crazy on a ship of fools, crazy on a ship of fools… turn this boat around, back to my lovin’ ground… oh no, oh no… ship of fools.”
-Robert Plant