Sunday, August 17, 2014

The Times They are a-changin'


The Virginian-Pilot Sunday Forum, August 3, 2014.


FIFTY YEARS ago Bob Dylan recorded what for many became the standard for the turbulent ’60s. 

Most of the politicians he sang about are gone now. So are most of the parents. He was right: “The times, they [were] a changin’.”

The young people he sang to have become today’s politicians, parents and grandparents. 

Back then, as teens, we were looking to the future and telling our leaders and parents that if they couldn’t do the same, they should “get out of the way, don’t block up the road.” Today, we’re the ones looking over our shoulder.

And just like our parents and leaders then, we aren’t comfortable in a changing world. I talk to people all the time who say they don’t care anymore. They’ve given up on their leaders, their country and everything in between. They don’t vote because “they’re all crooks.”