Saturday, August 2, 2008

The First Moment of...The Sixties

Joseph Duffy, a veteran of the VietNam War, husband and father and health care worker shares a story from his youth featuring his recollection of an historical turning point in our nation's history.

The First Moment of...The Sixties
By: Joseph Duffy
© 2008 by Joseph Duffy.

I was sure when The Fifties would come to an end. They would end on December 31, 1959, at the stroke of midnight. I was a young boy of eleven at that moment, and my twin brother Jim and I were helping my Mom baby-sit for my sister Betty, who lived across tiny Agate Street from us. It was a big deal, as the decade would be changing, something I had never experienced, as I was too young the last time this happened. I couldn’t wait to see what it felt like; the end of The Fifties!

Midnight came, and Jim and I ran up and down Agate Street banging pots and pans together to celebrate the new decade. I awoke the next morning, looked out my window, and...nothing was changed. I was a bit surprised. Life just went on as if nothing had happened. I began to suspect that “decades” were not real; they were an invention, and that one was just like every other. Is that all there is to a decade? Banging Pots and Pans?

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

check for run on sentences, but a very interesting peices.

Anonymous said...

use more discriptions and talk about yourself specifically when you describe emotions. Tell us how you feel not how everyone feels. I love your story! Just a little tweeking, but it's great.

Anonymous said...

Joe: I was there in that room with you, and I remember it as if it were yesterday. I will remember forever the look of dispair and disbelief on Mr.Pianka's face.
Elmer Kuber
you can google or facebook me. I am the only one with this name..

Lynne Spigelmire Viti said...

I'm also a chld of the 1950's who came of age inthe late 'Sixties...and I also write memoir essays about that era, and the 'Seventies,on my blog. I enjoyed this, and particuarly liked the opening...countdown to 1960...great image.