Wildman's "Same Ol' Page": A Compilation of Essays and Poetry: The 1960's: A Decade of War,Protest,and Civil Unrest (Wildman's "The Same Ol' Page": A Compilation ... of Essays and Poetry) (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

"Come on people now/Smile on your brother/Everybody get together/Try to love one another right now". Those are the immortal words of The Youngbloods,who were featured along with Crosby,Stills and Nash,The Who,Jimmy Hendrix,Canned Heat,Joe Cocker and many others at Woodstock,a three day musical event that celebrated peace,love and brotherhood in an age of war,hate and social upheaval. The 1960's was a decade irreparably tarnished by inner-city rioting stemming from racial tensions,political assassinations of highly influential people who,had they lived,would in all probability have had a positive impact on the social ,economic and political structure of this country,if not the entire world.And the rewards we,as a country,would most likely have reaped would have been in the form of a much saner,safer and prosperous nation. But the evil war in Vietnam was the tide that would turn this country on its heels.By the time of its end in 1975,it would claim the lives of more than 50,000 of America's young.But by 1969,the message was clear:The people had had enough!It was time for change.It was time to elect leaders who would end the war in Vietnam and who would take this nation into a peaceful and prosperous future.But the leaders who were trusted enough by the people and therefore elected (Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew),stabbed the country in the back by practically reneging on their campaign promises and didn't live up to them.What happened next brought shame and disgust upon this country and especially the Nixon Administration.In May 1970 at Kent State University in Ohio,Nixon ordered the National Guard onto the campus to "restore order" due to student demonstrations against America's invasion of Cambodia;a government move that was seen by many as intending to prolong the long,drawn-out and thus far,losing effort in Vietnam.The National Guard's response to this"effort to restore order" was to open fire on the protesters,killing four of them instantly.Later that year the Rock-Roll band known as Crosby,Stills & Nash would immortalize the dead students in a song entitled "Four Dead In Ohio". But in 1970,"The American Dream" was indeed,still alive and kicking. Over the next decade and beyond ,however,the people,and especially the politicians,seemed to grow an insatiable appetite for wealth and riches.They seemed to care less about their fellow human beings and the condition of society only to focus on family matters,how much more money they could rake into their pockets and how much more enjoyable they could make life for themselves. Then in 1973,news broke of a burglary at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. where the Democratic Headquarters was stationed at the time.It was later revealed that President Nixon ordered this break-in in an attempt to learn secrets of the Democratic Political Party. Ultimately,however,"Watergate" as the media termed the attempted espionage,would become the "Achilles Heel" that would bring down Nixon's White House and in 1974,he resigned his position as President of the United States. And in the years that followed,years of inflation soaring through the roof as the cost of living tripled and even quadrupled,it became a dog-eat-dog world of every man for himself.It seemed that hardly a soul cared a thing about the other guy; whether or not he lived or died.It became a sad and seemingly hopeless situation that appeared to grow worse on a daily basis until now it seems that human respect and consideration have disintegrated to the point where children take firearms to school to settle differences and even kill their counterparts;differences that were settled with fists in an alley after school when I was a kid.Drug abuse at such epidemic levels that people are hard-pressed to concentrate on anything or hold their attention on a single subject for more than a few ticks of the clock.Road rage that leaves countless dead on America's highways. Where will it end? Is there something to this 2012 mystery.