Dear Editor:

I am very concerned about the direction of our country and have never been ashamed or afraid to express this concern.

In 1970, this article appeared in The Gaffney Ledger. I cut it out and saved it. The paper has aged and has turned yellow.

Over the years, I have thought about the article and referred to it in many conversations with family and friends.

Now 39 years later we are in another war, in a different place(s) and these same concerns and worse still exist.

I suggest that if we continue to “sleep” maybe, just maybe, we will not have the freedom to read an article such as this in another 39 years or less.
Respectfully:
John Fowlkes
Gaffney, S.C.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Following in its entirety is the article to which Mr. Fowlkes referred. It first appeared in this newspaper in May of 1970.)

Sleep on, silent American. Turn your ears away from the dissonant clamor of the mob in the street, the thunder of the artillery shell in a Cambodian jungle, the wail of a starving child. Sleep on, silent American. If the six-thirty newscast shocks your sensibilities too much, or if tomorrow’s headlines frighten you, or if the cover of LIFE makes you sick to your stomach, just don’t look.

Sleep on, silent American. Don’t worry about the hundreds of thousands of student protesters who are commandeering administration buildings and bombing banks and exalting false gods like Bobby Seals.

Sleep on, silent American. Say nothing, think nothing, do nothing — and the problems of this nation may vanish away. Sleep on, silent American. Preach the gospel of peace and tell your next door neighbor as he reclines on his patio that the President should end that nasty war in Vietnam Nam and withdraw 100,000 more troops this month, but don’t give any thought to those last 50,000 men who’ll be left in Vietnam Nam to be mercilessly slaughtered.

Sleep on, silent American. Do not concern yourself with the problems of the cities. Ignorance and disease and poverty are part of life itself. Even Christ himself said, “The poor, you shall have with you always.”

Sleep on, silent American. Don’t pay any attention to all you read and hear about pollution and destruction of our natural resources. It’s all just a scare tactic though of by politicians to push their own programs through Congress. (They told us cigarettes would kill us, too, but we’re all still here.) Don’t worry about the pollution of our air or the pollution of our minds.

Sleep on, silent American. Don’t be intimidated by our children, either. Tell your toddler to go to his room and play with his toys, but not to bother you. Your eight-year-old has books and games and a color TV in his room. It’s not necessary for you to go into his room to hear his prayers. Let him entertain himself.

Sleep on, silent American. Tell your teenager to go have himself a good time. Throw him the car keys and give him a ten-dollar bill. But don’t ask him where he’s going. That would be a violation of his privacy and infringement on his rights. Don’t even question his judgment. Always take part in a confrontation with the high school principal or the highway patrolman. Never ask for an explanation of how he spends his spare time or who he runs around with or why he stayed out all night. Don’t ever roll up his shirt sleeves to see if the skin on his forearms is free of puncture marks. Don’t look to see what he’s reading. Never ask him who his heroes are. Don’t require him to work and earn his money. You remember the lean times when you were a boy, and you’re going to make sure that your own child never has to do without anything. Protect him from responsibility and hard work and don’t force him to make decisions for himself.

Sleep on, silent American. Do not bestir yourself to the polls on election day. Politics is a rotten mess anyway, and you’re better off to stay out of it. Don’t tire yourself out with any serious thing. Just listen to the opinions of others and emulate them. Never be seen with your hand over your heart and resist that nagging urge to put up an American flag on your front lawn. Continue to applaud nudity in the theatre and pornography and filth on the newsstands. This is the new morality, haven’t you heard? Stand idly by and watch our system of justice made a mockery. Watch the Supreme Court of our land degenerate into a handful of bitter, bungling old men who command neither respect nor dignity, yet who still have the authority to tie the hands of our law enforcement agencies.

Sleep on, silent American. Go to the golf course on Sunday morning. You’ve worked hard all week and deserve a little time off to relax and enjoy yourself. Of course, on your way to the greens you might drop the kids off at Sunday School and give them a quarter to drop into the collection plate. Let peace and tranquility be the quintessence of your summer day. Lie back in the hammock of complacency and inhale the amnesia of indifference.

Sleep on, silent American. You have everything to lose.