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My time to register for the draft was coming soon. I didn’t want to die in a war I didn’t understand or believe in. The Vietnam War had started for all the wrong reasons. My government wanted to stop North Vietnam from taking over South Vietnam. We that people of America had our Civil War, and Far to many Americans died needless deaths. My belief was let the People of Vietnam work through their own struggles. Too much American blood had already been shed with reckless abandonment. My uncle Tommy was the first from my family to give his life, but soon we would loss more, much more. I hated that war; now that I’m older I can honestly say, I hate it even more. My brother Ricky was the greatest brother a guy could have. He was big and happy, always willing to help anyone in need. The oldest of seventeen kids, he was my hero. The pain of his death is as fresh in my heart as the day he died; he took pieces of me with him. Abbie Hoffman was the first person to make me believe that one voice can make a difference, one voice can move a nation. I learned valuable lessons from the war and the great Americans who gave there lives for it. Abbie, Ricky and Tommy have joined the list of dead, but not forgotten. But the boy, who followed a generation into manhood, carries with him the legacy of what they stood and died for. I’ve heard people say that the sixties and seventies shaped and molded a generation. The truth is, the hippie movement shaped and molded the sixties, seventies and a nation, and they belong to us. History has recorded our pain, our struggles and our fight for freedom. I carry with me the scars of our war against the establishment. Rooted deep within me is a fight for freedom; a fight that will go with me when I leave this world. I learned form great men how to love my fellow man, to do less would dishonor all those who gave so much. The greatest monument, we the generation of love can give Abbie and those who journeyed with him are love and freedom. Let the love in your hearts be a monument to our past. Let the voice of freedom be a testament to our future. We owe our past that much and our children even more. |