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of them lump all the kids togcther aod
label you rebel, delinquent, junkie?
That and more has already been tried
- and whcre'd it get us?
Maybe you've got the wrong bag,
Baby
1
You want peace, !ove, respect,
f reedom? That's great, but maybe
you're going about it thc wrong way.
The older generation was sure wrong;
maybe you are too! Why don't you give
a
new thing
a try? Get
1
OOo/o
involved!
You
Ct/12
make a big change- and a
noticeable one. What've you got to
lose?
Give an car.
The Treasure of an Open Mind
The chief assct cbimed time and
again by young people today is an Open
Mind. What a powerful and precious
asset! Those who real!y exercise an open
mind have read this far in this artide,
and will really prove their open-minded–
ness by reading to the finish!
The Establishment is constantly de–
fending ideas formed thirty to forty or
more years ago- their minds are frozen
in a cast of an age now passed by.
They fear change. They won't listen to
new ideas, try new things.
One representative of our young and
dynamic generation puts it this way:
"Our great strength as a generation is
our openness to change and our willing–
ness to try anything"
(Pace,
Feb.,
1969).
A young student from Chile analyzes
a little further: "Students want to see
changes but don't go to the foundations.
We are like horses with blinders, seeing
only what's in front of us and living
from day to day. When our ideals
don't materialize, we think nobody
cares"
(Pace,
Feb.,
1969).
Another student puts his finger on
the problem th is way - and comes up
with the key to the solution of the
problem: "Each generation must inherit
The
PLAIN
TRUTH
something from the past. There
m/ISt
be a gap
BUT THERE MUST BE A
CON–
NECTION TOO.
In
socicty there are some
eterna[ human problems. The tasks are
the same. The methods must be differ–
ent. We
can fa.rhion more pe1ject
methods.
. . .
So many are so narrow–
minded. AN OPEN MINO COMES
WITH
PEOPLE WHO REALLY BELIEVE
IN
SOMETHINC!"
(Pace,
feb.,
1969.)
The Basic Question
When you get right down to it, the
real, basic question is:
IJV
hat is the
met111i11g of tife?
Why are you here? Where'd you
come from? What should you do whi le
you're here? Where are you going from
here? Ask questions like these and you
get as many varying answers as there
are
ide~>logies,
denominations, political
parties, races - in fact about as many
different answers as there are people.
One thing is sure: You can't say
much for the hcre and now with its
constant threat of nuclear annihilation
hanging over every society as it
scrambles in the confusion of a mad
pursuit of material gain and physical
happiness - in utter frustration because
there seem to be no answers, no ulti–
matc purpose, no goal; just the mind–
lcss reproduction of more of what is.
And youth is impatient because it
hasn't líved long- and in this age
faced with the fact that it may not live
longer. This is
the
Decisive Decade. We
either begin to lind the answers in the
Seventies, begin to do it right, or we'vc
had it! We're in a hurry. lt's tbc age
of instant everything. We need instant
solutions, instant perfection, but these
products are not for sale, not even
manufactured. We'll have to settle for
something that takes a little time.
The older people really want the
same things you do: they too want
happiness, peace, brotherly love, free–
dom, prosperity. But in too many cases
it's just words. Because they'vc lived
so long, they've lost their idealism. They
had to facc the reality of life and it
soured and embittered them. They
gave up their youthful hopes and set–
tlcd down in the mold of a society they
couldn't change.
Let's face it, the hope of tbis genera-
March, 1970
tion is pretty jaundiced. Youth's ap–
praisal of today's society is pretty mud1
likc this:
The momentum roward desrrucrion
is unsroppable - you can't diverr ir,
muth less stop it! \'<fhen young pcople
rry to point this out the only thing the
Establishment can sec is destructive
change. They co.me up
with
slogans
like "Love ir or Leave ir," and then
we srrike back with "Change it or Lose
ir."
It's a very bad sr.ate -l'm angry,
but powcrless.
lt
scems like we are
going to die before we get fired up
about it. You bavc
to
make people
see the urgency of the problcms, but
you soon find out it's not easy to
change anybody.
Wc need an incentive, a desire to
do.
We need a hero. We nced some–
thing exciting that evcrybody can
believc
in.
We want ro see something
good bappen. They've got to be
educated. Something draslic needs to
happen ro move the inercia of human
na rure. We necd some ray o{ hope!
We desperately need some1hing every–
body can believe in. People's imagina–
tion needs to be struck like a match.
But it seems people are either all with
the kids or al! against them - not
enough people are willing
10
do the
right thing.
Young people in interviews for this
article were asked to put into words
the basic thinking of this generation.
As for solutions, the following sug–
gcstions wcre given- they're repre–
sentative, even if rambling. They're not
necessarily thc answers even the majority
of youth would givc but they provide
a good cross section.
Youths' Proposed Solutions
The war (Vietnam) made people
conscious of being anti· a lot of thiogs
that were "morally wrong." What are
we doing trying to solve people's prob–
lems in South Viernam when wc
haven' t sol ved our problems at borne?
Everybod¡• oughr ro have a minimum
living wage. And that living wage
oughr to be up on a standard with the
cost of living. And he shouldn't have
to
beg for ir either.
1f
they have
cnough money for their needs and
thcy don't wam
tO
work, don't make
them work. They'll be happy rhar way.
Ler thcm
be
happy.
It
will lend itsclf
to more creativiry that way.
As far as industrial ills and pollu–
tion are concerned d1e government
ought ro intervcne like it did with
c¡-clamates. The gtl\'eroment ought
to
tell
auto manufacturers
to
make
smog-free cars and makc
money
avail–
ablc ro make them so they could make
it.
Thcy ougbt to ban the driUiog of
oil wells where
it
pollutes the waters
or the landscapc. They oughr
w
outlaw
c:ars or certainly regulare thern as
LO
cenain times when they could be used.
They ought to force people to drive in
car pools and not just one man ro a
car. The best solution would be a good
public transit system using the dollars
that would be spent for automobiles
to produce it and then make it free