Remember the song "Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing? Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?" by Pete Seeger? It made me wonder where had all the hippies gone, long time ago!I looked around one day at all my peers, other folks of the baby boom generation, and I realized we had turned into the one thing we swore never to trust - the over thirty establishment. Not only were we well over thirty we had turned into people who drove mini-vans and SUVs, wore suits and paid the electric bill on time.
What happened to the kids who had such passion to change the world? Does growing up mean giving up? Does becoming adult mean giving in and joining the establishment instead of trying to change it?
I wonder how those kids would have looked at the "hanging chad" fiasco in Florida, what would they have done about our involvement in the Middle East? How would they have dealt with the monster increases in gas, food and heating costs? What kind of protest would they have started about the social security crisis?
I have to wonder what they would have done because the adults they turned into just seem to be rolling over and taking it laying down. Sad days for old hippies, sad times for America.
Where have all the hippies gone, long time ago?
We wore hip huggers, love beads and had long hair
Rolled doobies and burned incense to "clear" the air.
We had love-ins and turn-ons and rallies for peace,
While our peers were off fighting in the very Far East.
The radio played tunes from Beatles to Stones,
While we turned on and tuned out the establishment clones.
Where once we were young, so defiant and bold,
We now watch the world pass and we do as we're told.
And isn't it sad we don't still have that fire
That changed the whole world with just a desire?
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