What must it have been like to live through the 1960s. Granted my views of the decade are entirely romanticized due partially to my fascination of the cultural revolution during that decade but also in the reality that I know how the cold war and vietnam ended. I'm trying to envision what life must have been like fearing the Soviets and nuclear annihilation.
A few days ago was the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. How would have the 60's unfolded if he had not been killed? Or JFK? What happens if he served out two terms?
What if Camelot never crumbled? or LBJ never been President?
The 1960's seems to have had so many powerful leaders (not all of which I agree with), so many monuments events, a time of great confusion and great anxiety. I'm all kind of wondering what is going to happen with this decade with little leadership, great confusion and great anxiety. I'm all hoping it will turn out good but the more time passes the less optimistic I am - not that there aren't good things happening, they just seem to be drowned out by the hideousness around us - China's human rights and Tibet, the rumblings of a reunified Soviet state and the nightmare that could become Iran and economic markets that look like their going to collapse at any moment that will usher in a new depression at best and new dark age at worst. (Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme - but still)
I became aware of the political world right around the time the Berlin Wall fell. I remember my mom being very emotional about it and me simply not understanding why this wall's dismantling was such a big deal. When the Soviet Union was dissolved in the early 90s I still didn't understand what was so big of a deal. How I wish I could go back and fully understand the events that I saw but didn't comprehend.
I just hope we're going to be ok with this whole thing.
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