Hit play and enjoy!

I started out searching for a song that sums up my feelings on the current state of affairs in our great country.  I googled  the term, “songs about free speech”.  I was surprised to find that the vast majority of songs that came up in my search were written in the 1960s.  The song that I chose to post, “For What It’s Worth”,  was written and recorded by Buffalo Springfield’s Stephen Stills at the end of  1966 and released in 1967.  It could have been written yesterday.

When I started reading about the source of all the civil unrest of the ’60s, I thought I would mostly find references to the Vietnam War.  Certainly that was a big part of it.  What I also found, however, was that there was an underlying issue bubbling to the surface at that time.  Young people wanted to be heard, not just seen.  They wanted to express themselves in whatever way they chose to do so.  Whether it was the length of their hair, the music that they listened to, and unfortunately, the drugs that they took, they wanted to express themselves.  They did not want the “older generation” to tell them how to act and who to be.  They wanted to live and let live.

Although Stephen Stills’ lyrics could have been written today, the sentiment behind the words could not be more different.  How ironic that kids of 50 years ago were fighting to be heard while the kids of 2017 are fighting to be protected from hearing ideas with which they disagree.  That irony is what drove me to write this particular story.  That cannot be progress.  Is it not up to the youngest generation to keep their minds open?  How is it that the kids of 2017 are becoming the parents of 1967?