By Dr. Curtis Varnell
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The opening lines from Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens are some of the best ever written and are indicative of many periods in our history. Written during the Napoleonic Wars, they described one of the worst and greatest periods of European history. The same could be said of virtually every era of human existence.
Many Americans, especially those of the baby boom era, remember childhood with fondness. Recent Facebook photos show racy cars, curvaceous young girls in bell bottoms, and guys with long dangling curls of hair. Schools were great at teaching the 3/ R’s, discipline was genuine, and small towns teemed with business.
The flip side of that: the Vietnam war was going on hot and heavy and America was divided between the hawks wanting war and the doves who were opposed. College campuses became the scene of violent conflict with administrative offices taken over by activists and confrontations between police and protestors. At Kent State university, the two sides faced off with national guard on one side and protestors on the other. Conflict broke out between the two resulting in the deaths of four students and wounding of nine others. Opposed to the draft, hundreds fled to Canada to escape military service.
In 1968, thousands of young men slogged through the rice paddies of South-East Asia. The war had been dragging on for nearly a decade with increasing numbers of Americans called into service. January of that year saw 80,000 Viet Cong communist forces invading South Vietnam. Communist forces poured into the south, including an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. House to house and hand to hand fighting erupted across the country, resulting in the loss of 10,600 American and South Vietnamese. In March of that year, American forces retaliated by massacring up to 504 civilians, many of them women and children, at the tiny village of My Lai. One of the worst military atrocities ever committed by American troops, those events served to turn the country against the war. Unfortunately, it took five more years to extract ourselves from the conflict. A stark reminder is the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, its somber black marble surface covered with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died during the war.
The second burning issue of the time period was the Civil Rights movement. Martin L. King promoted peaceful resistance but, in more and more cities, resistance took on a much more violet approach. The 1965 Watts Riot of Los Angeles lasted for six days resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and over 4,000 arrests. Over 1,000 buildings were destroyed and damages were estimated at more than $40 million dollars. MLK was assassinated in 1968, resulting in riots in major cities across America. The riots exposed racial injustice and systemic inequalities and still remain a pivotal moment in U.S. history.
Elderly were appalled at the younger generation’s attraction to the “hippie” movement. Following Timothy Leary’s advice, thousands chose to “Tune in, turn on, and drop out.” The major movement advocated psychedelic exploration, heightened awareness through drugs, and a movement away from conventional norms of society. The summer of 1969 saw the first moon landing and Woodstock but also marked by the gruesome killing spree promoted by cult-leader and hippie Charles Manson. Although most youth of the era just dressed differently, adopted long-hair, and rejected typical norms, they frightened the middle-class.
Today, our children have special days they imitate that time period. They dress with bell bottoms, comb hair out long and shaggy or wear wigs, and talk about the great music of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, or CCR and they never dwell upon the negatives.
Listening to conversation at café’s and coffee shops, one would deduct today is the worst of times. Run-away inflation, war with Iran, problems in education, and a host of problems. Every decade has these periods, and our world has somehow survived. We are not going to hell in a hand-basket. Each day as the sun comes up; it can be the worst of times or the best of times. Determination of the worth of the day lies within each of us.
