Reply #25: Some disagreement on priorities between "purer" hippies ,and more political types [View All]

but among ( as others have pointed out that we preferred to call ourselves) freaks, there was always a feeling of solidarity like we had discovered something very special ( we had) and there was a bond with the others who had made the same discovery. I have a hard time sometimes looking at films or still pictures of those days. There was such enormous potential for a permanent and massive change for the better in how we related to the world, and I guess we were just too young and naive to really pull it off. But it seemed within reach; a truly earthshaking peaceful inner revolution that would resonate outward because so many people were attempting this massive change at the same time. We just figured all of society would soon see the decency and humanity of what we were trying to do and in our youthful innocence, were maybe a little blindsided by the angry and sometimes violent resistance to what we saw as such a benign thing we were doing. Guess we scared straight America more than we thought we would. Damn shame, with all our youthful folly and naivete, we were genuinely on to something, and as I said, it sometimes practically breaks my heart to see films and pictures of all those sweet gentle people, and to think how much hate and derision we instead became a lightning rod for ( and sadly, even among some here on DU). And unlike some Duers and others who find it great sport to put down the boomers and hippies etc, all I gotta say was put succinctly by Nick Lowe ( and sung by Elvis Costello): "What's so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?"