A Journal With Everything

The 70's Era For 70's Merit Badge

I am writing about The 70's Era for a Decade Merit Badge.

The 70's. Woodstock. Love. Peace. The music. Vietnam. Hippies. Incense. I went to high school in the 70's. I wore snake shaded clothes at times with all the accessories. I wore short skirts, leather and I had long hair and looked somewhat like Peggy Lipton. I wore knee high boots. Peace necklaces. Peace signs were in. I later became a hippie for a couple of years after high school. You know what hippies were like. I always wanted to be in the War Protest Groups. I didn't. My father went to Vietnam 3 times. He was a Flight Engineer on Gunships. There were times when I thought Communism wouldn't be so bad. I am glad I changed my mind. I realized why my father was fighting. Peace. I was all about peace and still am. No more communist things for me.

I had a smiley pillow. I liked Lava Lamps and black lights. Nixon was President. Ford. The Vietnam war ended and Dad was coming home but he had to stay 6 months. I was getting ready for the Prom and Miss Indiana Teenager Pageant. No steady boyfriend. Just a guy I met in Arkansas when we lived there while Dad was in the Air Force. Jimmy was going to Notre Dame and I was living back in Indiana.

Vietnam. Other kids heard about Vietnam. It was just a war. Not to me. My father was there, I had to change schools and live with my grandparents and Dad came back and was gone another 2 years. I didn't dwell on it but I knew if they called me into the office, it wouldn't be because I was in trouble. I knew it would be because my father wasn't coming home. Thank God, that didn't happen. He survived Vietnam 3 times. Why did we get involved? WHY DOES THE US DO ANYTHING IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO DO? The United States had provided funding, armaments and training to South Vietnam's partition into the communist North and the democratic south in 1954. Tensions escalated into armed conflict between the two sides. It lasted 10 years. People say it isn't wasn't our war. If we don't get involved, other countries would try to take over the US. Like 911. Where in the H did that come from? Like Pearl Harbor? The United States is always caught in the middle and we have to fight. Vietnam changed my father. We aren't close but we are in a good place as I get older. I am proud of my father but I was Daddy's girl for 10 years until he went to Vietnam. Each time he come back, he changed. He drank. He found God and changed. Vietnam. No war is good but Vietnam leaves me bitter at times but I got through it. It happened. I try not to hold resentment. Dad lived through it and he did his part. I pray for peace for the world right now. I am thinking of buying peace sign necklaces. We do need peace.

I love watching The 70's on TV and That 70's Show. I had fun in the 70's. I loved the music. That kept us going and the movies. The crazy clothes and platform shoes. The 70's were fun. Pet rocks. Mood rings. I think back. I am an old Hippie now. Hippies were peaceful for the most part. I don't think we will ever find the peace we seek. We will in Heaven. Thanks for reading. I was a 70's Child.
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