Stories From Woodstock 1969
5:23:32 PM 08.11.09

Children of God


I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me
I'm going on down to Yasgurs farm
I'm going to join in a rock n roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
I'm going to try an get my soul free
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And many souls were set free, to change the face and times of America and indeed the world forever. Our generation took the demands that society had put upon us and threw it back to them, sometimes gently and something with defiance. We were not like the generations of the past, we were the baby boomers. And make a boom we did!~! The youth of today, our children and grand children enjoy those freedoms we inspired. Yet maybe it has come to them too easy as I don't know why they were not marching in the streets while our country was being ruined these past years. Maybe they take it all for granted and that is not really their faults I guess. Surely there are thousands of stories of getting to Woodstock and getting home. The real story is being there and being part of that happening. There has been nothing like it in history and I doubt there every will be again. Our motto: Peace, Love and Happiness, but peace we did not have, few people even know the real meaning of Love and Happiness comes from within each of us. It was a the turbulence of the times that united a generation. Todays youth are not so united. We don't have peace, still the meaning of love escapes most and happiness still comes from within.. We were so fortunate to have been born a boomer. We ROCK! God Bless Us One and ALL! I won't make this Woodstock physically but a part of my heart and soul stays in the soil on which it all happened~~ Just 40 years ago~~~

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Comments

10 Comments
HippieMatt August 12, 2009, 10:33 am
I was born in '84, but I can relate much more to the young people at Woodstock in 1969 than I can to my own generation. So much so, that I really think sometimes "how did I get here?". Past lives? Who knows.

Its a good question, isnt it... Why didnt my generation kick up a fuss about the abuses of the powers that be in this era? There was no draft, so I reckon that changed things a lot. Plus, the mass media is different than it was. Keep 'em doped with war propaganda and vapid "reality" TV shows.

I dont know... Many times during this decade I felt embarrassed at how the demons were allowed to run amok unchecked, and it eventually took a baby-boomer artist (Neil Young) to say something!! Where was my generation's Neil Young? The "artists" of today, for the most part, were cowards. Popular music has become the establishment it once questioned!

But... Things are changing
Charlotte August 12, 2009, 1:53 pm
Hi Matt,
Thank you for your comment, I have a 42 yr old daughter and a son 24 year old son, just a year younger than you. I stopped watching the news when the second plane hit the second tower in NYC.. yes.. at that very moment I said. OK.. I have seen enough! My son does not watch new either and very little TV . So much foolishness on TV. Such a waste of our precious time. You are so correct about propaganda about everything. It is a way to control with fear. I refuse to be controlled. I refuse to look upon others with suspicion or fear.
Maybe it was all in the stars back then.. maybe it simply was the age of Aquarius!
I hold out hopes that there are young people who are ready to solve the problems in our society. We had President Clinton who was wonderful and a baby boomer.. but then came the evil one to undo and undermine all his work and set our country on a sure road to nowhere. God Help Us! God Help the US!

Things are changing.. Nothing stays the same.. but you can CAUSE CHANGE>> for the good..not just let change happen as it will.. we all sat and let Bush distroy our country..Were we all on antidepressants and just too apathetic to do anything? I still can't believe nobody did anything. and now we get to support that bastard for the rest of his life.. WTH? I am guilty as I went into the woods to hide and stick my head in the sand< but hoping for a new generation of leaders..with the courage to say.> HEY WAIT A MINUTE. THIS IS MY FURTURE THEY ARE DISTROYING! THEY CAN'T DO THAT! WHERE IS HE?
CARLA August 12, 2009, 5:01 pm
HELLO CHARLOTTE
MY NAME IS CARLA ...OH WHAT MEMORIE'S 40 YEAR'S AGO THIS COMEING WEEK ...TO THIS DAY I CAN REMEMBER TELLING MY MOTHER THAT MY COUSINS AN I WERE GOING CAMPING . WE JUST DIDN'T SAY WHERE ,UNTIL WE GOT HOME LOL .I STILL LISTEN TO SANTANA AN ALL THE REST ,GUESS I'M JUST AN OLD HIPPIE AT HEART ...THE PEOPLE WE SAW & HEARD SOME ARE GONE NOW BUT IF I MAY JUST SAY THIS IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE PLAY ON, THE ONE'S WE LOST FROM OUR GENERATIION WILL ALWAY'S PLAY IN IN THE ROCK & ROLL HEAVEN GIVE ME THE BEAT BOY'S AN FREE MY SOUL I JUST WANT TO GET LOST IN YOUR ROCK AN ROLL AN DRIFT AWAY..
BYE FOR NOW ...
ENJOY THE MEMORIES
CARLA RUFF & VITO
Charlotte August 12, 2009, 9:55 pm
Hello Carla, Thank you for your comment.. Yes those old day seem only a wonderful old dream to me.. and talk about old hippie..OMG..I have lived in Oregon for only three years and the old hippie are HERE and they now look like forest gnomes..LOL. I swear it. little old long gray hair and looong bearded men in old loggers clothes.. it is so cute..Most of the women here have long hair too.. mine is to my butt.. and not gray yet.. thank goodness. See old hippies never die.. they just ..well..lol.. well what do they do? Tee hee.. still smokin! I know they don't get in a hurry.. I learned that fast upon arriving.. slowww.. sloww pace here!
I wonder what Jimi would be doing now if he had lived.. such a shame..such a loss.
Peaz be with you!
and Thanks again,
Charlotte in the Woods..
HippieMatt August 16, 2009, 3:00 pm
I agree with you 100% Charlotte. TV is poison to the mind.

You reminded me of a great quote from Artie Kornfeld in the film:

"What's really important? The fact that if we can't all live together and be happy. If you have to be afraid to walk out in the street. If you have to be afraid to smile at somebody, right? . . . What kind of a way is that to go through this life?"

And thats where its at. Life's too damn brief to be afraid. Its a lot more fun to love people than it is to fear or hate them.
fisheye September 9, 2009, 9:11 am
I remember this quote from a movie (I'm not a religious person). "You're Youngest and Strongest will die by the Sword". That seems to hold truth throughout history. However the Woodstock generation changed the unchangeable. Our youngest and strongest were all involved in the Woodstock generation. Our bravest too. It's easy to stay with the norm in times of distress.
Yes it was definitly the VietNam draft that 'caused the exponential growth of the hippie culture. Youth had no future and even 14 year olds knew that. By the summer of '69 they had taken all the 25, 24, 23, 22, 21 and 20 year olds. They were down to 19 year olds (I was one of them) and eating them up like candy. There was no draft lottery yet. The first one was in December of 69.
Our government knew this and were careful to avoid the draft in the current foreign tours. They have filled the draft need with private mercenary armies who earn 6 figure incomes. During that last president (don't like to even think that name) they picked up the Reagon agenda and began a campaign to erase the Woodstock generation from history. (Pooh poohing them as drugged out do-nothing, know-nothings). There wasn't much we could say. All the soldiers on the foreign tours signed up for it. There was no draft. Even during '69 there was at least half of the young who were all for the draft and the war (As long as it was someone else that got drafted or someone elses children) .Maybe watching the classic "All's Quiet on the Western Front" should be mandatory in schools, at least to counter that recruiting agendas in schools and TV commercials. The government had that terrorist thing going for it, which in my opinion was blown way out of proportion. The idiot was voted in not once but twice. Can you say Control the people? So corporate money has become the voice of the people and the corporations are willing for people to die to achieve their goals. This is apparent in the current health care fiascos. Big money will finally have to be dealt with or the US will fall as a nation.
If our youngest, stongest and bravest take up the Woodstock generation torch, remember that peace and non-violence, now as it was in '69, is the only way to win over the parents and over 30 folks and end the injustices. The orchestrated control of the people of America through fear has placed markers for the downfall of the US, much like Rome. However you will need the numbers of people and you will have to show those numbers somehow to the them and the world.
And finally, as I understand it, The Age of Aquarious begins on December 21st 2012. Thus the lyrics "this is the DAWNING of the Age of Aquarious". Sympathy and understanding. I hope so. The US government needs some.
I am a Hippie forever, but life is for learning, and I am of the opinion that we need a military in Today's world, I am not opposed to a good air strike if necessary, and I sleep a little better with a couple of nuclear armed cruise missiles watching my back. However scared and greedy heads of this country and coporations, exploiting that for their own gain (money, power), I feel, must be stopped. We need to correct those misdeeds much quicker than the current politics and government system allows. I don't think stopping them from getting in power in the first place is possible in today's world.
fisheye September 9, 2009, 10:52 am
Challotte,
I'm glad you were at woodstock and were a part of the gentle people history. I would just like to add to that, you didn't need to go to Woodstock to experience that. All you had to do was go out to any of the neighborhoods or streets or festivals or concerts or love-ins aound 1967 to 1975 or 1980 depending on your location. Everything that happened at Woodstock and what Woodstock stood for was already happening in the neighborhoods all over the country. I think this is important for the young. You don't need a big event to showcase a culture in order to experience it, live and breath the culture's values. You can't have the cart before the horse. The horse (the hippie culture) must be there first before you can experience the cart (The Woodstock festival). What Woodstock did do, was let us know how big and widespread we were, thus re-assuring us and giving us confidence. The parents and Government did not know until then how big we were either. I'm pretty sure Artie Kornfeld and Mike Lang didn't know how big the hippie culture had gotten in the span of just one year where it grew exponentially (while they were busing making Woodstock happen). I personally think the Hog farm for security was the key to the success of Woodstock peace.
sheilalittlewolf September 13, 2009, 12:58 am
Dear Charlotte,
Thanks so much for your comment....I'm an ol' flower child hippie and live in Oregon, too! You wouldn't happen to live in Ashland???? I am SO VERY PROUD to be a part of our generation! Maybe the next generation will take up the causes that we started, and continue to show the world by their actions and words what Peace, Love and Understanding really means .... and who REALLY are their brothers and sisters. As Janis said at Woodstock, "If you have food to share, share it with your brothers and sisters. Who are your brothers and sisters? The ones to the right and left of you......"
strutzos December 1, 2009, 1:18 pm
Matt, Charlotte, and Fisheye:

Please take a look at these links, they have brought clarity to my view of the world and are highly regarded:
http://www.redicecreations.com/mtsarforum/viewtopic.php?t=19
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8545585184878490822#
Lawren January 15, 2014, 7:34 pm
Hi, I really enjoyed your story, and was interested in reading your perspective on your experiences at Woodstock. I know you posted this a couple of years ago, but I'm currently working on an interactive editorial for a senior project at my university and would love it if you would want to contribute by having an interview through email with me about your experiences. If you're interested, please contact me at lawren.hunter@gmail.com. Thank you for your time.

Lawren

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