My hippie beleifs came into question some time back. i wondered the use of bouncing stoned, eventually trip induced, idealistic nonsense off of me and my 3 cohorts minds on a daily basis, broke, avoiding parental discovery of these daily habits, ignoring high school for the most part. seeing as im pretty bright, my bullshit in school was the next kids hard work, so i got through it regardless of the ignorance. but one day late junior year i lost it, i lost the long hair, the jam band tee's, the berks, the hemp, and i picked up, sue me, some trendier styles. nto without success mind you. i felt as if i was missing out on the "best years" of my life, and i got some of my old friends back. we proceeded to get drunk every weekend, introduced me to a broader (by this i mean rap ... ) spectrum of music. i had a blast, i got laid for the first, second, then countless time, i developed a love of alcohol that is with me today, and made some of the best friends i have today. of my original 3 cohorts, one my "brother", my best friend got hung up with battling his parents over drug use, got grounded for most of high school, i love him, he really is like my brother. another cohort is an ex-dopehead, doing regular joe stuff to forget about the other side, and the last is a jesus freak now, again, to forget the other side. today, i am pretty normal i guess. i dont turn heads with crazy hip clothes and hair, thats not important. i also dont spend boatloads of money at stupid stores like american eagle anymore either. im pretty normal i guess. i never lost the music however, i love it. the music, classic rock, folk, psychedelia, some newer indie stuff, i looooove it all. i like alot of different kinds of music, but hippie music is different. its nostalgiac, and i love it. i am getting away from materialism, i am sorry for the year of my life i spent sporting abercrombie shit. im getting back on track folks, i have an idea of whats real now. i never got off the bus, but i was awful close. i would like to say that i will never question being on the bus, ever again. i love being hip, real, interesting, and interested. i love being on the bus, and i basically have two words to say about all of it. fuck america. i hate it. i hate tv, i hate the internet (pretty reduntant huh?), regardless of my use of the internet at this current moment, it is ruining society. i hate globalization, it was never meant to be like this. i hate society, i hate how every single person is pretty neat on a 1-1 basis, but people as a whole are so stupid i can't wrap my mind around it. i hate cars, i hate name brands, i hate wendy's, mcdonalds, wal-mart, i fucking hate rap music. i dont understand the benefit of listening to some fucking asshole say "im hot cuz im fly u aint cuz u not" what the fuck what happened to music. rock today is no better, jsut one nickleback after one three doors down song trying to sound deep, or its some little sissy whining about breaking up with his girlfriend, how the hell is that moron ever going to deal with someone dying in his family. because he's nto really whining about breaking up with his girlfriend, he's giving the listeners exactly what the want, something to cry to while he sits back in his mansion counting benjamin franklin faces. Today's youth recognizes bob dylan, the dead, floyd, zeppelin, as staples of marijuana culture. they do not listen to or even appreciate the real reasons why these men are legends, they simply know that if they have a poster or a shirt of one of these kinds of bands, the rarer the better, then they in fact, are a stoner. this shit is ridiculous, society is going to fucking hell. by the time my generation rules the country, everyone is going to be forced to where a flat brimmed fitted baseball cap, that dont even have THE FUCKING TEAM COLORS ON IT. its so stupid, i feel like i am in the wrong time. any other time in history would have been nice, shit i woulda liked to have been a peasant in charlemagnes france, just so i could have lived a real human life, not happened to live on this fucking man made structure some people call a country. excuse the disillusioned babble, but i would jsut ilke to know if anyone else is as fed up with todays bullshit as i am, or has come close to throwing their hip beleifs out to succomb to america. these realizations led me to become a little bit hip again, yet i do not order every dead or hendrix tee i can anymore, it seems to me just an alternative to abercrombie and fitch, a replacement style. there is no need for style (not to say that i completely disregard how i look, everyone, save tibetan monks, care a little bit about what hte y look like. so all in all, i want out and cant wait till somethin changes or i get my wish. please feedback, idk i would like to hear other people rant on the status quo, it feels good to vent. i feel strangly accomplished lol.
that was rather thought provoking and on the whole i would have to agree. i too came close to killing all the things i really believe in. that was back in grade 8 and 9. before high school, i was quite the little hippie and had been my whole life. i was so focussed and clear on my values despite being so young and i had no problem telling others all about it lol. i didnt try to be like anyone else, hippie or not. i guess by the time i got to high school, i was tired of being picked on and having to stand up for myself everyday. i started dressing like everyone else i knew and name brands became a big deal lol. i also became really quiet about what was important to me and eventually forgot that those things even were important. that continued until about a year ago. my boyfriend of 1 1/2 years didnt really know me, which became apperant when i randomly grew up. over a few months i totaly woke up and started thinking about what actually mattered to me. and i realized that it wasnt brand names, styles, how tv told me to be, or what other people thought. what mattered to me was to be true to myself and live my life in a concious way that is respectful of the earth. i also came to peace with the fact that im not a social person and would rather be independant in most things. this whole revelation included many other little realizations and it was like i stopped being a kid, or a confused young teen and became a woman. i was soo happy. this soon led to me breaking up with my boyfriend and the new found freedom suits my state of mind very nicely. i cant stand this toxic fucking society i seem to be stuck in. theres sooo much thats so deeply wrong about it that i cant stand it sometimes. i too long for a real life. at least i dont let stupid pop "culture" inluence me anymore. someday soon i will have my own big isolated piece of land and i can farm and raise a family and actually live. i think im long overdue for a week or so in the woods. that would be nice.
I never questioned my lifestyle, I just did what felt right to me. Never wore brand names, I occasionally listen to rap, and I really don't care for labels. I'm myself, even in diff phases of my life, and it's all good to me.
I used to question myself and attempt to find that "definition", but by trying to satisfy a personification, I realized eveentually, I just quit trying and started actually being. To personify is to disembody, and therefore, idolize. To idolize the way you want to be is to stay below it, and always aspire to it, but you can never get there this way, because you yourself can never embody a place where your ideal self lies; they are different entities. so quit looking, and you will find! Such is the Way.
i became a hippie because i questioned my other material obsessed lifestyle. havent bought anything in three months now.
I don't know where you got the impression that the teen years are the "best years of your life." Being a teenager sucks. You start figuring things out as you get older, and life gets a lot easier.
Hey Jonas It is so good to read your posting. I agree with what you have to say about society and music etc. It is good to hear it from a young person. I get annoyed with a lot of the glib, inane, rude etc. posts that come from a lot of folks your age. Going against the flow is a hard choice. Expect flak from the majority. But take faith that you have many brothers and sisters who support you. Your comment about individuals being more receptive than the herd is so true. The path you are treading is one I believe to be true. I think deep down most folk know that but lack the insight or the courage to live it. A suggestion. Try and loose the anger. Although it is natural to be angry with the insanity it does not serve you or the situation. I find when I express my views from a place of confusion and frustration I am able to break down barriers and defenses. Anger harms ourselves and alienates others. I thank you for starting this important and intelligent thread.
wanderin blues, i too broke up with a long term girlfriend when i woke up and started seeiing my life in a different way near the end of senior year. strange how that can happen. symple you dont know how much that means man i really appreciate hearing from someone who's been around a while. i really appreciate the input ill try to let things flow a little more haha forget the anger
I realized years ago that I'm going to be me, and that's it, fuck all preconceived notions, labels, and cookie cutter sociological patterns, I am my own individual, my own conscience, I refuse to privy to the profane ideology of being another sheep. I too am very fed up with society, in all ways. I am ashamed at the apathy and ignorance displayed by the average mentality of the masses, I am outraged at my government for a host of reasons, I am angry at the plutocrats that bombard every aspect of life with some sort of commercialized version of reality. Sadly I have also come to the conclusion that I cannot abide by the ethos of such a society, it is despicable. I will live out my days as closely to Thoreau as necessity permits. Great posts everyone.
Jonas, you are living what is called adolescence. In your teens you are supposed to "try on" identities to weed out what isn't you. and discover what can be you. hate is the easy separator: rather than recreating, it is easier to walk away, to escape on the trekker road and not be part of the coming evolution. I'll retire away from the states. It's a conscious decision to BE somewhere else rather than ESCAPE where I am. I love America in a warped way: the wildness of ideas that get into political discourse, the brave pocket of protesters i see in a nearby 'burb every week, holding signs that all have the same question, worded exactly the same,the music scene, Rainbow Gatherings, culture jammers, surfers, bus drivers who pontificate on amateur drivers, street corner buskers and concert performance painters... the list is long. Only America could have spawned the Grateful Dead, and truly it's economic position post world war II is the only nation that could have spawned and exposed the post Beatnik counterculture. Only America could have given us Ed Abbey, for only her desert wilds could inspire him the way that Utah did. America is not the corporations, or even the questionable administration. America is a landscape maze and a population of people that given the chance truly change the world.
