Nixon?

President Obama SO reminded me of Nixon last night during his speech to the nation about our actions in and towards Libya.

This opinion of mine is purely emotional. I was only twelve years old when Nixon was sworn in. He also addressed the nation about involving U.S. forces in foreign lands for the good of the oppressed people there.

Having watched last night's speech, I went to bed. All night long I had NPR on as I slept. I imagine that my brain was processing my feelings. When I woke up that is what my brain said to me, "Nixon". I have no idea what it means.

I am just old enough to have been too young for Woodstock. People my age walked as younger siblings to all that dynamic social upheaval and change. We listened to their music, for example. Janis; Jimmy;; Carlos, etc. and the Rolling Stones. Above everyone, the Beatles. We were not even teenagers when the Beatles broke up.

And there was Nixon, and Vietnam, and Nixon's promise to end the war. The war was over just as we turned eighteen. Everyone slightly older than us had to be terrorized by the possibility of the draft. That was in itself traumatic. Worse trauma awaited those who were shipped into the jungle. Thank God there has been no draft since!

Today, issues seem so large. I wonder what impact they are having on children. As we age, we recognize that there is nothing new under the sun, that there has never been a person who did not grow up in context with major events.

Yet there will ever be in each of our hearts the impression we first had as social awareness awakened. That there was evil about in the world. That death was actually caused on purpose. That peace was rare.

I guess that is what I was channeling this morning, that time in my life. When I realized that life was not just baseball and school and making "Man on the Street" recordings with my brother. The end of innocence.

Bobby