Number 6's Blog

The Pretender

The Pretender by Jackson Browne has always been sort of my theme song. In the 60s we started out to change the World.

“Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
And you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'” – Bob Dylan

When I was much younger than I am now in 1968 I thought our generation was going to change the World. We were the ones! The 60s were turbulent times, aren’t all time turbulent.

Here’s what went down in the 60s while I evolved from child to adult:

• The Cold War (the entire decade)
• First Televised Presidential Debate Airs (September 26, 1960)
• Kennedy Elected President (November 8, 1960)
• “The Pill” is Born (December 1960)
• Bay of Pigs: Failed Invasion of Cuba (April 16-25, 1961)
• Silent Spring published (1962)
• Berlin Wall Construction (August 13, 1961)
• Cuban Missile Crisis (October 22-28, 1962)
• I Have a Dream… (August 28, 1963)
• Kennedy Assassinated (November 22, 1963)
• The Beatles (February 9, 1964)
• Smoking “Hazardous To Your Health” (January 11, 1964)
• Civil Rights Act (July 2, 1964)
• Gulf of Tonkin (August 2, 1964)
• “Bloody Sunday” – Selma Alabama (March 7, 1965)
• Johnson Signs Medicare Bill (July 30, 1965)
• Watts Race Riots (August 11-16, 1965)
• Summer of Love (Summer, 1967)
• My Lai Massacre (March 16, 1968)
• MLK Assassinated (April 4, 1968)
• Robert Kennedy Assassinated (June 6, 1968)
• Democratic Convention Opens in Chicago (August 26, 1968)
• We learned smoking was hazardous to our health (January 11, 1969)
• One Small Step for Mankind (July 20, 1969)
• Woodstock: Three Days of Peace, Music & Love (August 15-17, 1969)
• Two Million Take Part in Peace Moratorium (October 15, 1969)
• First Internet Packet Transfer (November 21, 1969)

Now 60 years later “we have met the enemy and he is us”. – Admiral Perry

I didn’t change the World. I sold out to the Establishment which I swore I would never do.

What happened?

For me personally – I fell in love, married, got a job, bought a house, consumed, and had children.

Now looking back I wonder how life would have turned out if I had taken a different path?

“Are you there? Say a prayer for the pretender
Who started out so young and strong only to surrender” – Jackson Browne

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Memories, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.