I AIN’T MARCHIN’ ANYMORE

Phil Ochs said it. I agree. I served my time, marched my miles. Signed an infinite number of petitions. Fought on the right side, believed in the good guys.

Now … I’m retired.

You, younger people. Yes, you. The ones on the sofa swigging beer. It’s your turn.

Go protest. Carry signs. Fix the world, because I ain’t marchin’ anymore.

Peace and love my friends. Carry the torch for me!

Daily Prompt: Breaking the Ice

33 thoughts on “I AIN’T MARCHIN’ ANYMORE”

  1. Pingback: THE END OF ANGER, THE REST OF LIFE | SERENDIPITY

  2. I’ve always been out there. But now I take my son along (when it’s too sketchy). But my mom’s still out there marching with me too. We’ve got three generations on the street at times!

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    1. Good for you! In my lifetime, problems that seemed solvable have grown so monumental, I despair of making progress before we do ourselves in. The environment alone is such an overwhelming mess … I’m glad there are still people fighting the good fight. My generation really thought we were going to change things and in the end, though we did raise awareness in a variety of areas — especially the environment — the only real, lasting change we made was making denim fashionable. Not much of a legacy for people who were going to end war and save the planet.

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      1. Oh it’s not so bad- we’re less racist, less sexist, miles less homophobic. There’s a lot still to do, but your generation did make a lot of progress.

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        1. On racism and homophobia, I agree. In that single area, we did well, although the man who should get a lot more credit than he does is Lyndon Baines Johnson. The man fell on his sword to get the Civil Rights Amendment passed. Hardly anyone seems to realize that he killed himself politically to get it done because he absolutely had committed himself to it and traded in every political favor he had to achieve it. I don’t know any other pol or president who ever did that.

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            1. And never gets the credit he deserves. He screwed up getting us in even deeper in Vietnam, though JFK started the mess … but on the home front, he was the only president between FDR and now who got significant legislation passed — life changing, world changing — legislation on the home front. Garry spent some time with LBJ in Vietnam. Not just “official” time. Hanging out by the campfire time. I’ll have to republish that post if I can find it :-)

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              1. Woah that’s awesome. I wish I coulda met him. Until 2006 I never had a point when I was thinking “oh things are might be going a direction I’m happy with” 2008-2009 was really the first time I was excited

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                1. I’m republishing that post on 8/27. Garry did some editing and added some context/history about LBJ. Sometimes we forget it happened a long time ago. For me and Garry, it’s not history. It’s memories.

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      2. I asked my dad about this once- about what he felt his generation achieved, and I think you’re not giving yourselves enough credit. The gap between him and his father was one I never felt with my own dad. I also feel like our society is less racist, less sexist than it used to be. It’s not perfect (far from it), but your generation mostly left the world better than it was before.

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        1. I would like to think that, but sometimes, I look around, and it’s such a godawful mess. Maybe we didn’t make it worse … maybe we even helped a little. But there’s still a frighting amount that needs fixing and I don’t see many people out there working for solutions.

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  4. Oh Marilyn, that is so true. It is always the old that lead the young to war. Somehow if there were more manufacturing and a better business atmosphere, better schools. What a wast of potential. To have the participation in a war as the only opportunity for ones’ future. That is just so sad.
    Leslie

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    1. I’m not sure it has ever been different. I know I sound cynical — I AM cynical — but the history of humanity is the history of war and conquest and extermination. It’s not confined to one culture, religion, race, time, or place. It seems to be hard-wired into human DNA. Sad, yes. And I think inevitable. I don’t think we will solve it because WE are the problem. People are the problem.

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      1. You are probably right. We just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. We are the problem and we can be the solution too. There are many good people out there. We just have to find them and make them our leaders.
        Leslie

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        1. We keep reverting to following the same old symbols — flags, religions, race. US — whoever WE are — against THEM — whoever THEY are. Throughout history it’s been the same. It was the same 2000 years ago and assuming we don’t self-destruct, it will be the same in another 2000 years. I don’t personally think we are going to change because I don’t believe we want to. I see no evidence to support future change.

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          1. That is where I disagree with you. At some point we will reach a critical mass that wants change and is willing to go the whole night yards to get it. We must never lose hope.
            Leslie

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              1. Me too. But I do see where you are coming from. We must never lose hope. I just saw Sachmo sing “It’s a Wonderful World” and it really is.
                Leslie

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  5. No we will stop war here – and many other terrible things, but don’t we have to try anyway?
    Frankly i find the apathy of todays youth very disturbing. Are they protesting in ways I can’t see ?
    Nor do I understand politics. It’s well known that China (for instance) has been conducting huge cyber attacks against American and Canadian government and companies.
    Outside of Korea, they are the poster boy for Evil Empire. So why are we still doing business with them?

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    1. We were doing business with them while we were still boycotting them “officially.” Money talks. In the end, it’s all “just business.” The rest is hype. Why do you think I’m so cynical?

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        1. And met people. It was a highly social form of protest. At one point, a big protest disbanded as it marched past a local department store and everyone realized they were having a sale.

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  7. Thank you for all that you have done, even if I do not know exactly what it was, if you were part of the solution and not part of the problem, then I salute you.

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