The Last Great American Boycott

There really is something good about being 60. You have lived in the best of times and the worst of times. Well, maybe the Greatest Generation has a better claim to that claim but they are almost gone.

My bunch was that "60's crowd." The Beatles. I was more of a Beach Boy fan. The marches on Selma and Birmingham. The sit-ins. Kent State. The Draft. The anti-war protest marches. Let's face it, our group was a very busy group.

And things changed.

Music changed to music that is still hard to top. Dirty lyrics? Well I listened to Louie-Louie slowed down with a bunch of fraternity brothers to really figure out what the lyrics were. Yes, they did say that.

The war ended. The Greatest Generation sent their sons off to a bad war and let them lose. It stained a generation. And I am not even trying to tie that observation to agent orange.

The protests that started in the deep South changed America. Universities opened up. Klans shut down. Racist goverment fell. Racial leaders rose. A failed president relalized he had failed and stepped away from power. Protests brought the Viet Nam war to an end and made "baby killers" a spitting image of America. How awful to have been a boy sent to war because he got drafted and come home to that.

Not much got by in the 60's without a fight of some sort. The Great Society came into being. Civil rights laws got passed. People got kicked out.

It's a good thing Exon-Mobile didn't have to face a boycott in the 1960's. They would have been in deep do-do. Signs. Honking horns. Riot cops and barricades. Fire hosesed crowds. (I got washed down by Engine 1 just because we were threatening a panty raid at a UNL female dorm.)

So, if you are going to pull into an Exon-Mobile station and buy gas after May 1, turn your radio to some 50's music or some of that sameo 70's Bee Gee junk because you have no business listening to 60's music if you can't join a good boycott.

Just fill up your SUV, your half-gallon jug of watered down Diet Coke, and whimp out. We will never see 60's courage-to-change again.

So put your Blackberry down. Unhook your mouth from you cell phone. Pull your I-Pod ear buds out of your ears. Think about your country for a minute. Think about the people who are getting hurt. Then, think about Exon Mobile. Isn't that enough to buy your gas anywhere but there?

If not, then you know why we have...the leaders we have and the America we have.