Woodstock.  It's hard to believe that 40 years ago this week was when that mother of all rock festivals took place. 

What comes to mind when the festival is mentioned?  If you're answer is "nothing", it's probably because you were there and the memories of it have been erased by the chemicals or hemp that was partaken of there.  Or, perhaps you were too young to have cared anything about Woodstock until a couple of years later, when your interest in music began to take root as you hit your teens.

Woodstock represents different things to different people.  To some, it was a chance to see their favorite artists and bands all in one venue.  To the artists and bands that performed there, it was a chance for tremendous exposure.  To the artists and bands that passed on the invitation to perform, it was an opportunity lost to participate in a historic and career-broadening event.  To still other attendees, Woodstock represented an opportunity to unify with others hopes of spreading the message of "free love", peace and world harmony while partaking of various chemical and "herbal" concoctions.

At the time, the Vietnam War was exploding on our TV screens while we tried to eat our dinner and the Soviet threat looming large in our collective psyche.  As LBJ was wrapping up his presidency, distrust of government was already blossoming.  That paranoia would be validated five years later, represented by another "W" word:  Watergate.  The disdain would be directed at both sides of the political aisle.

Back to Yasgur's Farm.

In my interviews with the movers and shakers of the 60's and 70's, I will often ask them what their view of the future was 40 years ago and if that view actually materialized.  Most of their replies indicate that they didn't think that far ahead or didn't think that they would be around 40 years later.  So, to those folks, Woodstock was the hippie version of "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die."

Woodstock also represented to most people a peaceful rebellion against an establishment personified by politicians, "closed minds" and corporate America and promoted taking care of all the social needs in the country.    This is interesting since the festival was, in fact, a very successful business venture (with the movie and music rights sold to corporations) and many of the people who are identified as part of the "Woodstock Generation" have gone on to enjoy careers in politics and running businesses.

Idealism and Reality make strange bedfellows.

In the pursuit of peace, radicals and revolutionaries formed groups that declared war on "U.S. Imperilism", engaging in such tactics as bombing government buildings and violent protests.  I suppose that this meant that some wars are okay if they're meant to quash aggression, protect one's interest, and establish peace. 

It took me awhile but I finally get it.

In the forty years since Woodstock, violent opposition to various and sundry things are not the tools of choice for domestic civil protests.  Sure, we have the occasionally radical revolutionary who mails bombs or drive nails into trees in hopes of saving the environment.  And, we, from time to time, have the lunatic fringe who perform acts of terrorism by blowing up federal buildings and abortion clinics and assassinate the doctors who work there.  But, for the most part, protests against a war originally supported (but now opposed) are peaceful.    

The Woodstock Generation has additional concerns today.  In addition to still fighting for world peace and environment, they're concerned about their jobs or businesses, the health of their bodies, 401ks, and political careers while wondering how in the world we're going to pay for a spiraling federal deficit.

Idealism and Reality make . . . ah, never mind.