A lot has happened since the summer of love in 1967. Unfortunately, we can
never go back to those days. There was a certain innocence with which we
entered that year of great change. Today that innocence no longer exists -
especially now that children are afraid of what might happen in their own
schools.
The combination of events that flowed into the summer of '67 are unlikely to
be repeated again. A postwar generation coming of age, draft age kids going
to a new war far away in Asia, the spiritually hollow affluence of the most
powerful nation on earth (worse now), the sudden mass production of a new psychedelic
drug, LSD, the opening up of several million minds to infinite
possibilities, the colorful emergence of a new subculture - hippies, the
words and music of a generation ready for change, the positive attitudes and
vibes and feeling of brotherhood, the growing awareness of eastern
philosophies completely at odds with the American consumerist mentality.
All this, combined with our youthful optimism contributed to a feeling that
we were the future, that we were going to completely change society into a
hippie utopia. Of course we were naive. Naive about our own limitations,
about the power structure of society, about how to organize ourselves. And
then we were all on our own trips, too. The drug scene took many of our
icons. We learned the futility of fighting the system. Those that did
ended up in jail or underground or dead. There never was a cohesive
strategy. Even though it was "them" vs. "us", we could never get "us" to
agree.
However, the lasting impact of the summer of love and the flower people has
been more subtle. The memes (concepts) we promoted spread around the world
and have instilled themselves in the subconscious of the species. These are
reflected in some of the famous sayings of the time:
"Make Love, Not War"
"Peace Now"
"Save the Planet"
"No Nukes!"
and many more.
The point is the collective unconsciousness of our species is still
absorbing and processing this information. It creates a lot of cognitive
dissonance among us. That is, we now "Question Authority" far more often,
we don't believe everything we hear, we think for ourselves, and we have
more of a conscience about what we do.
It is this conscience that seems to have jumped a generation and now appears
in young (neo) hippies. The sad fact is that the world situation really hasn't
changed much. The same power structure exists. The need to respond to the
world situation is as great as ever. In fact this is what has evolved over
the last three decades. The media has shown us that the problems of our
planet are far more serious and long term than those of our neighborhood.
Our consciousness has expanded to where we now worry about people we've
never met in countries we've never been to. This sensitivity is something
new to our species. It belies the "us" and "them" notion with which our
governments like to brainwash us. THERE IS ONLY "US"! THIS IS OUR PLANET!
What we do will determine the future of the human race. If we let hate and
fear rule the world, we are in for a catastrophic millenium. It is YOUR
GENERATION, the new hippies who must spread the word about LOVE and PEACE
and the alternatives open to us. Those who hate and fear see nothing but
hate and fear around them. We must open their eyes as time is running out
for us.
I can see a new movement emerging if we have a single uniting cause. I once
thought the marijuana movement might do it, but the $18 billion being spent
on the war on drugs is hard to counter. I think what might do it is if
there is a draft to fight the war in Kosovo. Then I think this draft age
group of 17-19 year olds will finally open their mouths before being sent to
die in some distant land just to help some aging military industrial
societies save face by destroying another military industrial society ruled
by a megalomanic.
One thing we have on our side now, which didn't exist in the '60s (in it's
present form) is the Internet! Our ability to organize and communicate is
greatly enhanced, and once we coordinate our efforts we can become a truly
effective force in this society. Hippyland is here to help facilitate this
goal, as are many other websites. We await the cause, we await your call.
Peace,
The Old Hippy
