Road_Less_Traveled

Change is a good thing when you travel the road that is worn and faded by previous footprints of people unknown to you. Signs of their experience are easily accessible by those who traveled before you by what was left behind. When walking down the road less traveled, change often results in lifestyle rearrangements that were not anticipated before the initial choice was made. These choices which were made by people that you may or may not know have been set into motion and the outcome brings changes in your lifestyle which may or may not result in changes in your attitude because of the choices that were made for you. These changes affect our lives and the lives that we touch in our home, among friends, and possibly unexpected changes in your career. When I was a teen there were certain rules of conduct that very few if any crossed, especially if you were a girl. Marriage was considered sacred and the vows were irreversible. Having sexual relationships outside of marriage was a taboo. Children born out of wedlock, was labeled and the mother of this child was considered an outcast. Sometime between 1963 and 1969 a new wind began to blow in the opposite direction causing something different to take place. Change was inevitable, it was the air. Being a witness to this era was to become a part of that change. With the assignation of President Kennedy, the draft in the war of Viet Nam began. This all began new and different changes within the minds of teenagers and college students. Protestor’s against the war started their personal fight. This began a rippling effect of hippies, yippies, and flower children. Each group offered their own rendition of how life should be lived. The hippies proclaimed peace, love and unity. The yippies were more radical; they voiced their thoughts by their actions. The flower children, well, they were too high on drugs too say much of anything but to hand out single stem flowers to those they came in contact with. Drugs, freedom in sex, and the protesting against the war began another change in the music industry. The Beatles who started their singing career with song titled ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ And ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’ began singing ‘You Say You Want A Revolution’ And ‘Hey Jude.’ This began the rock explosion (and our grandparents thought the doo-wop era was going to be radical!) The diversity in music brought about Woodstock, which also brought about a change in the lives of those who attended. Posters with slogans saying, ‘Make Love Not War’ And ‘Save Water, Shower With A Friend’ began to line the homes of teenage bedrooms along with black lights and drug paraphernalia. Not too long into the making, the war was over. Our boys came home and there was nothing left to fight against. Except each other, divorce became the new explosion, as well as children born outside of marriage. Drugs, alcohol and freedom in sex were still going strong. To be a part of an era where a dramatic change in life occurs brings on other problems. Especially to someone who does not tolerate change well. Every road had a corner and every road had a division. Life does go on, even within its confusion, when the world that you know and loved appeared to be full of questions and doubts. After the war, people were not the same, everyone changed old and young alike. The boys who went to war did not come back the same. A good number who went to war did not survive and those who did survive had emotional, mental and physical problems. To those who evaded the draft still lived in Canada pending their arrest if they were found here in their home land. What made all of this even worse was that there was no recognition to those who went to war by force, being draft. I was looking for that ticket take parade that they had when World War Two was over. The soldiers had no job to come back to and they were ignored. How unfair was that' Where was the logic in all of this' A war that should never had been, was pushed under the carpet because no one wanted to acknowledge that it ever existed. This is a direct reflection on our government, the ones who began the doubts and confusion to the teens of that generation. All they said, and continue to say today is that what happened in Viet Nam will never be repeated. So, then what really did happen over there' No one really knows except for the ones who where a witness to it and to those who are covering it up. In the midst of the war, something good did happen. We had our first landing on the moon. I will never forget this day. We, the close-knit Italian family that we are, all sat around the television set at my uncle’s house. The cousins, and the uncles, sat in the living room while the woman washed the dinner dishes. (Like I said life was different back then.) My uncles would yell into the kitchen giving a step by step of how close the shuttle was to the moon and that they have to hurry with the dishes so that they wouldn’t miss anything. With the dishes finally done and the woman settled on the floor with us children near to them. My aunt Fanny, says ‘You know, I just thought of something, if the shuttle was to land on the moon and it throws the gravitational forces off we all are going to float around in the air and eventually die from lack of oxygen.’ All of us cousins looked at each other as if this was to really happen and without another word we sat closer to our moms each holding one of her body limbs. Here we are all ranging from ten to fourteen, scared out of our wits, not saying anything, knowing each other well enough to read each other’s minds. My aunt Marilyn, who was always quick with comebacks then said, ‘The best part of this is that the whole family is together and if we were to die we were all together.’ Well there were some comforting words. So, while the whole world was rejoicing of the achievements of our solar landing, we-the cousins were outside thanking God that our lives were spared and that we’d all see each other at the next family gathering. It’s funny how life is with each individual. And how the changes that begins, changes the world as we knew it. War is the road most traveled and the outcome is the road less traveled. Choices that were made changed a universe. From this change is the life that is in the now of our lives. The landing on the moon brought about different changes. We matched our opponent and now that we are even we could continue to outdo them in other areas. Life is always about who is better and who should have more. Isn’t that what war is all about' The battle within the onset of war lies within the silent war, the verbal and the nonverbal battle. Who can top the other and who had the more advanced technology' Change sometimes is made with progression and sometimes it is made with succession. Change therefore is caught in the middle of the choices that some may have consciously or subconsciously made. All we could do is accept and move along as best as we can.