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.