My parents were against the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War and, at least once, attended a anti-war rally. I say at least once confidently because I went with. My guess is the rally was in either late 1968 or early 1969, but not completely sure. [I don’t remember if my sister came with; at this time my brother was not yet born.]
I remember sitting on Dad’s shoulders – a favorite of all children – and heard everyone chanting:: what, I have no idea nor really understood. I decided to join in, so I started chanting with the masses, likely a combination of childish grunts and random syllables that my child’s ears discerned. Very likely nothing intelligible but I was excited to participate!
And then I realized I’d been caught: Mom was looking up at me with, what I now understand, a parent’s smile because your child is doing something cute. I felt I was in trouble so I stopped, briefly until her attention was elsewhere, and then joined again with others chanting. She “caught” me again, and received another amused/bemused smile from her that I didn’t understand. So I stopped.
Image Credit
“Anti-Vietnam War Demonstration” by majunznk is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
