Chapter 8 of 8 - WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?
- 16 years ago
We came to San Francisco to change the world. We came to Haight-Ashbury to recapture the spirit of the sixties. We didn't do either.
Undoubtedly, there will be those who criticize what we tried to do and how we did it. I can see the comments now. So be it. We weren't perfect, nor did we try to be. But what I hope people will get is that there are people out there who are trying.
And so the inevitable question is: What can we do now? That answer, we ourselves didn't even see coming. This past winter, while we three were busy getting back to our own lives, the young people of this incredible nation showed in mind-blowing numbers that we CAN change the world. You guys have voted in record numbers, numbers that have startled almost every politician and political pundit in this country. And they're scared, because they know that the more informed and active you are, the less and less they can stop freedom from ringing. So the answer is simple, VOTE, then make sure those people that you voted into office are held accountable for their actions.
This was the story of our journey, but I firmly believe that if you look hard enough you'll find many other stories from many other young people from this past year, each unique in their own right. We just happened to put our story on tape. And while they might not have traveled to San Francisco to find the hippie spirit, they might have traveled to Iowa to campaign for Obama, or joined Teach For America in one of America's many inner cities, or they might have done something as simple as voting for the first time.
So even though the change we sought didn't come into fruition, we know that something extraordinary is happening in America right now, something worth paying attention to.
Undoubtedly, there will be those who criticize what we tried to do and how we did it. I can see the comments now. So be it. We weren't perfect, nor did we try to be. But what I hope people will get is that there are people out there who are trying.
And so the inevitable question is: What can we do now? That answer, we ourselves didn't even see coming. This past winter, while we three were busy getting back to our own lives, the young people of this incredible nation showed in mind-blowing numbers that we CAN change the world. You guys have voted in record numbers, numbers that have startled almost every politician and political pundit in this country. And they're scared, because they know that the more informed and active you are, the less and less they can stop freedom from ringing. So the answer is simple, VOTE, then make sure those people that you voted into office are held accountable for their actions.
This was the story of our journey, but I firmly believe that if you look hard enough you'll find many other stories from many other young people from this past year, each unique in their own right. We just happened to put our story on tape. And while they might not have traveled to San Francisco to find the hippie spirit, they might have traveled to Iowa to campaign for Obama, or joined Teach For America in one of America's many inner cities, or they might have done something as simple as voting for the first time.
So even though the change we sought didn't come into fruition, we know that something extraordinary is happening in America right now, something worth paying attention to.