Opet and the Tales of Heroes

Chapter 6: August 15th, 1969

It was a challenging time for many places around the world. Earth's history had seen its share of human history as it would slowly rise in population. The 20th century was no different. Two devastating World Wars would reshape the world, its politics, and its culture. Suddenly new nations were forged as Europe began to withdraw from its colonized territories. The United Nations was created, and two superpowers grew from the ashes of World War 2. The United States and the Soviet Union would dominate global politics and other nations for the mid half of the 20th century. It became a war between capitalism versus communism that pressure and pull infant nations that were struggling to gain their independence.

In 1955, a war was brewing in a small peninsula controlled portion of the Asian continent. The Vietnam War would be an era where countless soldiers were sent to eliminate the communist threat. It was a dragged-out war of death and destruction. Past and present were at each other's throats. The glory days of the United States in being able to win wars were becoming stagnant. What was thought to be a relatively easy victory turned out to be a savage battle in the great forests and swamps of Vietnam. The United States and allied nations were finding out that Vietnam would not be an easy victory. The Vietcong were hard to defeat. The trees and forests were everywhere. Day after day, the war would drag on as countless body bags would return from Vietnam to be sent back to places such as the United States. The draft would force these men to go to an area that they had little knowledge or desire to go into to stop an enemy that they seemingly had little on. The results were horrific.

The children of the former soldiers of World War 2 were left with little course of action. Some went to Vietnam to fight and return home to nations that were beleaguered after the conflict. Some cursed the soldiers for not winning. Some condemned the government for sending them in. The generation after World War 2 had enough. Racism was at an all-time high, and the desire to see equality and the end of the Vietnam War had grown.

The Peace Movement in the United States was the result of the exhaustion of the war. The generation protested the war and violence. Some wanted to see the war end and bring the soldiers back home. Some wanted to see discrimination come to an end. It was no easy task. The peace movement was overwhelmed by the concepts of the past. Segregation was in many places in the United States. The original system was to ensure that people of different skin color were never allowed in certain areas. Meanwhile, many politicians favored the war, making the desire for peace difficult. People like Martin Luther King Jr., who helped unite the peace movement and anti-segregation, would be assassinated in some hope to prevent the end of segregation. Communism was considered to be a threat, and the collected concept to some individuals was that every resource had to be sacrificed to ensure that it didn't spread. The peace movement often clashed with this past concept.

While the United States was dealing with progressive and past ideals, something interesting happened in 1969. It happened in a little place in Bethel, New York. A dairy farm belonging to Max Yasgur was chosen for one of the more renowned music festivals that the United States had ever seen. Known as the "3 Days of Peace and Music," it would become the location and center hardpoint for the peace movement. And of course, music would be on everybody's menu.

It was not exactly an ideal location to hold such a festival as Woodstock. Rainstorms were coming and going throughout the area. With such a vast open space, it was sure to soak the viewers that would participate there. Questions arose if the concert would be able to hold the facilities to handle such a crowd that was going to come. In reality, nothing could prepare for it. As crowds heard of this concert, so did the desire to see it. Like a magnet, it drew crowds by the thousands. Every walk of life was coming. The beleaguered road couldn't handle the vast amount of cars that were coming. More and more people were coming, and there was nothing that could stop it. As the stage was being set up, the crowds were gathering as tents were being built in masse. Woodstock had come.