{"id":165,"date":"2017-02-03T00:02:43","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T00:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/uncategorized\/where-do-i-start\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T00:02:43","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T00:02:43","slug":"where-do-i-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/activism\/where-do-i-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do I start?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tDear Old Hippy,
\nEver since I was small, I have felt extremely attached to life. I was a
\nreally big tomboy so I am not one to get all mushy like some girls but
\ndoes no one else get emotional when they are given their factory
\nprocessed meat on a styrofoam plate? Does no one else get furious when
\nthey see all those starving babies on the news? Does no one else want to
\nscream at the rich, What do you need all that for? Give a little, you
\nselfish bastards? Does no one else see all the mazes of wonderment in a
\ntiny leaf or a piece of grass? Does no one else cry when it finally hits
\nthem that they are not God and cannot save the world? Am I crazy? I used
\nto think that the fact that I feel SO MUCH was a gift, like a reminder
\nthat I was put here for a reason and that reason was to change the world
\nbut lately, I think of it as a curse. It is pointless to feel because it
\nis impossible to accomplish such enormous dreams. I hear people all the
\ntime talk about how the sixties were so great because of the drugs and
\nmusic and hugs but it was more than that. It was the fact that you all
\nDID something about the bad things in life. I mean, you had a bloody war
\nand a lot of discrimination but at least you stood up. My generation
\nhas even more reasons to band together (the ecology, the economy, a
\nbastard president, crime, starving children, etc.) but we do not. We
\nhave no desire to- we are apathetic, do not care, are too lazy. How am I
\nsupposed to save a world that will not listen? Where do I start? And am
\nI alone, just some crazy fool who is arrogant enough to think that she
\nwas chosen out of millions to be given such a mission,someone who is
\nstupid enough to cry at the beauty of a tree? In your time, you did
\nsomething but instead of leading us, the hippies have quieted when we
\nmost need advice from those with experience. Why will they not help us?
\nMaybe they just realize how futile it all is.
\nA lonely fool who calls herself Pixie <\/span><\/p>\n


\nDear Pixie,
\nYou appear to be a very sensitive being. You are aware of what is going on around you. You are passionate about doing something to change it. You are a hippy! <\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, some of us have been co-opted by the establishment and have become part of it. Some of us have realized that it\u2019s all Maya \u2013 the illusion, the veil. Beyond Maya is the truth of reality. In which case all you can do is your dharma, live out your life according to your inner rules.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get caught up in the play to where you feel like your role is scripted for you. You are the actor, the writer, and the director in your own play. Your role is one you choose. You can be the hippy who sets out to change the world. Whether you succeed depends upon how true you are to THE TRUTH. Go with the flow and you will have a much easier time of it. Your dharma will guide you. If these concept appeal to you, or for more information about them, check out Be Here Now or Grist for the Mill, both by Ram Dass. These ideas help you deal with the inner turmoil and make sense of the suffering inherent in the world.<\/p>\n

Lest you think we\u2019ve all dropped out or are living in caves in the Himalayas, we old hippies are still around and are eager to lend a hand. Yes, we are dis-\u201cillusioned\u201d. We are aware of the futility of \u201cfighting the system\u201d. But we do support organizations like Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Earth First! and Norml. We help out in our communities in our own ways by recycling, community organizations, volunteering, etc. The key to all of this is ORGANIZATION. The hippies were never really organized. Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman tried to organize the more radical hippies into Yippies and they got thrown in jail. The Weathermen, an extreme organization that bombed banks and corporations blew themselves up and the rest went underground for decades.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it seems without a major issue to unite us, most hippies would just as soon lay back, turn up the Zep, and light a doobie. But if YOU feel strongly about something and want to get involved, read some of the articles we have posted here under the Activism<\/a> topic. You can also check out our Activism page<\/a>, which has links to some of the best activism sites on the net. You can discuss activism in our Hip Forums<\/a> (see the Protest Forum, the Politics Forum and others.)<\/p>\n

Posted by: skip
\nViews: 15927
\nTopic:9\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Old Hippy, Ever since I was small, I have felt extremely attached to life. I was a really big tomboy so I am not one to get all mushy like some girls but does no one else get emotional when they are given their factory processed meat on a styrofoam plate? Does no one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-ask-the-old-hippie","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}