Hippy

Last night, two of my best friends & I had a fabulous movie night with Lindsay and two of her friends. It was such a fun, laid back night with a lot of laughter and love. Toward the end of the night, we were all trading stories and somehow got on to the topic of Lindsay and I being judged for our "free spirits". Lindsay's story is not mine to tell, but I will share mine.

I was at a local grocery store picking up a bundle of (organic) bananas. I was wearing a shirt with several peace signs on it and had feather earrings in. A lady walked up behind me, looked me up and down, turned up her nose and muttered "F---ing hippy." I was IN SHOCK. I could not understand how my standing there had caused her enough harm to spew those words. I gathered myself, gave her the biggest, cheesiest smile I could muster, threw both hands into peace signs and said "Peace" before walking to another line. Now here's the point of this story...lately I've been called a hippy a handful of times, and each time it was meant as an insult. I am still trying to wrap my head around this. Now, without stamping a "label" on Lindsay, I will just say that we are very similar in heart and spirit. She, too, has been called "hippy" with a negative connotation. So, after we left her apartment she sent me an email with the definition of "a hippy".

Here's what we think people, who are using is negatively, think hippies are: "The recent term hippy more commonly refers to drugged out dirty teenagers, or later joiners of the movement who just wanted to be cool and did not really care about all the issues. Most 'hippies' will not be offended by the term, because in its originality, it was interchangeable with the term 'flower child'... There tends to be a very misunderstood association of hippies with hard drugs."  <- That right there could not be more wrong.

Here's what we think of as hippies: "The original flower child movement was made of people who promoted love over hate, wanted to end the war, were very intelligent and politically active, were unsatisfied with today's culture and wished to expand their minds and those of the people around them. They tended to be very liberal... They were very concerned with the world around them, not just war, but poverty, women's rights, civil rights, youth's rights, and the preservation of the environment."

Yup. That pretty much describes me to a tea. And you know what? I'm PROUD of my free spirit. I think it makes me a more open-minded, loving person. (And no, I am NOT saying that if you aren't of a hippy mindset that you don't have an open-mind or that you aren't loving.) So, call me a hippy all you want, lady at the grocery store. I'll smile and wish you "Peace" every time.