An open letter to young hippies

Yeah the decriminalization thing is pretty cool. In SF it has been a $100 fine for less than and ounce for a while now. If you have your Medical Marijuana Card a half a pound is considered "Personal Use."

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

this should be a sticky, "read first if youre going to ask if youre a hippy"
youre right, its all about progression and wanting to live in a different time than your own is regressive and counter productive. most people that proclaim they wish they were born in the 60s know nothing of the things youve spoken about. they just wanted to eat acid buy a paisley shirt and go to a dead concert.
well said sir!

 

Very well said.
Very insightful rev.
+ rep for you.

I do not wish to live in the 60's.
I have a neighbor and she lived through the sixties and shes 72 now. She is always telling me things about when she was young and the stories and stuff... and it is stuff that i would not want to live through.
I am grateful that i am here and i am here now....

 

Unfortunately this open letter won't stop those kinds of threads of reappearing. Everything you said is also somewhere in those threads as well

 

I know and it's amazing that none of the young ones will challenge me. I have yet to have one of them post or write a message to me that says "Fuck You Rev you're wrong." If I only reach one young hippie every time I do this than my job is done.

From now on I may just post a link to this thread every time I read one of those threads.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

fuck you rev. youre wrong. the 60s were about the drugs and the good vibes, man.

 

I know I'm just such a killjoy. Just call me "Captain Buzzkill".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVsf5Rr_jA"]YouTube - family guy buzz killington

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

Well, I'm not sure that the absence of people challenging the points made in this thread means they don't wish to live in the 60's anymore. When I myself realized I the present day is as least as groovy as the 60's I didn't find that decade less attractive. I guess teenagers just dig ALL the extremes of that era. True, you could get behind bars for smoking pot but there were also less restrictions in other ways (for example, try to organize a festival like Woodstock again). Things we now have accepted as normal were new back then and I guess todays kids that lean towards the hippie culture wish they could experience exactly that. I agree with most of your points though, and I also like to keep pointing out every now and then in those threads that they are romanticizing that era and view it through the images of the media of those days but I doubt it will change their mind. Just like in my case it's the real experience of this time that will make them loose the wish to live in another. I just hope for everyone who thinks the present is less groovy as the past they will get in the right place/mindset and discover that the world has the same joy to offer.

 

Well i think this is a great thread and i am young.
They are just too scary to admit they are wrong to you and challenge you.

 

haha:groupwave:

 

Hopefully they're just smart enough to understand and agree

 

I hear you but you forgot a few things.
Unlike the 60s, the cops are armed to the teeth. Better armed than the military in Irak.
We have cameras being shoved up our asses. And anyone that pushes fights for an issue, any issue, risks being called an extremist and sent to prisons like Guantanamo. Even here in Canada, our people can be sent to Guantanamo.

Never before has big brother been so powerful. Given that, I think a little bit of "wishing to be back in the 60s" is a normal thing. I hate to sound like the voice of defeat. But at least in the 60s you stood a better chance of being able to make the world a better place.

 

^^Funny, I work with the disabled. Every day I help make the world a better place for them. One of the people I work with is in an after school program in an inner city youth program. So I work with children and help make their world a better place. Up until 1970 they had a tendency to hide the disabled from public view. In 1970 the Independent Living movement started up to give the disabled more rights to control the quality of their lives. Not rot away in hospitals. In California right now they are trying to weaken In Home Support Services the government agency that is in charge of getting attendants for the disabled so they can stay out of hospitals and nursing homes.

Right now the going rate for an attendant is slightly higher than minimum wage. The state of California while trying to cut the budget wants to drop the wages for attendants by $3 an hour. Also during the budget shortfall the state decided to spend 9 million dollars to stamp out fraud and background check all attendants getting paid from IHSS. They have background checked about 300,000 attendants and only found 9 that were ineligible to work.

Anyway getting back on track. My job that helps to make the world a better place didn't exist in the 60s. It barely exists now.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

If anything, that is even more incentive for our current generation to start an underground counterculture. I'm going to start a local newspaper with political articles that lean towards what would be labeled revolutionary and extreme by the government in an attempt to get people a little more fired up about the fact that the government is slowly taking over our lives. What are you doing to change the world?

rev how did you get into that line of work? I've applied to work at a center for the disabled here but with budget cuts they never really hire anyone new.

 

While I do agree with almost everything that was said speaking just for myself when I wish i were back in the 60's it is because the world was slower and people were more innocent and kind to each other or it seems that way to me. I want to go back to find somewhere I belong where life is not always rushing... I don't think the way people think now... But this is the time I have been given and I am making the most of it and it is a beautiful time to be young. I have to believe that if we all work together and care for each other not just ourselves we can create a loving healthy society I believe it is possible but no single person can do it.... that is my two cents...

 

never mind

 

I sort of stumbled into it. I was looking for work and my fiancee worked at a Center for Independent Living and she told me to talk to somebody at an organisation that did stuff like that.

But outside of that you can go on Craigslist under Medical jobs, sometimes individuals will post under Domestic work. There is usually something in the gigs section. Some people advertise in your local paper. Also if you live near a College campus go to their Disabled Student Services Office and tell them you are interested in being an attendant.

I also learned in that line of work not to worry about lack of experience. There are alot of disabled people who would rather work with a newbie because then they can teach their attendant to do things the way they want them done. Different people that have different diseases and different injuries have different ways to be moved etc.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

Have you seen "Easy Rider" yet? I mean the whole thing. Not just the footage of Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda riding down the Highway. Not to give too much away but they get harassed by rednecks in a cafe while getting breakfast. Then Jack Nicholson gets beaten to death in his sleep. So much for people being kinder. There have always been rude, aggressive assholes and there always will be. It seems to me that there are more opportunities to help people now than there were back then. You just have to find the opportunities.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

I just wanted to add that even though the cops are armed to the teeth and there are cameras everywhere. The cameras everywhere make the heavily armed cops less of a threat. If you are being watched so are they. Granted that I live about 4 blocks away from the fourth most dangerous city in America and they are laying off police officers. Dude if you get robbed don't call me.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

Also, I can really relate to the idea that life was slower in those days (only thing that I think really makes sense in that post cause people were indeed no more innocent and kind at all, this is happily from all times) but that's not something only to be found in american's 60's. In fact, I think life/the world was even slower in the 1920's. But yeah, this haste that is kinda forced upon everyone in todays society is annoying. It can be avoided though.