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ENLARGE
By Bob Sweigert
Grasshopper Soup
The bloody atrocities of the 60s and early 70s blessed us with a healthy skepticism about government control. Those volatile times confirmed that people who possess worldly power are prone to make big mistakes. The more power we have, the more likely it is we will misuse it. Not even hippies were immune from the potential perils of power.
As if the blunder of the Vietnam war wasn't enough, our government shot and killed four unarmed students at Kent State in Ohio to stifle dissent. That encouraged more dissent. I dissented by filing as a Conscientious Objector, thus avoiding the draft. I became a CO for two reasons; I did not want to be killed in Vietnam, and the war was wrong.
The Vietnam War was winding down, so, luckily, I was granted CO status without being called in so the feds could get in my face about being afraid to fight.
It was a costly struggle, but it was millions of people like us who ended the Vietnam war, not the government. Our message was clear: the government does not own our bodies.
Obviously, our government has done more than its share of good things around the world, but history tells us we haven't seen the last of the big mistakes.
So, before we remake America and save the world, let's eat first. We can't do a job that big on an empty stomach. During dinner we can discuss the difference between people like Che Guevara, who advocated the global acquisition of power through violence, and Jesus and Gandhi, who showed that real power comes through peace and love.
A global meal is worth a try, though there are no historical accounts of that level of human cooperation ever occurring on earth before. If so, we would have our ideal world already.
All of us getting together in the same place to sit down and eat will sound like a small minded, weak idea to sophisticated people. They will say there's no way we can get everybody to sit down together, and they would be right. But it is not a weak idea. It is the best, most inspirational idea of all.
We need to keep the dream of the 60s alive if only for our children. Just because it's impossible doesn't mean it's a weak idea. Some of the best ideas in history have sounded impossible to enlightened, educated people.
Remaking America and saving the planet requires the complete cooperation of every man woman and child on earth. If we want to fix everything we all have to pitch in full time. It has to start with families and individuals before it can spread beyond local neighborhoods, communities, towns and counties and around the world.
For those reasons, we may never be able to create the world we want at the national or global level desired. Our happy peace meal could easily become a nightmare. Someone would get drunk and disruptive and the dinner would end in chaos.
Colonizing space is the only thing I can think of that would take more work, and if we don't protect America, and the world, it won't be worth colonizing space. We will carry our own political, historical and social baggage to other planets and ruin them too.
Our best ideas of peace and love aren't on everyone's menu. But that's no reason to not order them. Just remember, we could be in for a very long wait.
I am not sure what President Nixon had for dinner when he escalated the Vietnam fiasco. Maybe he visualized whirled peas instead of world peace, but I bet he wasn't a vegan. For me, the more practical diet is regular fasting and eating anything I want in moderation.
Peace and love faces determined opposition. Our interference in Vietnam was wrong for the same reason global jihad is wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right.
A true hippy continues to speak up for what is right, no matter what the cost.
Bob Sweigert is a Sierra Sun columnist, published poet, ski instructor and commercial driver. He's lived at Lake Tahoe for 27 years.
As if the blunder of the Vietnam war wasn't enough, our government shot and killed four unarmed students at Kent State in Ohio to stifle dissent. That encouraged more dissent. I dissented by filing as a Conscientious Objector, thus avoiding the draft. I became a CO for two reasons; I did not want to be killed in Vietnam, and the war was wrong.
The Vietnam War was winding down, so, luckily, I was granted CO status without being called in so the feds could get in my face about being afraid to fight.
It was a costly struggle, but it was millions of people like us who ended the Vietnam war, not the government. Our message was clear: the government does not own our bodies.
Obviously, our government has done more than its share of good things around the world, but history tells us we haven't seen the last of the big mistakes.
So, before we remake America and save the world, let's eat first. We can't do a job that big on an empty stomach. During dinner we can discuss the difference between people like Che Guevara, who advocated the global acquisition of power through violence, and Jesus and Gandhi, who showed that real power comes through peace and love.
A global meal is worth a try, though there are no historical accounts of that level of human cooperation ever occurring on earth before. If so, we would have our ideal world already.
All of us getting together in the same place to sit down and eat will sound like a small minded, weak idea to sophisticated people. They will say there's no way we can get everybody to sit down together, and they would be right. But it is not a weak idea. It is the best, most inspirational idea of all.
We need to keep the dream of the 60s alive if only for our children. Just because it's impossible doesn't mean it's a weak idea. Some of the best ideas in history have sounded impossible to enlightened, educated people.
Remaking America and saving the planet requires the complete cooperation of every man woman and child on earth. If we want to fix everything we all have to pitch in full time. It has to start with families and individuals before it can spread beyond local neighborhoods, communities, towns and counties and around the world.
For those reasons, we may never be able to create the world we want at the national or global level desired. Our happy peace meal could easily become a nightmare. Someone would get drunk and disruptive and the dinner would end in chaos.
Colonizing space is the only thing I can think of that would take more work, and if we don't protect America, and the world, it won't be worth colonizing space. We will carry our own political, historical and social baggage to other planets and ruin them too.
Our best ideas of peace and love aren't on everyone's menu. But that's no reason to not order them. Just remember, we could be in for a very long wait.
I am not sure what President Nixon had for dinner when he escalated the Vietnam fiasco. Maybe he visualized whirled peas instead of world peace, but I bet he wasn't a vegan. For me, the more practical diet is regular fasting and eating anything I want in moderation.
Peace and love faces determined opposition. Our interference in Vietnam was wrong for the same reason global jihad is wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right.
A true hippy continues to speak up for what is right, no matter what the cost.
Bob Sweigert is a Sierra Sun columnist, published poet, ski instructor and commercial driver. He's lived at Lake Tahoe for 27 years.
