Living in The Sixties

I graduated from high school in 1966 and after traveling through Europe for a couple of weeks because I had been living in Cairo, Egypt, I settled in the State of Maryland working road

construction at Regal Construction Company until entering College as a Freshman in the Fall.  After attending college for two and a half years, I left college because I suddenly realized that I just did not want to be there.

So, without my draft deferment for being as College student, I had to do something or else I was going to be drafted and possibly sent to Vietnam which is the last thing that I wanted to do with my time.  Therefore, after securing a full time job with a local company, I enlisted in the US Navy Reserves which allowed me to work for 12 months before going on active duty for 2 years.

Dealing with the DRAFT and the fact that OUR GOVERNMENT could send young men to WAR was not just a huge FEAR for people like me but caused us to have a SOLID RESENTMENT for our country into which we had been born.  It just did not seem right to us that our Government could force us to do something that we did not want to do...

One of the songs that reflected our feelings during this time was "For What It's Worth," by Buffalo Springfield.  Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American rock band active from 1966 to 1968 whose most prominent members were Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and Richie Furay.


For What It's Worth

There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking' their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?
What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly saying, "hooray for our side"
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you way away