I well recall America of the early sixties. At that time crewcuts for young guys was the in thing.
Patriotic music could be heard on the radio along with rock n roll, and following that, folk music became quite popular. These are some of the items I remember of the culture back there in what seemed a comfortable time of peace and relative happiness.
It seemed as though the fifties and sixties met and merged with each other for a while.
That was prior to the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy assassination that long, dreadful, bloody war in Vietnam and the counterculture hippie revolution which, all added together, almost ripped our society apart into broken little pieces.
Could a similar turn of events, a dwindling cycle of misfortune and fate be occurring here again in our present day society?
It’s surprising to me, in looking back, to see how events and circumstances all along our timeline flow to and fro, good to bad and then reverse once again.
But overall, in the longer term perspective, it appears to me as a continuous, gradual decline in optimism, cultural values and our hopes and dreams of a better future for mankind.
Our sixties and early seventies anti-war rallies and peace demonstrations are no more. Now it’s more ammo, armaments and missiles that are being called for. We’ve come from the peace, love and flower power of our yesterdays to force and weapons of mass destruction in our world here today. No one even mentions peace these days.
Sadly, it seems that despite our great technical and scientific advancements, which certainly helped to improve our lifestyles, we however still carry along with us the seeds to our own destruction. Rather than be happy and grateful for our tremendously improved lot, we somehow appear to harbor a dark superstitious, almost suicidal intent.
Well I sure don’t and neither do most of my friends. But as for our world leaders, movers and shakers; well what do you think, dear reader?
Do you ever wonder if this is all a big unavoidable mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, or could it be, in some diabolical, devious fashion, been planned and designed this way?
It’s plain to see in viewing the news and current world events that a great struggle and upheaval between major world powers is now in progress.
We are transitioning from a unipolar American empire ruling the globe to a multipolar group of powerful independent nations. And it’s a rough, contentious and difficult transition.
It can be seen many times throughout history that when a major empire’s days are numbered that it rarely goes down easy or quietly. It struggles and fights for its survival to the bitter end. And that last gasp to regain confidence and the support of its populace often results in war.
The war sabers are rattling between our major world powers today, there’s no denying it. And there appears to be no backing down.
All forms of reasonable justifications and reasons are offered why force, violence, death and destruction are necessary for this current cause. Provocation, tit for tat retaliation and increasing hostilities continue while diplomats refuse to negotiate a ceasefire and an end to this madness.
The continuation and escalation of fighting only increases the odds of an unintended mishap, a direct conflict between two major nuclear powers with the rest of the world suffering its dreadful effects.
Rather than utilizing rational, reasonable, adult responsibility, what we see in development is more reckless, wanton destruction of what has been built over many generations.
And who, dear reader, may I ask, can possibly gain from all this insanity? Well nobody. Nobody gains from widespread fear, misery and desolation.
Nobody, that is but the arms manufacturers and those who own the territory when the fighting is all over.
I would love to hear a lot more voices declare, “Let there be peace.”
Dan can be reached at danhughoconnor@gmail.com
