I wish i was around in the 60's

i don't think so but how old are you?

 

At times I was back in the 60's but I'm here and now so dang it.
Remember in the 60's hitchhiking was the way to go. One trip I remember, started in Edmonton Alberta, went to Ann Arbor Detroit to see a blues fest. Kept seeing aome of the same hikers on the way. One guy decided to go with me and my buddy and he invited us to stay at his place in Detroit for a few days. Then went to the fest with him and stayed in Ann Arbor with some of his friends.After the 3 day fest my bud and I went to San Fran. Got a ride with a few hippies in a van. Let us drive cause they were tired and when we left them they gave us some mescaline. Nice high. Got another ride all the way to San Fran and they put us up at the place they went to. Then back to Edmonton. Those days people would take you in and give you shelter and food, no paranoia at all. So many good things happened on that trip.
Ah the 60's California Dreaming.

 

I guess it would be pretty rad, for the live performances of people who, sadly, arent here anymore but im thinking i like today alot. Today is a good day, and so is tomarrow and the days to come. Lets have fun today, and like Asmodean said, lets not live in the past. I cant think of anything else better than that(

 

A ride on the bus would be awesome and another movement to go along with, just think of the possibilities of what could be accomplished.

 

I remember my boyfriend (who's black) and I (who's female) talking to a group of people and someone said something to the effect of "wouldn't it be awesome to live in the sixties."

And of course, Walt's first reaction was, "Umm, no."

Yes, the sixties was a "magical" time, especially looking back at it and understanding all the movements that gained so much attention and force back them. I've heard people - hippies - complain about their movement becoming mainstream and while on the one hand I understand that they don't want to be a commodity, on the other hand - well, wasn't that part of the point? To change the world? That does involve an element of becoming mainstream, to an extent. And I for one, as a female, as a while women dating a black man, am very thankful that those movements DID become mainstream. That I can leave the house in pants and no one even stares. That I can have a job and talk about university and not wanting to have children and this is okay. That my boyfriend can go out in public and not risk serious harassment and segregation. These are beautiful, beautiful things that I, for one, would not give up even to see The Beatles, Dylan, The Who, and Ginsberg all preform at the top of their game in one all star show.

There were certain political and social elements at work that made the movements of the sixties powerful, but a lot of that comes from the passion of the counter cultures. People that were NOT the mainstream, that were in fact going against the confining life of their generation and doing so with passion and promise and determination. Yes, there were political and social reasons but at the very core of it, don't we still have these things? Passion, I mean, and promise and determination. These don't vanish every other generation, these are not traits that come and go with the tide. No, these are human and they are still very much so present. It's simply a matter of choice and strength. Because speaking out against the mainstream is hard, but it's not like after the sixties it was banned.

What the sixties did was give us these great waves of social change. We inherited a more beautiful world, but it's our job to hold up these values. If you believe in these things, than why not face the world and say what we've done is not enough, we have more work to do and we will not rest until we have made it so? There are still protests going on today. Trust me, I have stood out there in long lines, dodging under shop covers from the rain, holding up signs, cheering and chanting and marching on the doorsteps of lawmakers. I'm 23 and I have done this. I haven't even seen the other side of the '80s, but I sure as hell have yelled at rallies and stood their silent at vigils and pressed the issues and spoken up. The sixties gave us these gifts, but what good are they if we just shrug and say "well, at least segregation isn't LEGAL anymore" or "really, girls have it good enough" or "since there isn't a draft, I guess it's not worth doing anything..." No, that isn't good enough and if you want people to know that, if you want to bring the causes back to mainstream attention, than you have to be active, not passively dreaming the time away.

Bus trips gets nothing done unless you have a destination.

 

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ya i wish i was around then to.....but the thing is our kids are prolly gonna wish they were around right now....when were kids

 

dont wish, be grateful your alive now.
if things where the same as the 60's life would be lame. its all about change. Though times are pretty iffy now, things will change.

 

In the 60's, blacks in the south rode in the back of the bus and had to use the back door and couldn't eat in a white diner and didn't dare to whistle at white women or look them in the eyes. In the 60's people like the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King were assassinated for trying to do good. In the 60's, kids got sent to Vietnam and died, whether they wanted to go or not. In the 60's kids got shot at Kent State and busted up in hundreds of different riots across the country, for daring to ask that the Vietnam war be stopped. In the 60's we spent a lot of time in jails for daring to be free from all that poison. Today, we take for granted all the ground that we gained in the 60's.

I don't want to go back to the 60's. I would rather remember all the good parts of the 60's and live right here and now, without the bad parts of the 60's.

 

Let's face it. The majority of the people today are lazy.
A couple of years ago, all off a sudden people started protesting the war. Then they just stopped. And now, no one will question Obama. If you do? They label you a right wing fanatic who has been brain washed by Fox News. Bullshit question authority. Question Obama. Obama doesn't get a free pass.

 

I would say that it's not so much a matter of lazy. People are about the same now as they were then, aside from some minor evolution. The real issue, as I see it, is that people are too comfortable. No one is really all that unhappy with their lives. Oh sure, there are radicals today, just as then, but there aren't nearly as many disgruntled followers. You have to piss off a huge number of people to get widespread revolution.

Let government reinstate the draft and you may see a return to the activism of the 60's.

As far as Obama goes, I think we're already seeing the backlash. People are starting to look past the fact that he's the first black US president and they're taking a good look at his performance. This is good. People should be judged on their merits, not their melanin; on their actions, not their oratory; on their hard work, not their heritage.

 

I was born in 1957 and raised in central Illinois. I remember hearing about all this and seeing some of it on television and wished I was able to experience it, especially woodstock. I guess I just didn't know the right people.

 

I waas born in '57 and remember the '60's fondly. wish I could go back and do it again.

 

Yeah, thanks to a lot of what went on in the '60s life is better for a lot of people. The fight for racial equality and the unwillingness to accept government decisions regarding war etc did change the way a lot of people thought but now, in the 21st century, apathy is the name of the game. Nobody gives a fuck about anything as long as their own situation is tolerable, so don't wish you were around in the '60s, make a stand against what you think is unjust now. have your own revolution

 

I don't go for the "Oh, I'm so sad I missed the bus" stuff. If you think that "the bus" had four wheels and an engine and Cassady at the wheel, then you really have missed the bus, even if you actually rode in it.

It wasn't a vehicle or an event. It was and still is a state of mind.

 

Man we just gotta realize that we are in the now and thats how its gonna be. Its our job to have fun and enjoy our lives. Ya, i wish i was a crazy kid in the 60's too. but the reality is im not..but we cant let that stop us
spread the love and live YOUR life

 

you know i was born in 62 so i saw the 60s on tv----later i caught up to some real hippies i was 20m or so they were in there 30s so i got me a real hippie girlfriend when i was 21 she was a cougar 33 and she had real hippie friends i sat around her table lisentening to stories from viet vets--chemists brotherhood of eternal love members manson family family chicks--super big pot dealears--tons---just the total assortment of hippies--i stayed with that chick 4 years mostly for the pot and stories i just dug all her friends they were soo unusual--and he rteal deal--but when i finally split i learned i started having my own scenes anyone could crash at my pad--dealt a shitload of drugs acid shrooms speed this the 80s and i had commune scenes at 3 places in the desert you dont need to have lived in the 60s to have your own hippie scene--music MJ and making love a pad some shrooms and a free open type house youll attrack your own hippie scene small scale for sure but still baddassed which will leave u memories to last a lifetime--im just gomnna tell one hippie story at this point all real hippies hated speed--at least they said they did--speed kills you know theyed say--but i just discovered it so i was doing the shit otta it along with my shrooms acid coke Heroin pills i was a drug addict dealer but LSD was special to my heart so always had some and shrooms were flowing too and pot---now the hippies would always give me grief about my pills and powders --speed all the unnatural drugs---but i just said you gotta do em when you were young so im doing them now im young---blah blah blah yeah but we learned drugs r bad--we lost friends and learned the hard way--we really believed drugs were good then but now we know there bad--whatever im doing my drugs dig it or dont i dont give a fuck--im not a hippy im a biker i drink i fight i do speed and drugs--but i love my psychedelics too--so they put up with me with a bit of head shaking---then strange thing happened hippies would show up at my pad asking for speed but always with --please dont tell anyome im buying speed--im like sure im like a dr you have total security with me i wont tell--so im seling a shitload of speed to hippies and listening to them baddmouth it everytime the subject comes up----so i have an acid guru a hippie still getting liquid and we got along he was impressed at my psychedelic experience and my music knowledge i dug all 60s shit---so i ask him how come all the hippies buy speed from me and badmouth it in public---hes like because it destroyed alot of momentum of the movement and we feel its a big part why we didnt take over the world--ok but im doing it and im not having problems(yet) hes like yeah u have alot of psychedelic experience and are handleing it better than people who just do speed without first all the tripping pl;us your still tripping and smoking so your not just doing speed--yeah but im doing a shitload of speed too---its cool just remember to keep the confidences youve promised cas alot of people will be ostrsized if it bcomes known there still doing speed after all the damage its done to the movement---so i kept the scretes but i always felt he hippies were hypocrite cas im all out front with no shame and no secrets but they hadda hide the unpopular shit from each other---so whatever just start your own scene and realize that alot of shit was hidden--cas peer pressure was strong among the hippies---no point just observations of what i saw of real hippies---they were cool but had kinky sex hbits and secrete drug lives--just so u know----Peace

 

Uh, you wouldn't happen to be doing speed when you wrote that were you?

 

i wish i was in the 60's to,

 

I always felt i was born in the wrong decade. The 60s really ring true to me, and i think i would have enjoyed the positive happenings and the entire vibe the world seemed to be in during the later part of the decade.

I love the randomness, creativity, music scene, personal freedom, protesting aspects, natural living, traveling ...the whole shabang. It would be nice to see this come back in some form and wake up people today. I think most people my age ( late 30s) have absolutely NO CLUE how marvelous and spiritual living life can be. They are far too bogged down in government issues, peer pressures to conform, and lack of better understanding.

Thank you , you 'Old Original Hippies' for helping keep the flame alive with your memories. You are passing the torch to those of use willing to take it up for the future.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER