LiViNg PeAcE

This is the time period I am most passionate about. Yes, you probably have heard bad things about it, but in this period many rebellions took place and peace activists started really acting. In this time period we can see people like John Lennon, Martin Luther King Jr., Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Dr. Seuss, among many others. It was in 1963 where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. Even though many great thing were done throughout the sixties, many people consider this era to be ¨one of irresponsible excess and flamboyance.¨ This decade got the name of the swinging sixties because of ¨libertine attitudes¨ developed throughout it. In this decade, different groups, ranging from friendly to religious, started using drugs to achieve levels in which they felt what they thought was peace. As Paul Kantner said, “If you can remember anything about the sixties, you weren’t really there.” This decade was new, radical, and exiting, which spread onto 1970s and beyond. This period however, was difficult to the government because people were protesting against many things,  that many times made them change things they didn’t want to. One of most conflictive events was the Vietnam War. People were highly opposed so there were many riots, strikes and other forms of activism. It was also hard because many times, guards and police men had to be sent to control the angry mobs. Unfortunately, not only great achievements were reached by the freedom of speech showed during this period. The assassinations of some important people were also events that marked this era, like that of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X among others. Even though these things are highly remembered about the sixties, what really marked the era was the anti-war movement. This consisted of sit-ins, protests and resistances against anything involved with the Vietnam War. An example of this is when the peace activists started to burn their tickets that would get them to Vietnam. They also burnt flyers and anything that showed agreement with the war. At first, these groups started as very small and consisted mainly of highly religious people. As time went along, these groups became larger and larger. The numerous crowds would make it easier for the activists to be heard, but also to get hurt. An example of this is the Kent State shootings. Activists were protesting against the war. Just to be sure, guards were sent to maintain peacefulness. Everything was going well that weekend, but on Monday, many other people joined the protest. It turned violent. Four students ended up dead and nine others were injured. “This event caused disbelief and shock throughout the country and became a staple of anti-Vietnam demonstrations.”

This is my favorite decade because people said and did what they thought was right. Even though many times they tried to be stopped they kept on fighting for a better place, a world without war. Peace was a main factor on this decade and even though not-so-peaceful events came with it, the people tried to be heard, and for me at least, they were. It is also my favorite because people started experimenting new things such as the modern art brought by Andy Warhol. These changes created a great impact all over the world giving a way to new ways of living.