I was born in the WRONG decade.

Yep. Thanks. I live in one of the most liberal states; New York. But I live in Farmingdale, a small suburb in Long Island filled with Christian-conservatives. My family is very liberal, but that's it. It's hard finding other teens like me around here. Though, my best friend is very hippie-like...

 

Take a look at the world around you....we live in very tumultuous times. I believe that the 60's hippie movement paved the way for folks like us. The things which caused the flower children to revolt against society are still going on...nearly 40 years later. It's crunch time. Planet Earth, our fellow humans, and fellow living beings need help now more than ever!

 

totally agree with you

 

I know exactly how you feel. I'm actually the same age as you and feel trapped amongst the people I know in my life, simply because I have different ideas to them.
I wish I had been alive in the sixties. :S

 

In the 60's, you still would have been living amongst conservative Christian people, but many, many more of them. Your grandparents were way more conservative than your parents are, of that you can be sure. Back then, your option would have been to run away to a place where you could be taken in to live with people who think more like you. Lots of younger kids ran off to San Fran or Boulder or a dozen other places where hippies congregated and sort of took care of each other. Of course, you could also have come to great harm in the attempt.

It takes a great deal of dissatisfaction with your life to uproot yourself and face the uncertainty of hitchhiking across the country by yourself at 15. Yes, it was exciting, but it was also fraught with anxiety about the unknown. For instance, if you had money, you could be robbed. If you didn't have money, you didn't know when or where your next meal was coming from. Was the guy picking you up safe, or a nutjob? Would he take you to the police, as a runaway? Will you find a safe place to sleep at night? Fortunately for the majority of us, the outcome was mostly pretty good, but for some, it was disasterous.

It's fairly easy to watch documentaries about the 60's, or movies like Woodstock, and feel like it was a great time to live - but you have to remember - it wasn't all good, or most of those kids would have stayed where they were.

 

I was around back then and I enjoyed a taste of the hippie movement, but there were negatives associated with living in those times as well. I wish I could travel back in time and attend Woodstock and Monterey, walk around the Haight before it got overcrowded, riot in Chicago in '68, etc., but to actually go back to those days to live?

If they could time travel, I think a lot of these young folk who yearn for those days would have a great time at first but would soon have trouble adjusting. No cell phones, computers or video games and only 3 TV channels. Plus, rampant racism, the cold war, the Vietnam war draft and scant job opportunities for women. And of course, any guy with long hair being called a faggot.

The late 60s were a good time to be an idealist, but those ideals gradually faded as cold hard reality set in. The spirit never died however, and is still around today. Go seek it out rather than dwell on the past.

 

and they died......!

 

man, i am in your exact possision.... same age and every thing, well born the same year... this is an old ass thread lol but just think... at least your not 50+ now k, i guess thats not really the bright side but whatever.... i wish i was born 1949. i could listen to 50s music, we'd be out of the depression then, then i'd be old enough to enjoy the 60s.... and maybe have a kid that i could name freedom, or wind song lol

 

Hi, feeling the exact same..Let's keep the spirit alive!

 

Sometimes, I watch documentaries and specials on the Summer of Love, and I seriously get jealous.

It's unfortunate how judgmental our society is, that I can't walk around in my true hip form without getting dirty looks or whatnot. It shouldn't be about that. It should be about that one love, yknow?

I don't mean to be negative, but I'm just not diggin the attitude of our generation. (people 18, 19, etc.) I want to be able to smoke my herb, not wear shoes, decked out in my tiedye, ydig?

Peace and Love, folks.

Dreamer

 

It may surprise you to know that the original hippies went through the exact same thing.
When you watch documentaries on the Summer Of Love, you must keep in mind that most every hippie you see came from a place where there were hundreds of kids who thought that he or she was a pariah. The only difference is, they (we) reveled in our difference. Every dirty look was a personal triumph, because it meant that we were recognized for being Not One Of Them.

 

wow, i think i just found my soul mate,
lol, jk.
i understand 110% how you feel.
people call me baby freak because im so young.
i also feel people get bored when i talk about my music (the doors, the beatles , janis, zeppelin etc.)
like they would rather talk about lady gaga or some shit.

ive also been told i was proboly a hippie back in the day?
lol.

 

Janis Joplin had a terrible time in school and trying to get along in her hometown. All of her peers there thought she was a joke.

It's like Led Zepplin sez, "Your time is gonna come."
One day, they'll look up from flippin' burgers and you could walk in all hollywood, with your feather boa and your entourage, hippie'n it up all over town, with the cameras all around. Those boys will wipe the sweat off their brow and pick their jaws up off the counter. You'll say, "why, Tom, Dick, and Harry... I remember you. You haven't changed a bit!" And you'll flip that boa over your shoulder with a little carefree giggle and walk on out the door.

Yeah, that's how it's gonna be.

 

I would rather belong to a cynical generation that at least has the capacity to pursue a more genuine, individual type of freedom, than one that feels it necessary to follow a singular cultural movement en masse.

 

Belong to what you wish, if you're into belonging to something, but I'm pretty sure no one finds any of this "necessary." We're all simply practicing what feels right.

If cynicism gives you the illusion of greater "genuine individual freedom", then enjoy it for all it's worth.

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view from the top is the same for everyone.

 

I agree. It's about doing what feels good and right for you. It's not about following the crowd, it's about going with the flow.

If it's not fun why do it?

 

i was born in 62---mised the novemont but still dealt with hippies----older brothers of my friends------in 80 had ny own scene with Lsd mushrooms and mescaline not to mention PCP-coloumbian Hawaiian gold Ouhakan Thai stickc-opiated and bud---plus older hippies who schooled me on the movement---hippies are a state of mind i had scenes with sex drugs and rock-----forget about age just remmber the ideas start a scene and the 60s are alive noe-----Peace pot and microdot----congrats on continueing the movement witch will never end as long as one person has the balls to continue promoting the ideals--good vibes to the NEO_HIPPIES

 

The word belonging was only used to indicate the fact that I was "born" to this generation, and I suspect that you knew that, but I could be wrong.

Again, I only used cynicism to describe the current state of my generation, and I suspect you knew that as well, but I could be wrong. If I ascribe any value to cynicism, it's that cynics may just believe in the value of all individuals pursuing an ideal of their own.

If anything, my post was in the spirit of your mountain analogy, which I have heard before.

You don't need everybody else to trample a singular path up the mountain (a.k.a. the flower-child generation) in order to go that way yourself.

In other words, if the OP was to pursue the "hippie" way of life now, it would probably be far more genuine.

 

So.... you are only a cynic in as much as you were born into your generation. You use the word cynical to describe them and you value that cynicism because cynics believe in "the value of all individuals pursuing an ideal of their own." But, the cynics are free to pursue a "more genuine, individual type of freedom."

You'll forgive me for saying so, but this just sounds like a rehashing of the same old, "my generation is the one that's matters, all others are irrelevant."

You're not unique, you're just part of a different group, and I suspect you knew that, but I could be wrong.

 

Yeah, I can see already that discussing anything with you is going to be a useless exercise.