I was wondering ,What was it like being a witness in 1968 with the Vietnam War and the student protests and cold war fears.
1968 experiences
by d 23 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Giordano
- It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.....................Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
- That about sums it up.
By the time I got out and lost my deferment (a calulated risk) that war had been going on for a while and then it just got worse.
The music was the best it was going to be for a long while. It was new and exciting. Woodstock!!
No internet so no ex JW support........... you had to crawl out of the 'truth' with a match instead of the bright lights ex JW's have today.
You had to walk across the room to turn the chanel on the TV! Talk about hard times LOL.
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troubled mind
scary ........ Of course I was only 7 yrs old . My Dad was just out of the Military and I was acutely aware of the evening news watching the body count of soldiers lost everyday. Every night us kids had to be silent while Dad watched the news so i saw the violence of civil unrest going on around the States .At school we were taught what to do in case we were bombed by Russia (as if ducking and covering under our desks would really protect us )...All this dovetailed quite nicely with the fear I was learning from the Kingdom Hall ! So as I child the fear of Armaggedon really happening was believable to me because look how bad the world was ........as I grew up I began to realize they will always be able to capitalize on young ones fears because we live in a world of unrest and change .
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HighLevel
Well for me it was probably the only time young JWs could find any common ground with fellow students on the anti-war issue, I remember how anti-establishment everybody was. One guy in my class thought it was "cool" that I got to stand out in the hall during the national anthem; I guess he saw it as some sort of rebellion against the "system" Lol
Concerning the Cold War, JWs never felt a nuclear holocaust would ever happen because Jehovah would intervene with Armageddon. The main issues the Soviets created for JWs had to deal with trying to function as a denomination under the Communist regime, as did some other small religious groups as well.
Then of course, by this time the excitement regarding 1975 was really starting to gain momentum. JW youth were barraged with encouragement to forget about any plans for a career and pursue "Kingdom interests" by "pioneering" after high school, or to "reach out" for more congregational responsibilities.
Non JW related memories HAVE TO INCLUDE the awesome muscle cars of the late '60s, as well as the music.
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moshe
You had to walk across the room to turn the chanel on the TV
It didn't take long to find out what was on, as we only had 5 channels that came in- if you had kids, they did the channel switching, adjusted the tuning to stop the picture from rolling and rotated the antenna so you could bring in the signal- all that for a B&W picture. Some people had two TVs!!- one on top of each other- one TV was picture only and the other TV only had the sound that worked! We had one girl in my class whose family had a color TV in 1966- and she let everyone who was on her "A" list come over to watch it- and she wonders why I keep stiffing her facebook friends request.
I bought my first motorcycle at 18- it sure made the girls think I was a rebel. I also owned a 1962 Corvette at age 18. I was working as an assistant produce mgr in a grocery store the summer after I graduated from HS and the pay was $3.15 hr - ($20.00/hr adjusted for 2011 inflation), gas was under 40cents gallon. Kinda makes me feel sad for todays kids, as that $1.60/hr minimum wage back in '68 would have to be almost $11/hr today to keep up with 43 years of inflation.
Ah the good old days, when people were gullible--
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Band on the Run
Someone posted this a few weeks ago. 1968 was an awesome year, a true stand out. My abusive father died, leaving me free to not be a Witness and not die. We breathed for the first time. I never attended a KH after that. 1968-I sneaked out of the house to work in Gene McCarthy's campaign. Attended demos in NY and DC. My university, Columbia, was completely shut down. Sorbonne in France and German universities also shut down. Columbia's riots spread to Harvard and Yale, other elite schools. It was a competition to be the most radical.
I was a junior in high school. Martin Luther King Jr. and then Bobby Kennedy were slain. I waited hours to pay tribute to Bobby at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Some space things were happening. If a male student screwed up, the vice principal would call the local draft board.
Without my father, we lived normally. We watched the first human walk on the moon on the Great Lawn of Central Park. When we went to get picnic boxes they were selling for the massive crowds, I ran into David Peel and the Lower East Side, performing on the periphery of the crowd. He announced a very cool music festival was going to happen at Woodstock, NY. The next morning I bought tickets. B/c I was so young, my mom drove my friend and I up. We went up the weekend before to check out the terrain. We had no camping experience. There were plenty of motels.
Next week we drove up. I was so hoping Dylan and the Beatles would bow to public pressure and perform. I was a regular at the Filmore East and other rock venues. If you screamed loud and long enough, the band would come back and peform for four hours. Amazing. Saw Clapton, Richie Havens, Beach Boys, Judy Collins, Sly and the Family Stone, Simon and Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane. Nothing prepared us for what we saw. Just after we arrived, the NY State Turnpike was closed. Everywhere you looked there were heads. Open drug use and open sex everywhere. Much skinny dipping. The films have romanticized it.
There was no food. My mom walked us to the site. We hiked for miles and miles. fields were completely ruined by the overflow. So we ended up right by a motorcycle gang doing hard drugs. My mom surveyed the scene and announced we could not stay the night. She feared a stampede if it rained. There was no security, no organization. We stayed for the openiing prayer, Richie Havens and a few others. They looked like ants from where we were. I was practiced at getting into very good seats but there was absolutely no way to maneuver. All the way home the thruway was full of abandoned cars.
I was used to massive demos on D.C. NYC is crowded. Nothing ever or since has matched that sight. My mom made the right decision. I believe the concert would have been ever better if they enforced security. I still have my tickets. The NY State Atty General sued to get our money back. I'd rather have the tickets. They are worth far more than the cash value. We were able to get a free poster the week before the event. I had it on my wall for years. My mom discarded it after years. Then I showed her how much money it was worth in New Yorker magazine.
I saw the ballet and the opera. Before my father's death, none of this was possible. I ran away to NY frequently but that is all. My father kicked dogs in the head down cellar stairs. A true Christian a la St. Francis of Assissi. Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Always small dogs, never a German Shepherd or Rotweiller. He wasn't an equal opportunity abuser. My little sister was given a puppy for the loss of her father. Rascal walked in as tho she owned the place which she did. The entire family lavished attention on her.
The Beatles were active. Tommy was at the top of the charts.
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moshe
A 1962 Corvette- it cost me $1600- $11,000 in todays dollars-
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wasblind
" Some people had two TVs!!- one on top of each other- one TV was picture only and the other TV only had the sound that worked "
Stop steppin' on my toe Moshe !!!
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tenyearsafter
I was baptized in 1968...and I turned 18 in 1969, at the peak of the Vietnam War. I was under a draft board that was notorius for denying deferments, and I was no exception, so I was actually drafted in 1969, right before the lottery began. I went for a pre-induction physical, and was at the point of deciding whether to go to jail over not reporting when I had a car accident that gave me a medical deferment! By the time I was over the injury, the lottery was in full motion and I was put back in the pool with a high number. As a result, I was not drafted again before the draft ended in 1973. Many of my friends from school were drafted and went to Vietnam...a number didn't come back and several of those who did, came back psychologically damaged. It was a crazy time to be a JW...
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MrFreeze
With the Vietnam War and the Cold War, I bet the WT was having a field day
