August 6, 1969…2009…

  No, this is not an unusual nor an historic date…
This was just a pleasant summer evening…which began, in the morning, with the sound and scent of percolating metal coffee pots, on stoves, all over Los Angeles, and North America, for that matter…a day, like any other 60s era day, when, as a child, you awoke with the scents and the sensations of innocence…and a summer, like others, filled with endless possibilities…
Sure, it was hot and steamy in L.A. that day, but the waves were as calm and predictable as the long board you had boys carry for you to the surf, a  dependable a day as the prospects held for the afternoon and beyond…on to an evening of hopes and dreams yet unfulfilled…
That was the life of an upper middle-class North American….
There was no hurt, no sadness, no blood, no pain…
There was no need to fear torn screened windows…
The only concern you had was where the Noxzema creme bottle was to soothe your Malibu beach burn…
There were no knives…
There was no nylon rope…
There were no leather thongs…
There were only black leather high-top boots, bell-bottomed pants and floral princess-high busted tops, worn by woman as innocent of evil as one could get…
That summer…”The” summer…should have remained as oblivious as the summer of ‘68…shouldn’t it?
But it didn’t…and we didn’t…did we?
We didn’t know it at the time but only two days were left…
Until the innocence of our youth was shattered into a thousand indiscernible pieces…ones which we as children of the 60s are still trying to recover…
Two more days…that’s all we had…and we never knew…
No one warned us of what was to come…
We just never knew…
Please don’t blame us, ‘cause we never knew…
We’re so very sorry.