Born in 1953 I am considered part of the ” hippie ” generation. Long hair,sexual freedom,peace and love. Expanding our minds we called it. Experimentation with new ideas and philosophy. We followed the Beatles and some of us followed Timothy Leary. I say some because I certainly didn’t fall into that description much. I was somewhat of an anti hippie. Partly because my parents wouldn’t let me dress or act that part, and partly because I didn’t want to conform to what the other kids were doing. They were being non-conformists so I was a conformist. To this day I still stand by America, apple pie and my mother. The free love part sounded good though. I found out it wasn’t as free as we thought. But never mind that.We persevered and survived the disco era too. I’m not quite sure what we were thinking during that time frame,must have been some leftovers from Timothy Leary.( Timothy Leary was a Harvard physiologist who advocated the use of LSD ) Yes, we protested Vietnam and the girls burned their bras. We dropped out and turned on. Personally I did neither. I joined the Navy.
Now I look back at those times and just smile. All the things that are most closely related to my generation I didn’t participate in. I didn’t go to Woodstock. Barely even heard of it until after it happened. I didn’t grow my hair long or wear paisley print shirts. No tie dyed tee shirts either. I wasn’t a big fan of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Didn’t own a Volkswagen bus painted with flowers. Didn’t smoke funny weeds or use chemicals for better living. To put it in a sentence, I just wasn’t cool.
It is a strange thing. I lived through all of that as an observer. I was there but just watching. Occasionally a younger person will ask me about those things. It is, after all, history to them. I tell them what I saw. I did not and will not pretend to have done otherwise. I’m not much on phonies. Tell it like it was and let the chips fall. I wouldn’t want to be known as an old hippie. That connotation isn’t a good one in my mind. If pressed, I would have to say I am more of a leftover from the fifties. My parents were not what you would describe as progressive. I inherited that from them. Each generation is defined by their music and social attitudes. My parents generation has aptly been described as ” the greatest generation. ” That is a tough moniker to live up to. It is my thinking they may have over compensated for their own hardships by allowing their children (me included) a little too much freedom. We got labeled as the ” me ” generation. What they will call the current generation history will decide. As of right now I think it is the ” you owe me generation.” Just sayin’.