America: The Changeling

As a child growing up in the sixties, I paid little attention to the vast world around me. I was busy struggling with family, my peers, trying to make good grades at school and just being a kid. As nineteen-seventies arrived, it was impossible not to see what was happening in the world. The Vietnam War was a daily fixture on television and in the newspapers. Richard Nixon was getting in trouble over Watergate. Rock bands became the rage and assaulted America with music of which we had never heard the like, many venting their opinions with lyrics about the nations' ills.

I became interested in music and began taking guitar lessons. I started to pay more attention to my schoolwork. I began listening to the issues of the world. Unemployment ran rampant, especially depending upon where you live. People began using more drugs and drinking more alcohol as dance clubs started to open all over America. Nixon came and went, as did Gerald Ford. Jimmy Carter crossed over the seventies into the eighties with us. Although he is a great patriot, he became known as the do-nothing President.

As the eighties began, Ronald Reagan was elected President. Rock music was changing into a blend of pop-rock. Drug use became rampant, especially cocaine. Many a person lost their families, themselves, their friends and even their lives because of the addiction to cocaine. Divorce rates became more frequent. Thus began the single mother/father institution. This, I believe, is one of the most important things that have occurred in our society. No longer did a child have the security of a family situation. No longer did a child have the care and nurture needed to provide them with the faith of the heart and soul that carries us toward proper maturity.

Teenage violence became much more prevalent. Anger in the hearts of these youths knew no boundaries. I personally saw many kids beaten up severely, merely for the enjoyment of the attacker or attackers. These violent teens were usually on drugs of some kind. Pot was so easily procured. Cocaine was everywhere. Pills of every kind could be had with a phone call. Then heroin started to become a drug of choice, although most people still saw heroin as a drug choice for the lowest of the low.

Gangs became to form at an alarming rate. Gang turf was to be protected at all costs. Many a teenager lost their loves over nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many a teenager lost their lives over an expensive pair of tennis shoes or an expensive coat. The rite of passage into a gang meant the killing of someone to attain status. So many innocent people lost their lives for such an atrocity.

President Reagan announced the War on Drugs. Nancy followed with her Just Say No campaign. Movements such as M.A.D.D., mothers against drunk driving and D.A.R.E., a police campaign against drugs began. We all lost a hero and loved one was assassinated in nineteen-eighty. I still remember listening to the radio that night when the news was announced. Oppositions to nuclear plants escalated after the nineteen-eighty six Chernobyl accident. The rise of Aids led to an almost instant hatred of homosexuality. Many a homosexual was beaten or killed over this hatred. Video games were on the rise as technology just kept on peaking. MTV began its long-running road of success, starting off with a new thing called a music video where the band performed all sorts of theatrics to their music. The Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart on January 28, 1986, devastating all Americans as all seven crew members were killed.

President Reagan was providing Haddam Hussein with weapons to defend his nation. Toward the end of the eighties, Osama-Bin Laden began attending Harvard, graduating in 1992. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was one of the greatest ecological disasters we have ever known.

President Reagan did have the economy in an upheaval. His cold war against communism and Russia was a great success. However, the string of Presidents since Reagan has been a downhill disaster. While Clinton did keep the economy in good order in the 1990's, he also led a double life which ended in his embarrassment and will forever leave a vivid stain on his servitude.

President Bush started out with hard times. After 9/11, America changed forever. None of us will forget that fateful day when so many innocent people lost their lives. You can say there was a conspiracy or you can say there was no conspiracy. It does not matter to those who expired that day. God Bless them. After that, it became one foolish action by the government after another. This has continued for eight long years, with President Bush looking more the fool every single day. Don't get me wrong, I like the man on a personal level, I just do not believe he should have ever been the leader of our nation. Of course, many believe Dick Chaney is the true leader of our nation. I believe there are secrets held by the government of which we will never discover or find out after it is too late. There is a theory that there are underground cities prepared for government officials, the elite in America and secret groups such as Bilderburg, the Tri-Lateral Commission and the Illuminati in case of nuclear attack on our soil. If true, the common man will be left defenseless and on our knees to the power brokers.

Consider what is going on with the Russian/Georgia conflict. Now the United States has weapons aimed at Russia and Russia has weapons ready to launch in Cuba.

I intentionally left out the Middle East conflicts. For that would take an entire book. Let us just say there are many disasters there waiting to happen.

We know not what the future holds for us, but one of one thing we can be sure. America will change and keep on changing. God help us all.