Wanted to share this with the day crowd:

[Mythsaje]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1605569&mesg_id=1605569

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Great read!

Wow, you were really lucky in many ways--I've never been to CA, so I missed out on a lot. I'm of your parent's generation. There are still hippies out there-kind and willing to share--there are pockets of them here and there. I didn't discover them until I was older than you are now, though I have shared their values since I was young. It saddens me that people use the term as an epithet, when to me it is a compliment. But then the general "I've got mine, screw you" attitude, which is without empathy and without honor, has always puzzled me.

[Mythsaje]

2. It grates my nerves when I hear twenty-somethings

who've never even KNOWN a hippie talking trash about them. And HERE, of all places.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. My step-son found out about them

when his father, my husband, was talking to him one day. They had been estranged for several years, until stepson got out from under the influence of his mother. Anyway, he called, and told his dad warily, "I hang out with pagans." My husband replied, "Pagans are good people." I think our accepting attitude towards his life choices made said step son welcome us to his home--where we were a hit with his pagan friends! Apparently ss is following in his father's footsteps-a great mechanic who hangs out with the love and peace crowd.

[Mythsaje]

7. The founder of our local pagan community

is an unabashed hippie. She's retired now. Currently my wife is running the show as Chair of the Board of Directors. There's a considerable amount of cross-pollenization. LOL

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. As there is with some of the Sufi organizations here

Samuel L. Lewis, first American Sufi master, was in the hospital in San Francisco recovering from a heart attack in the mid 60s when he said that God came to him and said, "Sam, I make you spiritual leader of the hippies." Sam, who was in his seventies at the time, said, "What can I do with hippies?" He said God replied, "Teach them to dance." And the Dances of Universal Peace came. They are now practiced around the world.... http://www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org

We love to Dance Pagan dances, btw!

[Suich]

3. Very nice, Mythsaje!

Thank you!

:)

[liberalmuse]

4. That was beautiful and brought tears to my eyes.

I rarely read anything as poignant as that. I was born maybe 10 years too late to be a hippy, but I remember them with fondness, with the brightly painted flower power VW's and bare feet, selling carnations for a quarter on street corners. I also remember signs posted on store doors, 'No shirt, no shoes, no service'. The legalistic will always rear their ugly heads.

We kids didn't know what it meant, but we used to stand on the street and flash the peace sign to cars, because we thought all the honking this illicited was cool. Most of my babysitters were hippies.

I get upset, too, when people disparage the hippies. To me, they're like fairies or angels--a benevolent, mythical creature that existed (or may not have existed) long ago. The peace and love movement was squelched by the same type of people who are in power today. I always wonder what the world would be like if the hippie's dreams had come true.

[knowbody0]

5. sweet

[lonestarnot]

8. Nice.

:applause:

[DeSwiss]

9. Beautiful recollections... n/t