For one very wet weekend in August, 1969 we came in peace for all mankind by Raven West
(libertarian)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
There are very few times in a person's life when one is totally unaware of the immense importance of one single event. Political assassinations, wars won and lost, and major disasters become part of our collective history in a negative way and, although shared by millions, are somewhat expected. The "do you remember where you were?" question is usually followed by such events and are pretty much impersonal comments with very little in common among the responders.
Then there's Woodstock. I was all of fifteen years old in 1969, living in Ellenville, a very small village in upstate New York, when the historical event happened. My parents were disgusted and as much as I begged and pleaded to go to the "Aquarian Festival", they were adamant that I stay as far away from those dirty hippies as possible. But I so wanted to go.
I remember the rain, the torrential downpour that entire weekend. Route 209, which ran through our town, was bumper to bumper for days. Every guy stuck in traffic invited my girlfriend and I for a ride to the festival, which we politely, and very reluctantly, declined.
We sat in the park having lunch, and were offered what looked like chewing gum wrapped in tinfoil, and again, we politely declined. It wasn't until later that I found out the "gum" was acid.
People were smoking weed, outside in the open and not one single cop harassed them, and my dad's bakery was packed with customers buying bags of cookies like I'd never seen!
Back then, there were no cell phones, no internet, no way anyone could communicate directly
with the participants to fully understand the enormity of what was taking place. We didn't have hordes of cable network "taking heads" giving their negative slant on the universal party which they would not have been invited to anyway. The world was wet, and muddy, and smelly, and beautiful and for a very brief moment, happiness, fun and ultimate freedom was the rule in the land.
We didn't know then that we were witness to, and part of, magical history. When the slogan of Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll became so much more than words, as did Peace and Love.
Sure, many got high, many got naked, many got very very wet, but, except for one accident, no one died. It was as if the rain had washed away all that was dark and depressing in our lives during that turbulent decade; the assassinations, Vietnam, the racial hatred, and the music united us in the hope and promise of a future where everyone would live in peaceful harmony.
What the FK happened?
When exactly did we become the very establishment we were so adamantly protesting against? Where are the anti-war songs, and the stop the war banners and the vison this festival created four decades ago? When did universal hate replace our dreams of universal peace?
Maybe it is time to put down the guns and pick up our guitars. Maybe it's time to stop throwing tea bags into the river and jump in and cool off ourselves. Maybe it's time for our elected officials to take off their stiff shirts and smoke a collective joint and party like it's 1969.
If we could go back in time and tell those who were fortunate enough to attend Woodstock, and even those whose parents didn't allow them to go, "remember this weekend, celebrate this time in our history, for it will never come again."
There are very few times in a person's life when one is totally unaware of the immense importance of one single event. Political assassinations, wars won and lost, and major disasters become part of our collective history in a negative way and, although shared by millions, are somewhat expected. The "do you remember where you were?" question is usually followed by such events and are pretty much impersonal comments with very little in common among the responders.
Then there's Woodstock. I was all of fifteen years old in 1969, living in Ellenville, a very small village in upstate New York, when the historical event happened. My parents were disgusted and as much as I begged and pleaded to go to the "Aquarian Festival", they were adamant that I stay as far away from those dirty hippies as possible. But I so wanted to go.
I remember the rain, the torrential downpour that entire weekend. Route 209, which ran through our town, was bumper to bumper for days. Every guy stuck in traffic invited my girlfriend and I for a ride to the festival, which we politely, and very reluctantly, declined.
We sat in the park having lunch, and were offered what looked like chewing gum wrapped in tinfoil, and again, we politely declined. It wasn't until later that I found out the "gum" was acid.
People were smoking weed, outside in the open and not one single cop harassed them, and my dad's bakery was packed with customers buying bags of cookies like I'd never seen!
Back then, there were no cell phones, no internet, no way anyone could communicate directly with the participants to fully understand the enormity of what was taking place. We didn't have hordes of cable network "taking heads" giving their negative slant on the universal party which they would not have been invited to anyway. The world was wet, and muddy, and smelly, and beautiful and for a very brief moment, happiness, fun and ultimate freedom was the rule in the land.
We didn't know then that we were witness to, and part of, magical history. When the slogan of Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll became so much more than words, as did Peace and Love.
Sure, many got high, many got naked, many got very very wet, but, except for one accident, no one died. It was as if the rain had washed away all that was dark and depressing in our lives during that turbulent decade; the assassinations, Vietnam, the racial hatred, and the music united us in the hope and promise of a future where everyone would live in peaceful harmony.
What the F---K happened?
When exactly did we become the very establishment we were so adamantly protesting against? Where are the anti-war songs, and the stop the war banners and the vison this festival created four decades ago? When did universal hate replace our dreams of universal peace?
Maybe it is time to put down the guns and pick up our guitars. Maybe it's time to stop throwing tea bags into the river and jump in and cool off ourselves. Maybe it's time for our elected officials to take off their stiff shirts and smoke a collective joint and party like it's 1969.
If we could go back in time and tell those who were fortunate enough to attend Woodstock, and even those whose parents didn't allow them to go, "remember this weekend, celebrate this time in our history, for it will never come again."
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Posted By: David F. Nolan
Date: 2009-08-06 16:05:49
My wife was there at Woodstock ... some 14 years before we got married. Her recollections are not quite as rhapsodic as yours, but she does remember it as a good time!
i was not alive at the time but i'm a fan of rock'n'roll and have seen footage of the event.i'm sorry to say i look back at the event with a feeling of contempt."make love not war"has led to a sub-culture of single mothers who have three kids with three different fathers.whole generations of americans living lives of leisure and having a"why me"attitude is the legacy of woodstock and the sixties.i'm all for women's lib,civil rights,and peace on earth,but you also gave us CRACK,AIDS,AND WELFARE,thanks alot.
Lyndon Johnson's "War On Poverty" gave us the Welfare State, not hippies at Woodstock! The War On Some Drugs gave us crack, not hippies! AIDS was a CIA lab invention under the program MK-NAOMI! Hippies had nothing to do with it! But someone who hates Rock Music and hippies usually has to blame Rock or hippies for problems that government created!
believe in conspiracies if you wish,however none of these social ills would have become so prevalent if not for the lack of self control the hippies made famous."go ahead have unprotected sex","free love","don't worry,you can just get an abortion","we can't quarantine people with aids,that would be wrong","drugs open up yer mind man,yeah".All famous last words by left wing hippies.again,thanks for the CRACK,AIDS,AND WELFARE.
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