Thoughts on the 1960’s and now

In reading the comments on the feed at Lifehack.org that I wrote about yesterday I’m struck by the tone of some of the comments. Life is not as some would have us believe an us vs. them. It’s not conservative vs. liberal. Life is very nuanced. Life in the 1960’s that’s drawn the ire of some conservatives was very unsettling. It was a time of flux much like today. There were wonderful things that happened like Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 1964 Worlds Fair, Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.  There were terrible things that happened like the little girls getting killed in the 16th Street Baptist church bombing, the Kennedy assasinations, the Martin Luther King assasination and the Vietnam war. This summer I’ve been listening to a special collection of Jimi Hendrix’s music taken from Woodstock. I love Hendrix’s guitar work. He was way ahead of his time and Woodstock was possibly his best ever performance. The “sexual revolution” of the 1960’s was tame compared to what is available both on the internet and cable television these days. Each day, each week, each month and year have their positives and negatives.

Today’s article on Lifehack was more about celebrating creativity and non-conformism. It was about taking chances and not apologizing for being a free thinker. Knee-jerk conservatives and liberals give me a pain in the ass. Life is not black and white. It is nuanced in all shades. Creative ideas are not political nor can they be reduced to such shallow arguments.

Today we face the increasing pressures of a global marketplace. This is driving wages down in the United States and elsewhere. People are being exploited. At the same time fabulous changes are being wrought and the world is more interconnected than it has ever been before. We’re more aware of our interdependence than we were thirty or forty years ago. Celebrate our differences and diversity and learn to embrace change.