'68 Democrat Convention
Don D
9,834 Posts
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-25-04 AT 04:57AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Most of you probably were not alive, but, for those who were, do you remember what you were doing or where you were when you watched television to see Mayor Daley's Chicago police force bashing heads and spraying mace? x:=| I was lying in the Cleveland, Bolivar County, Mississippi Hospital in traction for a back injury as a kid. I was a kid, not a republican or a democrat. I laid there and watched Dan Rather get punched out and watched the gestapo antics of the Chicago police department. Where were you and what do you remember?
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Seriously, I have thought about this point in time as when the country really began to lose its innocence. I remember wondering "what the heck is going on here" with all the riots, the war, the killings(King and then another Kennedy). It was a very scary, unsettling and upsetting time. I can remember thinkig "Nothing will ever be the same" and it hasn't been.
The only good news was I got engaged to my now ex the night before.
For those of us alive and old enough to be conscious of it, 1968 was brutal.
have mine.
More vivid are the riots that tore our city apart that summer - the violence, the fires, the looting - such senseless destruction. The most terrifying moment of my life also occurred when I inadvertently (the day I got my driver's license)drove solo through the area where the worst of the riot activity was going on. The police almost arrested me for which I was truly grateful.
Anne in Ohio
Anyway, just to prove I was somewhat normal at 13, I also pitched a hardball into a square painted on the fence several hours a day convinced I would someday be the first female major leaguer. Somehow, through the years, I lost interest in the bat, ball and glove and caught interest in the players. x:D
And by the way, what are you doing "spending time inside" my post?... There are too many dang voices in my head already! get out get out!!! (smile)
In the years since my perspective has greatly changed. If I had to describe my political viewpoint then, I would have been very liberal and was deeply hurt with the violence people used toward those with a different viewpoint. The grand ideas of our nation and founding fathers were not well represented in those times - Many of the protestors thought that protest without violence to back it up was pointless and of course, law enforcement was paid to stop the violence - protect and serve.
Looking back, the clashes were almost inevitable, and a tragic breakdown between people who all wanted good things for our country and each other, but completely disagreed as to what that was and how to get there.
As a bright-eyed and eager college student in 1968, I was absolutely sure that my generation would change the world -- and only for the better. Because of course, our point of view was the only right one to hold. I still cringe when recalling our "take-over" of the university's admin building.
Now as a well-ripened almost senior citizen, my innocence may be gone -- but my love for the USA and its true ideals are as fresh as ever. Perhaps I would not take-over a building these days, but I will still defend the rights of even those I disagree with to tell me about it.
This thread is a good opportunity to remember!
Two years later on my first performance review of my professional life this statement appeared: "Wears his hair and sideburns longer than I personally like."