Congas pounded a bright primitive spirit into the mystic rural night, offering a pure gift of music as Carlos Santana stepped into the light and played his first magical note that took us back to the garden.

Woodstock’s fundamental lesson remains alive and well: live in harmony or conflict and die one day either way. I’ll take Carlos’ beautiful present (better than a commemorative tie-dyed shirt or a selfie sitting cross-legged in the festival field). Finding the way to peace of mind that rejects the darkness of violence is the best souvenir ever.

Ground Zero Carlos called the pure land where we sat Saturday night (listening to the music, as the Doobie Brothers put it) and sharing psychedelic nostalgia of 50 years gone by.

Could we still save the world?

Of course.

Reject the lies, Carlos said. Open up to the light, he said. “Go Santana bananas,” he said.

Just let go.

We can easily destroy the planet and each other as well. Our future can go either way. Saving the children is easier said than done. That’s why we’ve got to act to make life fair and just for everybody.

I didn’t think much about my book Saturday night, but realized at one point that the lessons I wrote into “Blood Red Syrah” encompass many of the same lessons Carlos stressed when he spoke about the meaning of the seminal event he played in Bethel, New York, so very long ago.

 Three days of peace and music half-a-century ago in the midst of a tumultuous time of war, racism and strife lit a beacon that shines today. If you didn’t get it then you probably don’t get it now. In a continuing time of war, racism and strife, if you refuse to contribute to the solution, you remain part of the problem.

Thank you Black Panther Leroy Eldridge Cleaver.

Right on.

Some of us understood then and understand now. You’re either on the bus or you’re off the bus, according to Merry Prankster and all-around counterculture icon Ken Kesey. At 68, count me on the bus, a magic bus loaded with endless potential and unlimited possibility. You’re invited, too. We all can get along. But that takes cooperation and respect, a willingness to share and make peace.

Woodstock was and is about peace. If peace doesn’t appeal to you, we’ll have to save our species and other animals without you. But we won’t stand by and let you kill the vision.

No, that would be cruel.

We’ll just unite under a big sky loaded with love. Come rain or shine, we’ll line up with what’s right. The rain held off Saturday night, by the way. Blessed, instead of war, we made miracles.

Carlos says we had an agenda in 1969.

You know what?

We still do.