Comments... Bill's Note: As you will see below, people are offering very personal and candid comments. I have made only minimal effort to clean up errors in the comments, as they say something about the writers (and this medium). From letters like these, I am convinced that the very purpose of writing Lilac's Book has already been achieved. Send YOUR OWN comments Hi Bill! Found your site through the Rainbow Family links. I'm a sister from Minnesota. I love Lilac's Book!!! I hope that someday I will experience the difficult but amazing journey of parenthood and that the brother who assists me will be as focused in love on his baby as you seem to be. I wanted to download it, but it's so good I really can't bring myself to do it without paying you something. Is a hard copy available? GodsPeaceBlessings&MuchLove to you and your family, Natalie HI! I'm Roland Gartner. I'm 16 years old and I live in austria. My english is very bad. Sorry. I'm very interesting in beeing a hippie. I read your book called:"Lilac's book". It's faszinating. I also saw the photos which you made of you your wife and your daughter. Lilac is very nice and sweet. I just want to tell you how interesting your book is. I also tried to live like a hippie. But I think it's very hard. Please write back. Peace and Love, Roland and then a follow-up to my reply...You know that I'm 16 years old. And you also know that this is the age when a youth want to go his way. The hippy philosophy faszinated me since heard some songs about the sixtees. In this songs I heard about the freedom, peace and love. Freedom, peace and love have become seldom today. Just watch the news on the TV! Everywhere: hate, war, etc. I like the art of the hippies, the poetry, just ... all things about the hippie movement. I'm a believing christ. I want to spread love. Jesus, did it too. But, Jesus spread love which anybody other can do. I just read "The way of the hippy" by Skip Stone. In this moment I know: I want to become a hippy. Peace and Love, Roland. dear bill, thank you for writing such beautiful things, i know they must come directly from ur heart, and i express a lot of love for u and ur family! i myself am only 16, and love all that God has given us..the 60's are the time i wish to experience, if only for a little while, i believe there is a little hippie in all of us, and ur site has helped me discover a lot of mine and love ...life! thank you, jonny I saw your writings on hippy.com, and I felt like I could ask you thisguestion I have. I have heard people tell so many times, that there aren't no hippies anymore. That true hippies lived in the 60's. So, what are all we childs who feel peace, love and harmony in our minds? I believe that there are flowerchilds all over the world also nowadays. People, who really believes in love, who wants to change things with the power of love, not with violence, who doesn't judge people based on how do they look like... Isn't it sad, if there can't be hippies in this world anymore? Who says there can't? If there's no more hippies, is there still the hippie ideology with us? If it is, I think it would be only a happy thing to call all flower people hippies. Because i's not so important what do you call yourself. More important is, what you really think and feel. I hope you understood what I tried to say, because my english isn't the best... Peace, Elisa and her second message...
I want to thank you so much for writing back. Your words really helped me to make some sense of my toughts. I started to cry after i readed your letter. But only because I felt some wonderful happines and will to be free. Something like that. Now I'll try to discover what's really going on in my mind, what I feel in my heart... Once again, thank you very much for your letter! With all these happy thoughts, Elisa Hello again! I wrote to you last summer asking this thing about hippies and other people's attutude on them. I get wonderful answers from you. Now I have this another guestion, and I hope you're not bothered if I ask it from you. This is gonna be a long story with grammatical mistakes (which may make it hard to understand, I guess). Hope you'll understand! I'm thinking about my life, my future. I study in high school. Okay, my school work really isn't the best, and I'm not sure if I'll ever do final exams (I'm not sure what they're supposed to be called)from high school. Because of my lame succes in studies, someone could say that my dream of my life is what it is because I don't work hard enough. If I'd do, then of course I could get a good job, get money, get rich, have a "good" life from a material point of view. But that's not what I want. I don't give much respect to money and succes. Of course one can cause lots of good by using money, for example helping poor people. But how many really gives all he can to help others? Money causes more problems than good. And that may be because people are often very greed. So, if people all around the world could trust each other and feel being safe (which could come true if peace would spread all over the world and people would love each other), no one wouldn't have the need to gather lots of material. One couldn't buy anyone with money, one couldn't be able to rule others if he would have more money than others. Money wouldn't mean anything. The more I think about that and listen how people around me dream of good life with lots of money, power and succes, the more sad I feel. And at the same time I release, that I'm dependent on money. And if I'm not gonna graduate from high school, do I have a future? This is difficult, because I'm not sure what I want from my life. Maybe I would like to live with people who enjoys the beauty of nature and wants to protect it. Who wouldn't be greed and all that stuff people usually are when they get paniced when it comes to it who's gonna get the best situation in life. If we really need money to be able to live, then I want money as little as possible. It won't ever be an god in my life. I'm stuck. Is there really anything I could reach for? I could travel around the world looking for soul sisters and brothers. Without money, does it work? I could move to London with my friend, as we planned to. Without high school diploma, can I get a job to get the money that I need to pay the rent? One thing I have decided. I'm not gonna get as hysteric as people are nowadays. I won't build false gods of money, as well I won't adore anyone else's idols. Teatchers are preaching about how important it is to go to university and jet a good job (and of course gather as lots of money as possible). In school I'm not good student because I can't math very good. Instead of that I'm really good and talented in arts, philosophy and psyghology. I get the best grade of philosophy exam in our class. Who sees that? No one. In the end, it looks like the only thing that matters is that how much you have potential to grow as a real business woman or man. Where is this world going to? And not so big and not so importand guestion is, where am I going to. Now, when I read this letter again, I see I missed the lead idea somewhere. Hope you didn't go insane while reading this! But really, I think that these thoughts makes some sense. Or am I just a child from a safe country who hasn't seen real hunger, who hasn't feel real pain and who doesn't know what she's talking about. Peace, Elisa from Finland I just read 'bout "who is a hippy" and all 'bout being free, and I just wanted to say thanks. I've been lost for awhile and reading those 3 columns have made all the difference and yeah. thank you. peace. Dear Bill To being, let me introduce myself, my name is Natacha Coombes-Leaure and I am a native Mauritian. I don't know if the latter rings a bell, but my country is a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean called Mauritius. I moved to London 3 years ago to pursue a degree in Communications and am graduating next Spring. I have been looking for a hippy community in London for a while now and am afraid to state that my efforts have brought me nothing. To this effect, I was wondering if you knew of any group that lives in London at the moment with whom I get in touch with? I have recently checked out your website for the 100th time and got to grips with writing to you. The fact is, I constantly feel as if I was born at the wrong time-wrong country and wrong era. It disturbs me to see that ideologies are slowly disappearing and that what remains of the hippies is slowly becoming a memory as less and less people associate themselves to values, beliefs and counter-culture. In this respect, your answer to my question would be most appreciated and I am awaiting you response eagerly, Take care Love Natacha Dear mr. orton, Hey my name is karen, i read your column called "following one's heart" and i found it very insightful. Lately i've been having trouble finding what i want to do with my life... only being a junior in high school. When i read it something struck me, like what i was reading made so much sense to me but i don't know why. i can't explain why i felt that i needed to write to you so bad, but i know i need to. you know so much, and you seem to know a lot about the things that i've been struggling to gain knowledge on. Who am I? What am i supposed to do with my life and how do i know that it's a good option for me? If you can give me any more information about your beliefs or your point of view i would be very grateful. Thanks!! sincerely, Karen Patrick Hello, I must start by saying that your words speak very true. It is so good to see that someone else does see and feel that way. I was proved to that a feew years back when some so called hippy friends stopped talkin to me because I got a good job and had to dress accordingly. I do realize that they are good though. one day I hope they to will see this. I would love for you to visit my site. the only I ask for you to veiwis the first being my pet page, and second is the page on me at the bottam. you will see the link. My page ,pet-dead-joplin If the link did not work , the URL is www.geocities.com/ourlilzooI sincerly hope you visit and enjoy. I am only 22 , so it makes me feel great to see that there are people who see this also. Peace Love and Good Karma, Jeff I realize that every being is entitled to their own beliefs, but I wish to express my opinion on your attachment section. First and foremost, love is a form of atachment, and why would you want to miss own on such a wonderful gift. The gift to love, and to be loved back is amazing. Second, just as breathing is a part of life as well is suffering. Suffering is an emotion that leads only to happiness. Once you have suffered, you begin to progress to a state of realization. Nothing in life can be looked down upon, for even the bad is good. Your ARE entitled to your own point of view, and I will not lie that I am contradicting you, but please consider what I have mentioned. Love and happiness, April Hi, My name is Jessica, I'm 20... I read through your web page.. found it very interesting. I am sorta struggling right now ... dicovering myself in a different way... My most happiest times were a year ago when I was "free". I seemed to have gotten new friends after that,and was a bit mislead(what i call it) by society. Now i know my own beliefs.. my opinions. But as far as my friends go, they have no idea how i feel about certain things... they dont know that one of my favorite places to be is in the woods or sitting around a campfire. they are friends of mine that have conforemed to society.. now i am stuck between 2 identities. This is really a hard thing to go through(finding yourself)... i really need advice.. because my friends are going to end up thinking i am "crazy". I feel like a lost soul. I sorta came out to them and told them how i am and that i really am a "hippy" inside. And they looked at me like i had 6 heads. I want to follow my beliefs... but it's like God is taking me on this journey that i am not strong enough to handle.. as far as losing my friends.. that's the hardest part... i'm not a homosexual, but i'm sure if anything feels like "coming out of the closet" it would be this. Please write back with advice. Jessica hey, how's it goin? i stumbled apon u're column from a link on some other site concerning music. anyways, i enjoyed your column on "what is a hippy". it really sounded true to what i've discovered the last couple years. i'm 19 now, just outa highschool, and am slowly coming to the realization that many people consider me a "hippy". i never set out to be one or tryed to dress like one, i've always just done what makes me happy and makes me feel free.(this is why i really could identify with what you were speaking of) so where are u from? well anyways, i've gotta get goin peace eli Bill, I just want to thank you. Your advice has helped me allot. Your right I have to look forward, and not dwell on the past. Thanks again. a friend in New York, Justin Hey!I had just read your column. You are soooo right about what a hippy is! I am only 15 years pld. But right now for the past couple of years I have been experiencing around trying to find myself. I was lost for a while and took the wrong path. I didnt do drugs or anything but I was getting preeeeetty close lol. I dress like a hippy and act like a hippy and smell like a hippy.I am like way to optimistic lol I am constantly giving off the impression to my friends that I am high even though I have not smoked or drank anything my entire life. But everyday my friends and strangers tell me how happy I am and what a hippy I am. I just nod my head and smile. I dont think I should throw it in everyones face that i am a so called hippy and I am better than them. Because I am not. I like to dress in green because I have found my true love in life, the environment. Evertime I turn on the TV I see nature and my heart swell up. It makes me wanna cry that I cannot spend more time with it. So I make sure to wear green so that I could take a part of nature with me. I am actually on a dance team at school and in the school choir and hopefully in the school musical as little red riding hood lol''Ínto the woods". They are not great passions of mine but I like to throw them on the side for experience. I basically dress like a homeless person but I am friendly to anyone and everyone and I show them respect and in return they have looked past my clothes and beliefs and into my heart and have showned me the same respect I have showned them. I have never felt so free in my entire life!I feel like a bird and I make sure everything I do reflect off who I am like making a special imprint in everything. If I wrap a birthday present I make sure to wrap it in recycled paper and I put pine on the top.lol Just thought I would let ya know THESE ARE MY HIPPY VALUES:-) I read you thing on www. hippy.com, and I liked it very much, from your essays to your mother's letters...both inspiring and informative. Actually, I do want to ask you some things, and if you have time to answer, that would be lovely... I am fifteen and living in the midwest. of course, I attend school and all that jazz. Nevertheless, I am desperate for freedom, lots of it, I mean the road, no one to answer to, the whole bit. Everything here is too structured and...I can't take it! The only reason I don't just ruuun, is because it would hurt my parents and scare them. How can I hold on? Another thing, if you have hang ups, how do you let go of them? Hang ups like looks, and talking about people...ect..... If you try to say and do what's right, act the way you want to be, then eventually, will it just settle in and become your nature? ( this is not my question..really. I want to tell my friend this, but..I want someone else to tell me I am right.) If you respond to me, I will be eternally grateful to you for it! Peace, love, light, Rainbow Moon Walker Hey Bill, Being Free... To me this means having a choice. Being able to vote on political or social things, being able to say what you believe in...even if it goes against the authorities. Freedom is what the United States of America was built on and in (almost) every house in America there is a certain amount of freedom. Every American, born or otherwise, enjoys their freedom. Most of us use it to our advantage and it is probably one of the most used and needed tools a person can have. Freedom allows you to be what you want, do want you want, believe in what you want, accomplish what you want, go where you want, there are so many things freedom allows you to do that we dont' recongize. In short, rather long, Freedom is important and I am thankful for mine. ~Peace, Love and Happiness, Loren bill....i just found your awesome site and will have a wonderful time tripping thru it. it is bookmarked for future perusing. but on to the big bad serious stuff.... i am sure you have noticed the precarious and dangerous place we find ourselves again in history, with the right wing coup and now the subsequent fallout..... the complete and utter disregard for the environment, workers rights, women's rights, and the overriding destructive forces of the corporate military machine behind it all. all of the progressive gains of the last 40 years are going straight down the drain. once again, as in the 60's, we have our battles cut out for us and it isn't going to be easy. there have been demonstrations all over the country since nov. 7th and you wouldn't know it as there have been media blackouts on most of it. on jan. 20, there were counter-inaugural demonstrations all over the country....30-60,000 in DC, 15,000 in SF, 5000 in LA, 5000 in seattle. this is a growing movement all over the country. for more information on how that began, go to www.countercoup.org. there are countless sites now devoted to fighting the bush regime. the online organizing is fast and furious. i would love to hear your thoughts and thankyou for such a beautiful website! peace, jamie murray, countercoup/LA There's MORE reader comments Or how about sending YOUR OWN comments |
 BEING FREE Table of Contents Readers Comments Download Lilac's Book Return to mighty 
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continuously since January 3, 1997. Anyone may have a FREE copy of the entire text of Lilac's Book by going to the Download page. Back in 1994, I wrote this book, largely in random order, as a gift for my infant daughter. When I finished the first version of the book, I made photocopies and handed them out to anyone who was interested. In 1996, I converted the text of the book into web format and thanks to the gracious and steadfast support from this mighty site, the book has been on Hippyland continuously since January 3, 1997. As far as I can tell from webstats over the past few years, about 3000 people a year are visiting the page to download the full text of the book. If just a portion of these visitors are downloading the text, then this free book is now in the hands of thousands of people. This makes me feel that the gift is not just for Lilac, but for thousands of others, most especially for the teenagers and young adults who so often write to me trying to figure out their place in our world. BEING FREE | Table of Contents | Readers Comments | Download Lilac's Book | Return to HIPPYLAND | Photo Album Who IS a Hippy | The Price of Freedom | Following Your Own Heart | It Wasn't All Beauty & Lightness | Contact Me The original print edition of Lilac's Book © 1994; web editions © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001. |