In 1968. Soviet forces had invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the reform movement known as the Prague Spring. The continued presence of Soviet troops helped the communist hard-liners, who were joined by Husák, to defeat Dubček and the reformers.
Working as a counselor at a resident camp, was for me, moments in time for which, to this day, time stands still, and I can still hear the echoes of our camp song, as we watched the light of each summer’s night reaching its end! Lots of stories, the trials, and tribulations of recent high school graduates along with college-aged colleagues working in a summer place, remote, removed, reeling in romances, and adding skills to life’s journeys leaving imprints as personal as the fingerprints from which we all are born.
It was 1968, she was a few years older than me, and way more of a HIPPY, than I could ever be, but she had freedom of purpose, an adventure I wish belonged to my personality. Janet wanted world peace, like and love, and would never take NO, as any form of an answer; and when NO was provided as an answer, she pretended NO ONE ever said it! Janet and I were a thing, one of the couples at camp, who throughout the summer breezes, the isolated confines of a few acres of woods and forests, discovered the kind of passion innocence, promotes, and in which youth becomes invigorated. To live at a Resident Camp for 8 weeks is to find a paradise and remain aloof, alive, and alone, TOGETHER. In 1968 news of perhaps a beginning of an escalation toward a third world war loomed in the headlines of the real world, from which we were sheltered, but eventually seeped into our hidden environment. People in Czechoslovakia were being murdered just because they preferred DEMOCRACY, over AUTOCRACY. Janet could hardly restrain herself from hearing of this injustice and decided she needed to leave camp and do something to help the Czech’s and to let FREEDOM RING.
Janet remained at camp and when it was time to sing the song WILL I SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER, she flew to New York and took a volunteer gig with Amnesty International, and landed in Prague. I received a postcard from Janet…It read: “When we ignore NOW and replace it with the word TOMORROW, nothing will be left to accomplish or conquer; instead, WE will just regret never taking action.” Wake up AMERICANS, right before our eyes, the rug, the furniture, and actually, our entire house is BEING PULLED OUT FROM UNDERNEATH US. What are WE waiting for!
