1967

 "Basically, it was the last year before some very bad stuff happened in the country."  

It was 49 years ago this month. My graduating class, containing some of the finest people I have met in my lifetime, just finished going through the graduation ceremony at the former Mielke Field in Robbinsdale. To sit there on the June evening, with about 800 other kids, on this football field which gave us all so much enjoyment while in high school, was a treat. And after this event was over, many of the graduating class would scatter like leaves in the wind.

I know as we age, many tend to become nostalgic. Of that I plead guilty. However, 1967 was truly a golden year. According to many my age who lived through that time, it was the last year of living in "wonderland" before the big change came. It was living in the 60's, before the 60's became toxic. It really was Happy Days without the "Fonz". The world was our oyster, just waiting for us to feast on it. 

I have often said if the essence of that year could have been bottled and saved, it would be worth a mint right now. It was before the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Of Martin Luther King. It was before the 1968 Chicago mayhem during the convention. It was before Woodstock, before the student protests. It was before language became coarse and crude. Basically, it was the last year before some very bad stuff happened in the country.

Four years ago, I penned an article called The End of Innocence. It was for the 45th reunion of my graduating class. That article was about just what this one is - 1967. How it was truly the last year before the change. And as many of us know that are alive today, much of the change which happened late in the 60's and beyond, has not been good.

Some in my graduating class went on to do great things. A couple landed in Hollywood. Many went in the service. Some went to Viet Nam, and sadly, a few did not come home. A couple went to West Point. Some very bright ones dropped out. Yes, some even dropped acid. But the vast majority used the experience of growing up during that wonderful time to do wonderful things with their lives.

Next summer will be a half a century since I graduated. Hard to believe. I guess I am getting old. But I have something more precious than gold right now. I have my memories of a time which will never, ever be repeated. Yes, 1967 was truly the end of innocence. The end of our innocence.