Peace Blues

~ oneletterup

This post inspired by Becky’s Blue July Squares

 

Back in “The Day” – my teenage years – I covered my bedroom wall with posters. Of all shapes and sizes. Random subject matter. Raggedy Ann & Andy. Laurel & Hardy. Don Quixote plodding along under an orange moon. Psychedelic quotes. “LifeIsAGas” swirled in green and pink was one. “WarIsNotHealthyForChildren…” was another.

However, one poster was just a simple black square…with a green peace sign filling the space. No text.

A small symbol of protest.

Along with peace necklaces. Buttons. Pins. Rings. Denim patches. To end the war we saw raging on the evening news. A war which continued until I was in college…and heard shouts down the hall of my dormitory one night…The War Is Over!! The War Is Over!!

In our youth and naïveté, perhaps my friends and I somehow believed these small symbols made a difference.

Several years ago, I noticed this pin for sale at a local novelty store. The kind of place that sells off color bumper stickers, fart joke books and notepads with the F word in their titles.

It gave me pause.

Way past time to start my collection again.

peace button
Button For Sale
2017

 

Published by oneletterup

23 thoughts on “Peace Blues”

  1. Wonderful thoughts, our world needs that good idea so deeply. My parents apparently kept the violence of the wars off the TV when I was in the room, don’t remember seeing much of it until later years.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Most welcome! 🙂 I think when I recall the slogans and art during the Viet Nam Era, what comes to mind first is the large rifle with a daisy sticking out of the barrel like a vase… Although I didn’t lose anyone personally in the war, the colossal sense of loss lingers in my soul. A generation of youth, gone–a high cost for so little, it seems to me. Tears well up just writing this…sorry.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Yes I remember that rifle and flower too. I think it was at a demonstration. The loss horrific. And the fear of being drafted hung over my male friends. Still sad to think of. No need to apologize.

        Like

      3. And the scars linger from horrors which play on and on. Yes, fear of the Draft–I’d nearly forgotten that. I don’t think we can pay sufficient honor to the vets and their families. I tend to watch every new documentary that airs on TV–most recently there was one focused on continuing searches by MIA families to find their loved ones’ remains; and also the groups that have formed in which the adult children of vets can meet and bond with each other–an undreamed family of war’s griefs. I do get lost in this topic, can’t let it go. Thanks much for letting me spill over. God bless you!

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Truly it is–and for so many years no one wanted to discuss it. Maybe it’s an ache I don’t fully want to get over…sounds like there’s a poem in there somewhere 🙂 Thanks for “chatting” with me–BEST to you ❤

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Pingback: We soared in July | The life of B

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