Forty years ago it was 1963, 16 years before I was even born. Trying to imagine what life was like 40 years ago, I imagine the “classic American life” for the “classic American family”. The type of family I’ve seen in re-runs of old TV shows. The father works the office job, the mother at home baking an apple pie waiting for little Johnny to get home from school. In my mind images of the early 60’s are always sunny spring days. Life, however, is not a TV show. The life I’ve imagined most people lived 40 years ago is just that… imaginary.
“I’ve got a pocketbook, no dough just a post-war shock job. I’m an evil-minded breakdown. I’m a vulgar, thinking crackdown.” The words Woody Guthrie wrote paint a much clearer picture of how life really was for many people 40 years ago. It’s not much different than things are today. Sure the clothes we wear look a bit different. The technology and gadgets we have to keep us entertained didn’t exist 40 years ago. The scenery has changed a little, but here we are facing the same problems Woody Guthrie and many other Americans were facing. That’s sad. We still face a poor economy and a weak job market. We still face Pro-War sentiment at home, while our brothers and sisters in other countries voice their anti-war cries across the seas.
It’s important to remember, however, it takes time to change. When it comes to social change 40 years is not a long time at all. It’s not that hard to pretend that those problems have gone away, but pretending a problem has gone away does little to solve it. Problems have a tendency to get worse when ignored. Taking the time today to make a little bit of change could mean a world of difference 40 years from now. Click on the links section and look through the resources we have under “Labor and Fair trade”, “Peace”, and “Civil Liberties” to get involved with the issues that Woody Guthrie and Anti-Flag have brought to our attention.
by Jake Reinhart, Nov. 2003
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