The Sixties within US
Discomfort made me feel stupid. I couldn’t understand half of what was really going on when reading these documents on the Vietnam war. A part of me honestly was skeptical when opening up these documents. To my own awareness, I was still flustered and confused as to why humanity at that time period, did what they did. It made me question myself, and the things I thought to be good about society. But after I watched a documentary assigned by Professors Matt Cook and Sean Kelly, everything made sense. The Sixties: The Years that Shaped a Generation portrayed the 60’s as a time of discomfort that lead to the endless fight for peace and equality. That in itself struck me to the core and opened so many doors for me to see why the Vietnam War was meant to be.
Admitting the truth is at times extremely hard to do. I could only get a glimpse of what the respected activist Martin Luther King had to go through to voice his truth. And I found myself frustrated with how long this emotional roller coaster even lasted. But it did, and that’s one thing I now appreciate about history. That we can accept what happened then, in order to appreciate what is happening right now. The many activists in this video who spoke out about the true meaning of this time period, talked about how the 60’s was where “a generation rebelled and lost it’s innocence.” In between feeling angry and confused I came to realize that being lost is good; because in that there’s a chance to find my truth. I see now that that’s what this time period did to most people back then. It helped them find their truth and share it. Living in the sixties seemed like an uphill battle, but without the war what would we have to fight for? This was a time of hardships and despair. But those same hardships lead to the expression of the voice of the people and what each of us stood for. Whether it be homosexuality, racial equality, women’s rights, or equal pay in the workforce, this horrifying war drove us to fight for what we believed in and voice our own opinions.
The document that caught my eye was a form of expression written in poetry by Roseville High school students who were affected by the war and everything it stood for. One of the poems was called, “My Life or Yours” by a high school student named Rich Hall who expressed the deep concern for innocent lives being taken away by more men getting drafted to war and dying for a cause they didn’t choose to fight for. The letter itself was written by a woman named Judi Holmes who had a cousin in the war who was struggling to see value in human life anymore. My point is that the many men who sacrificed their lives for us did it so we could have the courage to face ourselves and stop cowardly hiding in the fear of losing our sense of pride. The truth is, our pride was diminished as soon as the war had even started. We belittled ourselves by following our sense of pride and shame. In doing this, Presidents Lyndon B Johnson, John F Kennedy, and Nixon created lies like the Pentagon Papers and untold secret bombings on Cambodia; which spiraled into more conflict and hate. That anger turned into anti-war movements and ultimately new ideals of the people’s own definitions of freedom. This created a whole new outlook on life, where people discovered drugs and neglected their responsibilities. For once we were truly expressing ourselves with no limitations or boundaries. Whether it was through music, poetry, or societies, we cultivated freedom. And to me, through these different forms of expression, we weren’t free from the war; we were free from what the war stood for. I see now, through my analysis that the war resembled fear of defeat and humiliation. When in reality, we were the one’s humiliating ourselves by going to war with Vietnam.
In all honesty, in writing this I was afraid of being wrong in my confusion and stupidity. Then I remembered what Dr. Rajimaira once said during our lesson on critical thinking, “Discomfort is good…Confusion is the best!” In that moment, it all clicked for me. I was no longer fearful of doing the assignment wrong because for once I felt connected with the past, and more accepting of right now.
