I appreciate you making the points that you are …..and in no manner do I view them as disagreeing, much less arguing. The best aspect of DU:GD is when people discuss various ideas and insights -- and I do include when people do disagree respectfully. For it is rare indeed when there is only one “correct” way of seeing or doing things. More often, there aren’t really “right” or “wrong” opinions, anyhow ….though I do admit that I tend to value the thoughts of those forum members who lived through the 1960s- early ‘70s.
Tonight, when I get home to watch the debate, there will be two teenagers, one person in her 20s, one in his 30s, and two of us Old Folks. The oldest is a good friend who, back in the day, was associated with the Weathermen. Today, he is a doctor, as is his wife; they live a quiet life, raising a teenaged daughter. He is an active member in the Democratic Party -- especially at the town and county level -- and a stronger supporter of Senator Sanders.
I think that John Lennon was correct, circa 1973, when he said that the sixties were a premonition of the future. This was a while after Nixon beat McGovern, a truly discouraging chapter in American history. While I was never a “hippie” (I subscribed to YIPPIE! Philosophy, most of the time), the majority of my close friends and associates were. It wouldn’t be for a couple more decades that I came to recognize that gentleness is the greatest of strengths.
Some folks who were hippies raised their children in what they mistook for the best of ways. But they raised children with an oversized sense of entitlement, a lack of ability to deal with frustrations, and a wholly unrealistic view of what life held for them. Thus, there are lots of “kids” in their 30s and 40s, who had a hard time after college, when they found they weren’t great athletes, famous musicians, or other dreams they had.
I like to look at percentages. Because no generation is entirely “good” or “bad” -- the same generation that produced the hippies produced George W. Bush. But the percentage of young folks who are good, realistic, self-disciplined, and have a social conscience is encouraging. They are the best hope for the future ….maybe the only hope for humanity, at this point.
Anyhow, I ramble ….as I tend to do, on topics that interest me! Off to pick up my youngest daughter at college. It’s the end of her first semester. (The first club she joined was “Students for Bernie.”) Again, thank you!
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