Customer Reviews

Long Time Gone: Sixties America Then and Now (Viewpoints on American Culture)

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Growing up being picked on by a bully because he was 'smart,' Rigby of Pocatello, Idaho, led an upsetting and sad existence. The Sixties were hard on everyone but, most particularly, the sensitive, bright young students during the turmoil which was forced into their existence. No one could escape the horror. Not only was it devastating emotionally and mentally, but physically as well. Rigby had to endure numerous beatings by a dumb neighbor boy from a wealthy family. Money is not everything in this life. It won't buy you scruples, intelligence or morals. You may inherit the iltellect part from your parents, though it is possible to overcome poverty by appreciating good teachers at school and church. You have have to learn the ethical part of life from church, but watch out for the hypocrites who don't practice what they preach.

Rigby's family were overly religious and placed him in a Catholic school where he clearly did not fit in. Like me, he left home at seventeen to spread his wings and learn about the world outside his small existence. Now is the hour to right wrongs, not keep repeating the same old practices. When you pick on someone you think is not your equal intellectually or in status, you only demean yourself and your parents, who should have taught you some principles. If you haven't learned it by the time you're in your forties, it's almost hopeless to think that you will ever change.

The hymn as sung by Ernie Ford, "Now Is the Hour" refers to your entrance into heaven. If you've been a hellion on earth, don't expect God to forgive and forget your transgressions at the last minute. In San Francisco, Rigby found a whole new world deficient in morality. Needless to say, young Rig had a lot of transition in store to grow into a new being full of hope for his future. It's not my choice for a son to go for his coming-of-age regeneration.

All small towns are not like Pocatello (we lived in a good one at a Methodist college), and no other state is like Idaho. He was lucky to have left behind an unhappy childhood young enough to change for the better into a fulfilled adult. He was very lucky. Some men refuse to grow up and learn that equality and tolerance for others who are different is necessary to get along with others. When their "hour" comes to face St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, they will have to account for how they treated their fellow man or woman. We all reach that reckoning in the end. For some, it's a new beginning.