Baby Boomers come of age, PART II

We were teenagers in the 60’s and 70’s. We rebelled because we were teenagers. We listened to music our parents didn’t like and didn’t understand. Much like they, themselves, did when they were teenagers in the 30’s and 40’s. We were Hippies, we were Rockers. We listened to folk songs on AM radio. We went to high school and met new friends. We learned new things all the time, and without the aid of computers, or calculators. We played sports, we were cheerleaders, we played in the band and sang in the choir. If we didn’t have the talent to compete, we were told "nice try" then we were encouraged toward something we were able to compete in. We never heard the words "good job" simply for the sake of our feelings. We worked at as many menial jobs as there were kids to fill positions, and we worked hard because that was what we were taught. We clumsily dated. We fumbled through asking someone to the dance. We broke up, broke hearts and had our hearts broken. We had school spirit and rooted for our school in everything. We grew as individuals and as a generation.
While we were still teenagers we were drafted. Some of us were against the war that our country was fighting and fled. A lot more answered the call as our fathers did and went to war. Some of us were drafted, some of us volunteered. Some of us came home in airplanes, some of us came back in boxes. We came home not to cheering crowds but to jeering crowds, spitting at us and pelting us with curses, calling us every hateful term they could think of because we sacrificed for our country. We didn’t ask why we had to go; we just went because it was our duty. Some of us were combatants in the jungle, some of us were in support. We left parts of our bodies and blood behind. Some of us left our sanity behind. All of us left a part of our souls behind.

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