Well said Don. Your generation (and you’re not that much older than me), led the way on so many key issues, like women’s rights and equality for all, regardless of race or sexual leanings. I grew up taking all of those liberties for granted, and now here we are, fighting the same fight.
I grew up in a politically active Southern family. They were remarkably liberal in their day, so I joined in the Civil Rights marches in Atlanta. I wrote for an underground anti-Viet Nam war when I was in the Army, I supported my female friends’ liberation, I joined Earth Day rallies, and spent my career in the conservation world. By the time President Carter signed ANILCA I figured, “Well, we did it, we’re finally all equal, stopped the war, and saved the planet. Now we can rest.”
Turns out I was wrong. While my boomer generation was part of great strides in the 60’s and 70’s the pendulum has been swinging the other way for over forty years, and now we see real threats to the great civil, scientific and national achievements of the post WWII years. As I get perilously close to eighty, I’ve joined the demonstrations again where I meet many of my peers, which is fun. But more revealing and gratifying is the fact that there are many who are not just younger, but much younger there too. They are fighting for the same things I did fifty years ago and I know that the pendulum will swing their (our) way.
Greed and racism will alway be with us, but so will compassion. People are helpful and kind, they are brave, strong and loving. I believe that if we all pitch and with a little help from our friends we’ll support equality, stop wars, and save the earth. It’s deja vu all over again. Do your part.
I love the hope in your message. It is so important to look for it every day amid the firehose of destructive actions. We've been holding protests in the capital of our rural county. Someone asked me why, what good does it do? I answered that I do not know what good it will do, but it does US good to do it. And that counts for something.
Well said Don. Your generation (and you’re not that much older than me), led the way on so many key issues, like women’s rights and equality for all, regardless of race or sexual leanings. I grew up taking all of those liberties for granted, and now here we are, fighting the same fight.
I grew up in a politically active Southern family. They were remarkably liberal in their day, so I joined in the Civil Rights marches in Atlanta. I wrote for an underground anti-Viet Nam war when I was in the Army, I supported my female friends’ liberation, I joined Earth Day rallies, and spent my career in the conservation world. By the time President Carter signed ANILCA I figured, “Well, we did it, we’re finally all equal, stopped the war, and saved the planet. Now we can rest.”
Turns out I was wrong. While my boomer generation was part of great strides in the 60’s and 70’s the pendulum has been swinging the other way for over forty years, and now we see real threats to the great civil, scientific and national achievements of the post WWII years. As I get perilously close to eighty, I’ve joined the demonstrations again where I meet many of my peers, which is fun. But more revealing and gratifying is the fact that there are many who are not just younger, but much younger there too. They are fighting for the same things I did fifty years ago and I know that the pendulum will swing their (our) way.
Greed and racism will alway be with us, but so will compassion. People are helpful and kind, they are brave, strong and loving. I believe that if we all pitch and with a little help from our friends we’ll support equality, stop wars, and save the earth. It’s deja vu all over again. Do your part.
I love the hope in your message. It is so important to look for it every day amid the firehose of destructive actions. We've been holding protests in the capital of our rural county. Someone asked me why, what good does it do? I answered that I do not know what good it will do, but it does US good to do it. And that counts for something.
Also, in response to Tavish, I offer you one of my all-time favorite poems, "Golden Retrievals," by Mark Doty: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47252/golden-retrievals