Then and Now - History and Tragedy

In the 1960s America was a country waking up to new ideas of peace and free love. The youth of our country protested and argued about war, civil rights and freedom - freedom to exercise free will. The United States was involved in a war that many believed should not be fought. The motto of the day was "make love not war". Soldiers fighting for our freedom did not have the support of our country and in fact were ostracized and criticized for doing the right thing. Students at Kent State University were involved in tragic violence, with lives lost, not at the hand of one of their own, but by a police force taking extreme action on a protest getting out of control. Civil rights leaders began to make strides in the fight for human rights and civility, but not without a price. These causes, supported, all in the name of our future.

If only those who were the voices 40 years ago had any idea what tragedies would befall the world and our nation today, in the 21^st century, would their actions be different? The concerns and protests of the past pale in comparison to the actual events we must face in our world today. Who knew 40 years ago that we would be concerned about AIDS, wars, and the many deaths of loved ones fighting for our freedom, which at least we no longer take for granted because, unfortunately, we know first hand how fragile it is. Acts of terrorism, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, mudslides, global warming, and destructive acts of nature. Child predators, Internet predators, gang violence, high school and college campus shootings, work-place shootings. Working mothers, single mothers, babies without fathers, over-worked families, homeless families, abused and neglected children.