On Morality, Vietnam, Romance & 2 Wheels for Life

1969 was pivotal for baby boomers, young, innocent and facing a needless war. On a grand tour, youth united for peace, resisting war, living the parables of all times. Some will remember. Some can’t. All bore witness to a time like none before or ever since, when a few seasons indelibly defined the difference between right and wrong.

    The profit motive gave way to greed. Truth twisted to propaganda. National interest got bent for defense contractors. Democracy buckled on a war of attrition and a cloud of smoke got toxic: napalm. Other clouds of smoke helped define phantoms of complacency, security and atrophy. Sustained on smoke, stoned to the gills and then some, we resisted, as no generation has done.

    Youth is time for developing the person within. Boomers formed up on values that linger in truth and giving, peace and sharing. 1969 was a benchmark for the future, its worldview and lyrics echoing down the decades.

            —Robert Wintner, Maui
                 2025