I stumbled upon this jewel on VH1 last night and was instantly transported back to my childhood and teenage years. If you "missed out" on this particular era, you might want to look back at what was going on in the rest of the world while you turned your head and scoffed at hippies. If you were a part of it....well. It's a must see. Jackson Browne, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Country Joe McDonald, Janis Joplin. If you don't recognize at least one of those names, hurry right along to the next b**g.

Just like when Elvis started swinging those hips around during the fifties, the sixties provided a stellar opportunity for conservative America to say *tsk tsk* and shake their heads in disapproval at the folks who didn't fit into a mold. Scare tactics like "Reefer Madness" did little to stop an entire generation of people from passing the hooter and droppin' a little windowpane for the sake of "art." Except for the ones who chose IV opiates instead, most of them grew up to be law abiding citizens who still like a toke on occasion before they hit the golf course or out to dinner. Sure..it's STILL illegal. But there are other more ominous drugs to be worried about in this day and age.

Back then, it was all about peace and love and hanging out. Good music..psychadelic art and paisley ruled. Granny dresses and glasses, long hair on both sexes, incense and hanging beads. It was about experiencing things, and a heightened awareness of those experiences. Timothy Leary became famous for espousing the benefits of LSD for spirituality. "Take a trip, man!" I tried it a couple of times but didn't like the out-of-control type of feeling that it gave me. Even as a hippie, I was a control freak ;) It was all about chillin' out and feeling the love of a group hug except for an occasional riot when somebody got mistreated.

Today's drug culture focuses on speed and performance as a lifestyle. Cocaine and meth are popular because you can go stronger and longer in pursuit of a good time or working to earn a buck. More is better, whether it's 90 hours at work or 90 hours of partying. This, frankly, disturbs the hell out of me. What happened to peace and love dude? Crack addicts will do anything and I mean ANYTHING for a rock. Same for chicken heads and their bumps. Shoot a kid..rob a grandma...sell the soul and the body. Nothing is sacred but the high. And the bitch of the whole thing is this...it's never the same after that first time. At least that's what I've been told. I'm enough of a scaredy cat to admit that I've never tried either. Too afraid I'd like it. Ditto for heroin.

So many folks, even today, seek to criminalize drug use rather than search for answers to the problems that cause abusive behavior patterns. Things like hopeless living conditions and easily fleeced government assistance programs. Send the DEA out to bust those poor dying souls who need a little THC for nausea and you send this message: "Drugs are bad, umkay?" How about we spend some of those salaries on programs to give some folks a chance to live a different life? I know...I'm such a liberal commie. I'm not talking "entitlement" kinds of things. I'm simply suggesting that the gap be reduced between the haves and the have nots. Nothing breeds abuse like despair and lack of hope. Unfortunately, corporate America offers hefty doses of both.

That is not who I am, as a child of the sixties. My hippie self doesn't wear granny glasses or go barefoot much anymore. She just wants to see something good happen for a change in the land'o'plenty. A little more fun and a bit less hatred and judgemental behavior. A lot less war and a whole bunch more live and let live while helping out a friend or neighbor.

"Who is my neighbor?" they asked of Him.

Peace out, y'all.




"Be your own hero." Peter Coyote