Yes, child we will make it.

As a kid in elementary school we would have to go into the hallways, sit on the floor facing the walls with our hands covering our heads. Why? you ask. Because the Russians parked warheads 90 miles off the coast of Florida. This was practice for bombing raids. Things got tense, there was a face off and the warheads went away. Yes, child we will make it.

A few years later while on the playground we were called to our classroom to hear the announcement tat our President had been assassinated in Dallas. I wasn't sure what assassinated meant but it couldn't have been good because they were closing the school. Once again in the midst of trying times abrupt change and grieving. Moving on to a new man in office. Watching the state funeral on our TVs. Saying goodbye and looking for a future. Yes, child we will make it.

Involvement in a war our leaders would let us win. The generation tired of the hypocrisy began to find a voice. Two mantras became the cry of this new generation. Hell No We Won't Go, and Drugs, Sex, and Rock and Roll. The effort to try and control these radicals opened the door for conflict. Turbulence became the norm. Riots in the streets, on the college campuses and at political conventions. Two more leaders dead. One with a dream, the other with a vision both paid a price for being who they were. For dead in Ohio. In the midst of all this term oil we put a man on the moon. We all stopped to take notice. Yes, child we will make it.

Corruption exposed in Washington. First a Vice President left in disgrace. Then a President is forced to resign. Many in his cabinet sent to prison. The withdrawal from Asia and not knowing what to do with those who fought for us, we rejected them and made them feel they were the bad guys instead of the heroes they were. Our walking wounded now among us, the cry for change in Washington gave us weak leadership with grand ideas of how government could fix it all. We got double digit inflation, massive unemployment and deep recession. A housing market that was flat. Layoffs and companies we thought would be here forever toppled and fell. The country went into survival mode. Yes, child we will make it.

I could go on to describe the other changes we have experienced in this country. Some to our detriment and some through accomplishment. The fact is its the people not the government that makes this nation great. We have come through so many things and are still standing. This change we are facing now we will also survive in spite of what we are being told. Each change has come with a price. Let's learn from were we have come from and not give up our freedom for anything. Yes, child we will make it.