Thoughts.com Blogs

View Blog

Day 10

“The Times They Are A Changin’”

The 1960's: a time of turmoil and unrest in the world and especially in the great country of the United States of America. A time that hasn’t been rivaled for sheer emotion and powerful ideas since. Or is it? Was that decade any more chaotic than any other or even the one we just ended? War, peace, drugs, crime, the economy, revolution. 1960's? Or is it today? The 60's have been, for the most part, mislabeled as one of the most traumatic decades in history.

Even as The History Channel does its own show, a comparison of 1967 and 2007, even a casual glance at any of the national news networks will illustrate nicely the problems of the world today. But is it really anything new? Not really. There are always the loud mouth activists that say this is the end of the world. They say that we’re living in the worst time in history but what is really important to realize is that the screaming lunatics at rallies and on the news don’t accurately portray the majority of the population. Today, just as in the 1960's, there are activists. There were, are and always will be people who feel strongly and will voice their opinions as long as one person will listen to their rants. But that is really no way to characterize an entire culture and it is rarely true at all that these so called “nut jobs” are in the majority.

It is pretty well agreed that the average Joe teenager of the 1960's was more like the teenagers of today than the shaggy haired, perpetually stoned inhabitants of our nation’s wooded areas that the media has taught us to remember. Baseball, football, cars, dating and school. Not every teen in the 60's was a pot smoking hippie and, in fact, very few really were. But the media has given such a bad rap to that decade and with little reasoning. When aren’t there social tensions and activists? When isn’t there a drug culture? To be sure, the 60's were a time of change and uncertainty but to characterize the time as one of the greatest turning points in all of history is simply inaccurate. In truth, there was little difference between then and now especially when it comes to the youth culture.

Going to school, having friends and homework are some of the biggest worries of the teens today and the government, war and the economy are as far from their minds as retirement packages and estate planning. It was much the same in the 1960's as it is today. In addition, Vietnam and its effects are always portrayed as one of America’s biggest blunders, but why? The United States government decided it was an important venture for the safety of the American society and, therefore, chose to enact a new policy and deploy troops to the field of combat. Wait a minute. Does that sound familiar? Of course. Today, the U.S government has decided it important to take military action in the Middle East and, just like in the 1960's, people are unhappy about it. What is rather ironic is that the people who protested involvement in Vietnam are protesting involvement in Iraq today. Teens then, just as teens now, are of two minds on the issue. Most don’t care and the others are active in their opinions. Not too much to report since that has how it’s been for most of history. The trials and tribulations of the old don’t usually seep down to the youth. Why worry about war when you just got that pimple on your chin before the dance? Nothing is more important.

War and peace, just one more thing that links the two decades that have been separated by almost 50 years. There is nothing but connection to the two times. Children talking to their relatives will find that they’re not all that different (funny, since just the other day that child was probably screaming that their parents don’t understand them). Children’s parents really “have been there before” because they grew up with a lot of the same emotional and physical problems that their children will have. Kids today find it hard to believe that their parents understand anything that they’re saying but the truth is that kids are kids no matter what decade. Even though the bare footed hippies were dancing around puffing on their “trees” in the 60's, kids were kids and had all the problems that young adults have always had. So many people think that the 60's were totally dominated by tie dye and pot but it really wasn’t true.

A haze of pot smoke and the lingering scent of beer are not the only things that are remembered of the 60's just as rap music and the punk counterculture are not the only things that today will remembered for 40 years from now. The two decades share a lot in this regard and people are ill-equipped to admit that people are the same now as they were back then. They have the same fundamental motivations and the same feelings toward life. Why? Because we are all human. There is nothing profound about that and the simple truth is that people are all inherently similar regardless of time period. In the same way the media and the politicians are the last to come to this realization. Politics always look to the future and the next election is always the most important in history. But the sad truth is that, no, it really isn’t. Each election, debate, bill, veto and speech is only important in situations relevant to that particular action. In simple terms, no two political processes can be compared because they all have their own set of mitigating circumstances. Everything is important in its own right for its own reasons.

The end result is that between 1960 and 2008, two years almost a half a century apart, there has been great change and none at the same time. No matter what the news media says, no matter politician or political party is in office, no matter what kind of music is popular, there will always be the fundamental link between people. Time and age are irrelevant. The teens of the 60's were, by and large, the same as the teens we see today. The glimmering brilliance of the news room can craft any manner of view on teens. All teens drink, all teens smoke pot, all teens hate their parents and want change and this is a new occurrence. No, its not. Today, just as 48 years ago, teens want their own way. They want their friends, the car, their freedom. Not every college age student is a rebel and, chances are, they are just like their parents whether they want to be or not. So drink it in, youth of America, you are your parents. Just as they were theirs before them and so on all the way back to creation. The differences over that time span are few and everyone, especially the media, has got to get a grasp on that idea. The 60's weren’t more chaotic than today. A different time frame has its own set of problems and tragedies to put itself into its own perspective. So it is, therefore, impossible to compare it to any other time. All time is chaotic, hectic, troubling and upsetting. But it is what we as members of the human race do in response of our problems that defines who we are, who we were and who we will be seen as in the future.