I was born in the wrong age.

Wouldn't it be a drag to have lived in the sixties in the middle of nowhere and find out afterwarths that you have missed all the memorable stuff?
It happened to lots of people of course.
I did an interview with my neighbour for college last year about living in the 60's, wanted to go into all the iconic stuff (protests, happenings, hippies) only to hear she lived in the countryside and did hear some things about it on the radio and via the newspapers but had no clue about what it was exactly at the time, hehe. Kinda took an interesting turn on my assignment

 

That would be different! I grew up on the country side and was kind of unaware of what was going on around me until I heard about it later... when your so far away from civilization you do miss out on a lot, but at the same time you also see a lot of things that no one else has. Its a give and take sorta thing and some people prefer to be in the middle of madness and some prefer to stand on the sidelines and observe. I think I like the best of both worlds.. so much offered from both ends I just couldnt choose!

 

Well, guess I need to input this thread since I was around in the day. I have already discussed this with a young wanna-be hippie and the sad fact is you can do all the rituals but the times they have a changed.

Sorta like the Society for Creative Anachronism, who live the Middle Ages of knights and chivalry. I enjoy going to the faires but no matter how much they recreate and live the era, they are still in the 21st century not the 12th.

The '60s and '70s wasn't just about the music and the Hippie lifestyle, it was about the history and perspective of a huge surge of young ppl (post World War II baby boom). Young ppl are normally rebellious against the establishment and all of a sudden we outnumbered the establishment. We were all coming of age and rebelling against the repression of the '50s and an unnecessary war that we young men were being forced to fight in.

Those are dynamics that ppl today are not living under. Well, there is still repression to fight - gays are still being discriminated against, but not the overt repression that happened in the '50s.

Also, it was brought up that not everyone had the typical Hippie experience due to location. I missed the whole civil rights years because I was in the US Air Force from right out of HS in '63 to 1967. Then I was a security guard and cop for a couple years so my whole alt lifestyle didn't start until 1969/70.

And, it took place in New Orleans, a great place to be different without too much hassle.

I understand the feeling of being born in the wrong era but unfortunately it can't be artificially reconstructed. You can enjoy the trappings and the cultural touchstones, but it was a part of history and just like the Middle Ages no longer exists.

 

There were things that were great about those times and things that sucked about those times just as there are now, and the arguements about collpasing western civilization can go either way. The radical spiritual and political views of the 60s generation appears to wax and wanes in time as well. Luckily we have just experienced a resurgence of symapthetic powers instead of its oppsite for the earlier 3/4 of this rogue decade.

I think the appeal of the 60s counterculture is fairly universal, though there always does seem something unique about the time period, maybe Im being subjective. Too late, they will now and always be Mythic Times for the rest of recorded history.

There are things I wish I could have experienced then that I do not see happening quite the same way now, and as a child of the 60s generation I have issues that cut both ways over the matter, but Im happy Im alive and adult right now at this time, we have things now the 60s didnt have, and I see the 60s spirit resurging again now as well.

"Hippy is an establishment label for a profound, invisible, underground, evolutionary process. For every visible hippy, barefoot, beflowered, beaded, there are a thousand invisible members of the turned-on underground. Persons whose lives are tuned in to their inner vision, who are dropping out of the TV comedy of American Life."
~Timothy Leary

 

Hey, there's nothing wrong with being born in '93. I was born in '88, and I live like I want to live. You've misunderstood something about life if you think you can just move somewhere and things will be perfect. You can make good of your situation. Listen to good music, go to shows and festivals, live simply.. it doesn't matter if everyone around you is doing the same, actually, it makes you more of an original. Be proud for when you were born-- we can make a difference and stir up a storm, just like the old hippies did... and we have the internet!!

 

I feel ya, man
I was born in 1990-I'm 30 years younger than I feel I should be by now...

 

Don't wish your life away. At 19 you have maybe 70 to 80 very good years ahead of you. Please enjoy the "now" it is the only thing we have. As one that was there I can tell you the sixties sucked. It sucks today too. But for different reasons. And for some of the same reason. Like war for instants. <(^o^)>

 

geographical cures only work if your mind is there. because wherever you are there you are. I moved out of my comfort zone Florida as too many people are there now and the vibe is dead nothing but gangsta wanna bees and road rage. But people where I am now can be very snobby and in your bussiness so I live in the hipness of my mind and try to live without affecting them and keep to myself mostly. nowadays people seem to want to get into others lives in a regulatory way dictating thier ideals on those around them so their ducks are in a row like everyone they know. good luck and stay true to yourself Peace

 

^I like this.^

I sometimes think that maybe us younger kids who sometimes feel that we were born in the wrong year and have a fascination with this older time have (if you're one for reincarnation) already lived through it and this is a sort of way to connect back to the past life and to inspire, to reignite a flame of sorts to change the world now as everyone did back then... The only reason it hasn't happened yet is because we haven't found our way yet or it just isn't quite the right time yet. Like, it'll happen when it's ready to and meant to happen.

Or something like that.
Not that I wholly believe it, but... I guess it's fun to think about.

 

Seems strange, many of the young and the old want to go back to the 60s and the 70s. I lived in those times and contrary to some of those commenting above, I would love to go back. Of course, each person had his own experience. Since I was in high school in the late 60s and did not get a draft call, that made a big difference. For those whose numbers were called, it was not good. For me, the music, the turmoil, the change, the hair, the politics....everything was just awesome....very exciting....very exhilirating. It was a fasincating time to be alive. Every summer we traveled to rock festivals, people festivals, concerts, it was just a huge party for YEARS....and the music was great. In the early days it started with folk and rock and blues. And then there was folk rock and blues rock and rock and then psychodelic rock with synthesizers with Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer and on and on and on....just awesome stuff during that great trasformation period. Now we have gangsta rap and drive-bys and all that shit. Yes, there was violence in our time but it just didn't seem so gratuitous and the gangs were not so prevalent. Do I wish I could back? Hell Yes.

 

Me and my friends travel to rock festivals every summer as well. Gangsta rap and drive-by's are not the only thing of today of course. There are awesome festivals every summer all over the world with great music. The music may have changed in general but the atmosphere at such festivals haven't.

 

I used to get mad and say that i was born in the wrong time period, but after much thought i have changed my mind.

The reason the 60s happened was because the young people were unhappy with how the world was run.

Now we are the young that are unhappy, it's our time to make our own movement.

fellow hippies are all around us, but its much more underground now.

But hey look at all us young people on this forum, we're still here we just gotta make our own "60's" happen.

and hey we have 2012 to look forward to =P

 

You're right, if you feel you can indentify with the hippies back then wishing you lived in the sixties is exactly the opposite thing to do. Be in the now and make the change you would like to see here. Sounds cliché perhaps but man, it's just that simple. I wouldn't focus too hard on a new movement or 2012 though