Remembering The Past
As we look back throughout the years we have to wonder what were people thinking about the issues in their times. Now a days we have the issues of global warming, oil, and HIV. What were the opinions of our ancestors in the 1960s? Did they have to worry about the things we do? Or were their lives more relaxed? Or more strict? As we look back in our years we have to give praise to the people that lived before us. They have such knowledge and experience that we do not. They've seen such brutal times of war, poverty, and rebellion. After interviewing people born before the year of 1959, we got their opinion of the events in their lifetime. One woman, Sue Bell, said that "Vietnam was a sad time. We lost a lot of people. I think it was senseless. It was a time of anguish." She remembers the war like it was yesterday. She feared for her soon to be husband. She said that if Tom, her soon be husband, was drafted that she and Tom would flee the country. Tom Bell, the husband of Sue Bell, was afraid of being drafted. "I was Anti-Vietnam. Our country shouldn't have been there, wasn't our war. The war was purely for greed reasons." He was very glad that the drafting was in a lottery type fashion. "He was lucky to have been given a higher number", states Sue. They explain that the way men were drafted into the army was by number. If given a low number they were drafted. If given a high number, they were safe for the moment. Another event that impacted the lives of people in the 1960s was the women's rights movement. "I jumped in on the burn the bra thing!" Joyce states enthusiastically. The women of the time were very rebellious to the typical cookie-cutter image of a house wife. "We weren't going to stay home and do dishes. We ran around with no bras on and were very much for women's choice. We wanted women's choice. We made quite a squawk over that. Our generation got fed up with the role models of our mothers. We didn't want to live like that. I wanted to make my own decisions." Women protested their rights to be equal to men. They burned their bras, shoes, girdles, and makeup. They took the stand by protesting their equality. The women of the time were out working and fighting for their share in employment and wages. Unfortunately, their cause did not pass and women to this day are still not equal to men. As we encounter more people born before the 1960s we hear about their opinions and experiences with the civil rights movement. "There were no black students in my high school. It was pretty much like you kept to your own place. I knew people who got jumped and beat up by the black people. I never believe that there should have been a difference between us and black people. But we were taught to stay away from the black people and keep to our own space." As time progresses, the people in the United states stayed segregated. Not by law, but by choice. People resented others due to differences. Though African Americans, aka blacks, were said to be equal by law people did not welcome them. The tension between white and black was still present at the time in certain areas. Another event that affected the people at the time was the assassination of John F. Kennedy. "I remember that day so well. I was in seventh grade, and I was told over the load speaker that the president was killed. It was a sad day. One of the saddest day in our history, politically." People around the country wept. It was a very sad day, and everyone hoped that it wasn't true. "People all around lost hope that day." The last topic people remembered of their years in the 1960s was the Watergate Scandal. The people lost trust in their government after the scandal. "Watergate was all about election. No one trusted Nixon after that. I thought he was a pretty good president till he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar." No one wanted to trust the government after the Watergate Scandal and the Pentagon Papers. The lack of judgement from the people in government scared citizens. People didn't know whether the government was lying or speaking the truth. "I think that was when the bubble popped on the idea of a honest government." After looking into the pasts of our families and friends we've come to recognize that they have gone through more than any of us could imagine. Their life was filled with dishonesty, murder, assassination, and chaos. We have become to be more thankful for the little problems that we have to deal with.
