September 19, 2020 – Turning 70 in One Month Yet Feeling Like 16 Still Stuck in Time – But, This Time I Get to Vote

I remember distinctly hearing this song many places many times through several years while in high school, but especially early on.

One hot afternoon when my dad had picked me up from school, I’d stayed in his truck while he went into the local bank to get cash or deposit a check. I was too self absorbed to wonder what he might be having to go through, but going to the bank, nearly daily, for a small businessman like my dad, was an everyday thing back then. It was the way business was done.

There were a lot of things that that was the way “things” were done back then, too many of which still pervade our everyday lives I think, but I was nearing or right at 16, can’t remember now for sure, and the war in Vietnam was full thrust, with many years and several presidential terms by two presidents still to go. John F. Kennedy had already been killed, back when I’d just started junior high. His brother, Bobbie Kennedy not much after that. Then Martin Luther King. And years later, but on a string of events we all knew was horribly there, John Jr died in an airplane “accident.”

The radio in the truck was on full blast, Barry McGuire’s angry anthem balm for my ears, my heart, my fear and my anger.

And in Houston, Texas in the mid 60s, protesting etc was, well, not a good idea. Banks were being threatened with bombs and students on college campuses were being shot. A Hispanic or two were found in Buffalo Bayou.

It was revolutionary times, it was scary times, and I could not yet vote.

Now. Yes. I can. And I will.

As I’ve done every presidential election I could legally vote.

The memory of John F. Kennedy and the promise and actuality of hope, progress, acceptance of our neighbors south of our southern most borders – a desire to help and volunteer, to be fit, not litter – all part of a massive wave of optimism that took multiple assasinations to stunt, was still everywhere. Especially among those of us still “growing up.”

We could not yet vote.

Now. We can.

And will.

And so I’m not too much misunderstood here 😊 though I have very distinct clear preferences of how and for whom to vote, it is, for me, as important, that we all be allowed and able to vote. Regardless of party or political persuasion.

I have a faith that hasn’t died out that, if the people of our country and get to the poles, or vote remotely, and have their vote counted, that power will and has compelled potential elected representatives to – at the least – try to reflect that public’s will.

And I have enough faith in the goodness of people’s hearts, to feel the outcome of that type of democratic election, can and will carry us forward.

Questions about voting eligibility, voter confirmation, voter accessibility in terms of time and places, can all be worked out – IF – the goal is representation of the people’s will.

Obstruction of that process is only due to fear and unclear guidelines of how to enable univerasal voting to occur.

I sure can’t make all that happen, or be corrected. Not by myself.

But I can, and I will – vote 🇺🇸

Thanks everyone!
Adan

*

A much more iconic, ie, with images of the time, video rendition of Barry McGuire’s song is also available on YouTube. I didn’t feature it because, quite frankly, it is brutal. If you choose to link to it to view, just be aware of that. Most of the imagery is historically accurate, for the time, or for times further ahead of the 60s, with only a few digitally embellished commentary style pics. The photos are all commentary of course, but as I mentioned, the majority are also historically accurate of the times and times ahead. And, in my opinion, worth remembering, but very brutal in their total and sometimes individual affect. A “strong” R rating, from me, even if reality based….

Barry McGuire – Eve of Destruction YouTube –
https://youtu.be/fmTDWPd7RgU

*

Yesterday I posted a similar theme, with YouTube video, that evolved to today’s post —
Aging Gracefully During Covid-19 : The Seasons – and Hopefully The Times – Are A Changin’

*

My Related Amazon Affiliate Search Products
https://www.amazon.com/shop/felipeadanlerma

My Related Posts Here On My Blog

My Latest Posts On My Website!

• New Painting Series – Island Land Trail Sunset Vermont 2026 – Gaining Perspective About My Experience of Painting Doing Series of SeriesFebruary 9, 2026
  It’s a welcome surprise to realize how rich one’s life experience can be, even within seemingly single short time frames themselves! I feel this new small study, with its misty soft blues and distant vistas is a nice reflection of that.
• Voter ID – ReVisiting John R. Lewis’ 2021 Voting Rights Proposal That Failed – What’s Different Now – And Why Not Debate it With the Current 2026 Voting Rights – Together?February 3, 2026
  This is a short post I seldom write up. A political post. Understandly so. There’s a lot of the usual “they” don’t want this or that now talk from this or that political party.
• Are We at Our Kent State Moment? – One by One the Women Came and Said, It’s Time 2026 9×12 acrylic on canvas panel – by Adan – @SaatchiArt 😊January 31, 2026
  “I still vividly remember the images on TV 1970 of students my age shot and on the ground during a demonstration against the Vietnam War”
• 1st Cabin Light Finished Painting 2026January 28, 2026
  Saturations of sky and earth roll and rest spin like a first slow dance in junior high – middle school the grandkids laugh and tell me they think I make all this up just to be funny 😊
• 1st Cabin Light Study 2 2025January 24, 2026
  Yes. The new day has begun….
• 1st Cabin Light Study 1 2025January 22, 2026
  I wasn’t sure when to stop but my own waves of self, conscious of the need to rest joined the earth before me, an image shaped by pigments from itself.
• I was born at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius and I’m Very Angry, but….January 19, 2026
  I now see a wonderful opportunity and challenge in creating series of captured memories from my photos, and exploring/mining them for what I both remember, feel, and discover new ❤️

*
Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA) – https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/felipeadan-lerma.html