[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I wrote the letter, standing exactly where John collapsed after being shot. How I wish I had a copy of it!

So, I have that song on my phone in my iTunes, and now whenever it plays, I know I won’t listen to it the same way I always have, like a normal song I like on my iTunes. honeychile, your post is such an amazing story that I’ll always listen to that song differently. I can now say I chatted with the person that influenced parts of that song. Thank you for sharing that.

Originally Posted by carnation

See...a lot of those protests, probably most, petered out or were just for show. Friends at northern universities would get really mad because a big group of protesters would block a campus building or cause classes to be canceled because of the danger. After a few days, the cops would clear them out and arrests would be made and it would be discovered that most of the protesters weren't even students there.

A lot of times, they were for ridiculous things, like "students shouldn't have required courses" or "this campus should immediately be replanted as a forest", etc., and the media bought into it and filmed it. Some turned out to be very dangerous; my husband's cousin was caught on the Kent State campus in the middle of those shootings.

However, I would say that there wasn't any more "dedication to the cause" than there is now. Most people weren't going to sacrifice their homes or lives to a cause any more than they do now. I know what it seems like! The media have recreated the 60s and 70s as romantic times when anything was possible and huge causes were followed and youth prevailed.

In reality: it was no different from life today.

I think if I lived back then, I don’t know if I’d recognize the gradual changes, maybe with an exception of a few.