There should be no boundaries in the world. So to be a old hippie should not depend on ur age it should be on ur experience.
I just picked up this thread a full year after it was started. I voted 50 but actually think 40 makes sense for the reasons skip and others mentioned. I read thru all the posts and comments and can encapsulate most of it here with quotes:
Yes, humanity is ageless. Romeo and Juliette as portrayed by Shakespeare were prolly "Hippies" as they rebelled against their cultural upbringing and loved beyond the clan restraints of their time. However, as posted above, we are talking about a moment in time that affected the ppl in it. A 16-year-old wasn't there. It is history and academic to them no matter how involved in the same ideals. You don't know a world without the Internet, or cell phones or color HD TV. You have never lived with the uptight bullshit that the whole culture fed us then rebelled against it in droves. Woodstock Nation cannot be duplicated (they tried - not the same). A few of us on here have a commonality that we shared. Again, read the long post above. Got nothing against teens - my grandson is 17. But his life experience differs appreciably from mine. Oh, BTW when I was the age of my grandson, having a love affair with a person of a different race was against the law in almost half the U.S. We lived in Apartheid here, just like S. Africa. Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder and a perversion. Our gen ignored all of that bullshit and we had the numbers to affect change (not completed yet kids - keep at it).
I'm 62 now...and I care a shit about age.. HIPPIES..whether it was in the roaring 60's.. or now neo HIPPIES..it's ALL between our own 2 ears.. being a hippie is a state of MIND...this thread is useless.. it got nothing to do with age.. my 2 cents maybe..or even my 3 cents..:hat: listen here....I was 18 in 1964.. the middle of the hippie movement..uhuh..what does that mean?? when Hendrix sung hey Joe in 1966..so what?? 1969..Woodstock..it became a cliché.. are you an old hippie??because you were young in the 60's?? I don't think so..hippies...are HIPPIES inside their minds.. not on their identity cards... now...I'm ready for some backfire... I travelled a bit around..and that does NOT make me a hippie at all.. it made me a gypsie inside...that's all.. read my journal..if you have the time.. http://www.hipforums.com/modules/Journal/viewentry.php?journalid=164 have a good day..all of you..feel the positivity in life.. as they said in the 60's...GROOVY..well..well.. old tiger
Thanx for making those points Old Tiger. The whole discussion was about whether to make a forum for OLD Hippies. Neo Hippies, however welcome and desired on this board, are not old and don't share the same history. I thought that was the point of making an exclusive forum and not restricting by age on the board itself. BTW, in 1964 I was 19. I was in the U.S. Air Force and pretty straightlaced. The tune-in, turn-on, drop-out did not occur for me until the late '60s, officially July 4, 1970.
thanks..I see what you mean here..you're right of course.. but HIPPIES..are HIPPIES.. it's about the ideas..not age in my views.. old tiger
Don't know how to go. I'm 46, my yrs. of learning were like '73 learning weed was cool. Music is where it may change some. I tripped from The Dead , David Peel 2the lower east side. Remember "Heavey Metal" ? Kiss and the likes of. And the Disco ! I'm not even gonna think any longer about that mess. I myself thought I was hippie/stoner.Still have the hair (though a little thinner on top). I came from a small (Hilltown) alot of small farms.Mixed with THOSE HIPPIES as the old timers called us. Everyone smoke weed. I had permission when I was 12. My parents had this idea that if they let me and my freinds did it at home , I would'nt get in trouble. I'm rambleing, I guess my thought is during that time line there is a differance.
I voted age 50. While i respect all ages as hippies, but one reason i want to be part of the "old hippies" forum is to talk to those who had similar experiences to what I did. Someone to relate to.
The average age of travelers to the Haight in '67 was 20. They'd be 61 today. I was there in '67 and was 20.
My first choice was 45, but 40 appears to be the definitive age, so I'm going with the flow. Those born during the Baby Boomer Generation (1946 - 1964) definitely qualify as Old Hippies.
Funny thing! I just thought exactly the same thing about the Baby Boomer generation the other day. It is interesting, that this generation difference exists even in my country, which is Russia. No link with the Western world, one would think? Yet, the post war baby boom must have been there at even greater scale, since it was Russia who lost some estimated 20 mln human lives in the war. Be it as it was, this demonstrates to me, that humankind CANNOT be artificially divided into entities; it still remains one human family, where the moods and thoughts are freely shared in spite of the borders and other fences. So when I read in Wikipedia quite recently about who them Baby Boomers were (pardon me my ignorance, by they don't use the term in Russia), it just hit me about the visible border formed by the frame of mind and spirit of those born before and including 1964. Me myself, being born 1966 deem myself as being on the edge of another generation, yet still reminiscent of the years gone by. So! I agree with the age limit of 40.
If you think that being a hippie has an age limit, I feel you don't really know what it's like to be a hippie. Plain and simple, it is not an age, but a state of mind. You don't have to have dreads or not shower to be a hippie. It is how you view life and others. It is very much a state of mind (and not just an altered state either). I consider myself a hippie. I love people, humanity, good and I am against evil and opression. Just a few things of so many to list.
Y'know, I was always thinkin' that 40 was too young to be in the Hippie movement of the '60s and '70s, but then it occured to me that out in the country at a commune, we were all lying around smoking and this little 3-year-old kid would dutifully carry the roach clip around to her daddy, mommy and all the stoner brothers and sisters that made up her family. So, gotta include her as a Hippie. She would be about 43 now.
I vote 50 - Yes its a state of mind, but there was also a beginning, and very real events that caused very real results > that started this "state of mind" I would think that those of us who witnessed history 1st hand, the rallies, that horrible war, the civil rights battles, would have real memories that made up and influenced our state of mind for years to come - Some of us older folks did pay with our blood,sweat.and tears. and many with our lives. The younger generation> and thank god they are carrying the torch, trying to learn from us and are picking up where we left off - make me feel that much of our efforts were not in vain :cheers2: :hat: JJack OK- I went back and read some other thoughts, that was very uncool of me to just put down my opinion ,without 1st getting the opinion of others I still think you should have been at least in HighSchool before the 60,s ended- - But my opinion and a buck and a 1/2 will get you a lite and sweet to go at Dunkin Donuts
