Becoming a Hippie

Anyone can be a hippie. All you have to do is give a shit.

Care about something other than your money and your social status, and you're almost there. Care about humanity, care about the earth. Care about your body, and the food you put in it. Care about music and art, or care about working with your hands. You are a unique individual, free to think about the things that really matter in this all-too-brief lifetime that has been granted to you. A hippie is simply someone who believes in a better world, and is willing to live a life devoted to bringing it about.

Not a long hair to be seen - 1964, Berkeley, CA

Opinions vary - and experiments are ongoing - as to how best to improve conditions. Some hippies live in the city, and some live in the country. Some hippies eat meat, and some don't. Some are traditional liberal Democrats, and others are so far to the right or left that they wrap right around the scale to where the opposites meet. Some hippies tote guns, and others believe in non-violent conflict resolution. Lots of hippie dudes have long hair, but it isn't required. These details can have profound political implications for hippies, yet there is no general consensus among hippies about any of them. As a result, maybe you can easily spot an obvious hippie, but you can't always identify all of the hippies in a crowd. And when you do find one, you still know nothing about that person's personal beliefs or practices until you talk to them.

But why would anybody want to be a hippie? Isn't it a pejorative term? Hippies are dirty, smelly, lazy drop-outs with unrealistic dreams who do drugs and dance crazy at Grateful Dead concerts. They think it's still the 1960s.

Oh yes, it can be very pejorative and hurtful to call someone a hippie. No one likes to be labelled and stereotyped with abusive invective. But it matters whose mouth it comes out of. Said by one gay man to another, "faggot" can be acceptable, even endearing. The same applies to "nigger" in African American culture. It is a badge of pride to withstand society's cruel words, and more so to re-purpose these words within the ranks of the oppressed. Similarly, hippies like to call each other "hippie." But when people unsympathetic to the cause use the term, it rankles - as it is intended to do.

This is not to suggest that hippies are a genuine oppressed minority group. No one is born a hippie, it's a voluntary choice. But the hippie movement has always joined in the equal rights struggles of oppressed groups of all descriptions. It might be fair to say that hippies made themselves into an oppressed minority, out of sympathy for those who were born that way. The press mocked the early hippies, and the police beat them. Restaurants refused to serve them. To feel society's scorn in this way only made the hippies more resolute to demand civil rights for all.

And it should be clear to anyone with awareness of civil rights issues, that to characterize all hippies as dirty, lazy, unrealistic, and so forth, is to stereotype a human being. It is not funny to strip away someone's dignity and worth like that. I should not have to say that basic hygiene and the work ethic are not incompatible with hippie values. As for realism, nothing gets done without a vision. The future is boundless. We can afford to daydream.

Becoming a hippie is seldom an instant decision. Every hippie that I've met has a different reason for it, and a different story about it. But I think I can identify some common factors: Prolonged exposure to certain types of music, art and literature can often play a role. Personal acquaintance with a hippie can certainly tip the scales, as well. But there has to be a predisposition, a tendency to question society's status quo. For example, if you are the type to read the ingredients on your cereal box and wonder what you are putting in your body; and if you like the Beatles even though they were ancient history, then you have potential as a hippie. Researching your favorite issues will do the rest. Soon you will find yourself at protest rallies and food co-op meetings.

Or not. I'm not here to talk you into it. That's the thing about it. You will have to find your own reasons.

Yours truly, 6th grade, 1971

I consider myself a hippie. My reason is fairly easy to explain. I was just a kid in the 60's, too young to have credentials as one of the original hippies. My father was going to college at the time. So my family knew lots of hippies. I was impressed with their compassion and creativity. And they listened to amazing music. So I started skipping haircuts in the sixth grade.