How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?

Posted on November 21 2023

Bob Dylan asked:

And how many years can some people existBefore they're allowed to be free?Yes, and how many times can a man turn his headAnd pretend that he just doesn't see?

It seems we do not know as yet.

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7 Responses

Ian Stevenson says:

November 21 2023 at 9:09 am

I was young in the 60s. It was a time where we thought that most problems could be overcome by a combination of reason, good will and compassion. It was a time of hope.
Many things have been accomplished but in other ways we seem to be going backwards with e.g. increasing poverty in the midst of plenty and a rising danger of Fascism. Galbraith wrote a book ‘Private Affluence and Public Squalor. That is with us again as billionaires build space rockets and other vanity projects while millions struggle with physical and psychological difficulties. My county’s council faces a £100 million deficit with the prospect of further cuts and assest sales.
The ‘answer’ is that those freedoms are never ‘finally’ acquired but have to be sought and fought for in each generation. The issues might differ but the need for good will, compassion and reason remain.
- Richard Murphy says:
  
  November 21 2023 at 9:16 am
  
  Thanks
anrigaut says:

November 21 2023 at 1:46 pm

Thanks Richard for this nostalgic reminder. Not that I ever forgot it. I too was young in 1965 and loved this song when it came out. Knew all the words by heart and sometime played it on my guitar. How very sad that – almost 60 years on – it remains so apt.
- Richard Murphy says:
  
  November 21 2023 at 3:26 pm
  
  🙂
Mark says:

November 22 2023 at 12:47 am

Thank you. I too am a child of the 60’s. I fear this song will still be apt for many years to come.

Optimism appears in short supply these days. Is that generational? Or dependent on your country? Or am I just old?

I still have hope the youth of today will ‘remake their world’ to be better than the one we grew up in.
- Richard Murphy says:
  
  November 22 2023 at 6:35 am
  
  I live with that hope
Sara Lanier says:

November 22 2023 at 8:51 am

A brag and boast claim to reflected fame here. Peter, Paul & Mary were sometime babysitters for me and my siblings back in my Greenwich Village toddler years.
Puff the Magic Dragon