Ah... The Good Old Daze... You shoulda been there...

Prop up Your Feet, Cross your Arms, Close Your Eyes, and Remember back to those glorious daze of the 1960's....

...When you'd go for walk on a sunny summer day in the Land of Free Speech, and be tear-gassed, locked up, beaten, or shot by your own police and military if you spoke up?

Yeh, THOSE were the Days, my friend. We thought they'd never end.

Remember when we didn't have email or anything, and we loved our phones because we could call anyone we wanted from the comfort and safety of our home... even while our lines were tapped by the FBI listening for subversive language like "I don't think Viet Nam is a Just War!" or "Eighteen year old citizens should be able to vote if we're also supposed to kill for America!" Remember?

Mmmm, Simpler Times.

...When everyone agreed on what was proper appearance, and if your sideburns went below the ear lobe, your skirt went above the kneecap, or your skin was the wrong color, you were denied your public school education until you got back in line and stopped disrupting things?

I miss not having to think.

Remember when it was just a lot simpler to not report sexual abuse or rape, and let the family go on uninterrupted and without embarrassment?

I sure do! I mean, what could you do about it anyhow?

I miss those daze...

Remember those great old cars that got 8 miles to the gallon, had no seatbelts, airbags, or anti-lock brakes, and the very BEST cars coming out of Detroit ("It's Ford! No, it's Chevy!") didn't get tossed to the junk yard until maybe as much as 50,000 miles... but gasoline was 30 cents a gallon? Everyone could go out driving all the time! Remember the people who were killed in those years on the roads? Sure, I miss my friends and family... but the cheap gas and "classic" cars were great! It was Fun, Fun, Fun!

Good memories. GOOOOD memories!

How about when we used to laugh and call cigarettes "Coffin Nails" but didn't know anyone who was dying of lung cancer? Did we? Or like when we called cigarettes "Fags" and would then cruise the parks at night looking for "Queers" to rob and beat to a pulp? Ooh, and how about when "pulp" was something you didn't want in orange juice, so Mom bought the latest & greatest chemical version of an orange flavored liquid-like substance?

I wish I could go back....

Remember Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Tim Buckley, Nick Drake, Brian Jones...? I wish they hadn't killed themselves, but what the hell, they were great while they lasted.

Remember John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy? Okay, I wish they hadn't been killed, but they did some great things while they lasted, huh? Yeh... back then you never knew what would happen next!!

God those were exciting days!

I loved that song "The Ballad of the Green Berets", and our duty was to serve Viet Nam's best interests. It WAS, right? Oh sure, it was a bummer to hear another good friend was Killed or Missing in Action, but that's the price of... uh... you know... Stuff.

I miss Nixon. I miss our leaders who could sweat in front of the camera, and you knew they were lying. I miss the egos who would tape record their chit-chats about their own illegal activities. They made things simpler. Life was simpler. Upsetting American Life was simpler. Denying American soldiers proper aftercare was much simpler than honoring our promises. THAT saved money, and with the gas crunch and inflation, THAT was a good thing! Hey...
we should keep doing that! Good ideas don't go out of fashion. The Bottom Dollar is still the Bottom Dollar!

Remember when "Life Ain't Fair" was all you needed to say?

I do.