lifestyle – Page 44 – Musings of a Retiring Person

These are apparently the things that defined Hippies:

A person who in the 60s and 70s ……..

Supported peace, not war

Was pro-environment

Was into folk music

Rejected conventional values

Wore loose flowing clothes, cheesecloth shirts, embroidered jeans, beads, headbands

Liked to go barefoot

Was into Communal Living

Was vegetarian

Was into free love

Took hallucogenic drugs like LSD & Marijuana

Now, how many do you need to tick before you qualify? If it’s more than half then I guess I was a Hippie after all! I was never into drugs or free love, not enough of a rebel to leave home and move into a commune. I really wanted to go to Woodstock but didn’t have the nerve though if I’d been living in the USA maybe I would have overcome that.

I grew up going barefoot most of the time so I’m not sure that would have counted if I hadn’t made and proudly worn some of those raffia daisy “sandals” that had no soles. They had plaited strands that went around the big toe, over the top of the foot, that’s were the daisies were, then tied behind the ankle. I loved cheesecloth blouses, crochet waistcoats, tie and dye stuff as well as strands of beads round my wrist. No VW Beetle or Combi for me, sadly I had to make do with a bright yellow Morris Oxford with big daisy stickers on the hubcaps.

Peace will always be a priority for me and so is looking after our environment. My Joan Baez, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger & Creedence Clearwater records are still on the shelf and I’ve listened to the music on tape, CD and now as an MP3 file. I still love the sounds and lyrics. I see myself as quite conventional, I live with my husband, worked in a conservative profession for most of my life, paid off the mortgage and raised 2 children. My biggest struggle now is against consumerism, maybe because the Hippie is still inside me telling me that a simple life is best for us and the world.

Today as part of the Zero to Hero blogging challenge we’ve been asked to link blogs to one or more of these sites. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Path etc but I won’t do it. I’m not a Luddite, I have a Facebook account (but I access it only when my family tell me they have posted a photo for me to look at) and did have a Twitter account 5 years ago.

I don’t like either. I don’t think Facebook encourages good communication, instead I think people usually substitute numerous trivial texts for a meaningful conversation. While people are logging into Facebook they are not actually out doing anything likely to promote real dialogue. For the many people who become hooked on Facebook the only topic they can possibly discuss is what’s been said on Facebook so it goes around in a never ending loop. I have seen the viciousness and harm that can result amongst teenage girls.

Anyone who has been out eating in public recently will have seen groups of people ostensibly “socialising” but how many heads are down looking at a screen rather than at the other faces? Maybe they are actually updating their Facebook page telling all their “friends” they are out to dinner when really they would be just as social sitting at home cuddling their computer, or tablet, or phone!

So, big deal, this has nothing to do with linking my blog. Well yes, to me it does. I’m not looking for heaps of traffic to my blog, I’d be happy to have a few genuine readers who think about my posts. If I’m lucky I’ll get some comments that will make me think some more too.