From the ’60s to 2024
Goin Down The Road Feeling Bad
As we used to say: “Goin where the water tastes like wine”.
As an old hippy, I often look upon the ‘60s and '70s with fondness. They were marked by freedom and new experiences, by an openness to learning.
Important landmarks of that era that many I believe have forgotten today were:
- the civil rights movement that marked that era,
- the Vietnam War and antiwar protests, and
- the many countercultural movements.
American values were changing from the ultraconservative, racist, and isolationist ‘50s to an awakening of activism and change. Protests ended a presidency and a war, ushering in a time of change, including our civil rights that affected all facets of life.
The sixties brought us the gay movement, women’s rights, Black, Red, and Brown rights movements, a societal revolution affecting everything from music to housing and education.
Here’s the thing, though. As illustrated in Michelle Holliday’s blog “The 1960s and Today: What’s Different Now and What’s Needed Next”, sixty years later, the same issues and problems remain. Many have become worse. Still debated 60 years later are:
- whether black lives (or any lives) matter
- whether gay and trans citizens deserve equal rights and protection under the law,
- whether women’s bodies are their domain, or governed by old, white men in government, and
- whether shareholder profit and military might be more important than the continuation of life itself.
Society has shifted into reverse. The wheels are spinning. We’re stuck going nowhere, frustrating millions.
Why have we not learned from experience, from our history and mistakes?
Why have we allowed, yes allowed, this nation to regress by decades? Why?
Someone explain. I don’t get it.
Annelise Lords Jan Sebastian 🖐👩🦰 ComedyChronicles Debra G. Harman, MEd.
✍ — Published by Dr. Gabriella Korosi, at Dancing Elephants Press. Click here for submission guidelines.