Why I think I'm Evolving Into A Tree-Hugging Hippie, In My Middle Age

As a child of the '70s, I was too young to see much of the hippie culture up close and personal. Sure, we watched reruns of shows like All in the Family, where Rob Reiner's character was constantly berated by the conservative racist and bigoted Archie Bunker.

He was made fun of for being liberal, caring, and in his mind, un-American. By not choosing to praise America automatically in all things, he was considered a less-than, and someone to be made fun of.

I was raised in a very religious home during the 70s, 80s, and into the early 90s led to me being very conservative and judgmental. Especially when our father was the pastor of most churches we attended three times a week during that period of our lives. 

As you might gather, hippies were also made fun of and ridiculed in our home. Long-hairs, pot-smoking, degenerate protestors who talked about giving peace a chance were not appreciated.

I've often wondered what it would have been like to have been a younger person in my parents' generation. Would I have been more likely to lean liberally younger than I did in my own life? 

It would have been difficult to have experienced the draft, Vietnam, and seeing my friends going off to war, some never to return. I'd hope that under a different set of circumstances, I'd have stood for love, acceptance, and peace at an earlier age than I did.

My views changed considerably after I left the church. By the time I met, dated, and married my first wife, things were in motion for a big change in my life. I have always credited her for helping initiate that change. 

She was also raised by conservative, somewhat bigoted parents. Like mine, not openly racist or anything like that, but they definitely had their views about people of other races, cultures, religions, and sexual orientations. The mid-90s were not the most accepting of times. 

If you think we still have a long way to go here in 2022, zip back 25 to 30 years and you'll quickly realize how much ground we actually HAVE gained. However, I'm painfully aware that we do still have a long way to go, here in the United States especially.

After seeing her liberal, caring tendencies over the first couple of years together, we attended college together. It was during those years that my views opened up even further. I am a firm believer that higher education exposes us to many more open-minded ideas. Most were quite different than the ones we were raised with. 

I saw other points of view and realized that my Christian beliefs were actually quite judgmental and mostly wrong. I do appreciate the good moral lessons we learned at a young age but realized how a lot of people used the Bible to justify their racist, bigoted, homophobic views. That turned me off in a big way to organized religion, especially those who were very hypocritical.

I truly believe that Jesus was one of the earliest hippies. From what I've gathered in 21 years of attending church and reading the Bible, he was all about love, peace, acceptance, forgiveness, and helping the poor. 

He was good to all the lowest members of society. He drove out the money changers from the temple areas. He told people that whatever his followers did to the least of people, they did to him. He practiced what he preached. 

He is depicted as having long, flowing hair. He likely wore sandals. He was against murder and had to be anti-war. He fed the masses and turned water into wine. Sounds like a nice big party to me.

After college, I feel as though I became much more of a critical thinker. Logic and science made far more sense to me than farfetched stories from the 2000-year-old book we grew up with and put so much stock in. I clearly could remember my father ridiculing science growing up, and I never thought twice about it at the time.

When you're young, you tend to believe and accept everything your parents teach you. Especially when doubting anything in your extremely religious upbringing could book you a one-way ticket to Hell.

Like most, I chased the almighty dollar after college. I always wanted to be able to have enough income to do fun things, feel safe, and take care of my baby daughter we were blessed to have in 2005. I sold real estate and saw firsthand how competitive and cutthroat the market was. 

I wasn't a fan of how so many agents would badmouth other agents, even ones belonging to their same brokerage. It didn't give me a fulfilling feeling of being involved in an industry that helped humanity. It still doesn't. While I am still an active real estate agent, I don't put nearly the time and effort as I do into my writing.

My Bride opened my eyes to a lot of things and different ways of thinking in the ten years we've been together. She's a Buddhist and is the most accepting person that I've ever been around. She never has judged anyone for anything, the best I can tell. 

Her religion is very much about acceptance and focusing on herself and what she can control, not judging others. She's been judged a number of times during our time together, yet never has lowered herself to the same low standards of those who have wronged her. 

In this regard, I have found her to have exhibited behaviors closer to Christ than many Christians we've known. As a Buddhist. This has served her well in her chosen career as a counselor and therapist.

I care far more about other things besides my career, at this stage of life. I am very much pro-equality and anti-ignorance. I want good things for ALL people, not just the upper or middle class. I find it appalling that people still go hungry on our planet. Homeless people still don't have housing, food, and health care. 

Hell, many people who do have housing, food, and income don't have health care. We're still so far behind many countries in terms of quality of life, but we're too prideful as a country to work together to initiate change. Most are too busy chasing the almighty dollar and judging each other to want better for others.

Empathy is hard to find in many people, especially the ones who are only looking out for themselves and their immediate family. This is more evident in men than women, sadly. We need more men with big hearts to care about the less fortunate.

Now into my later 40s, I'm content with being who I am. A caring person. I want good things for ALL humans. I love meeting new people of diverse backgrounds, races, ages, cultures, sexual orientations, and religions. 

Thanks to Covid happening, I finally grew my hair out, something I had always wanted to do, but never did. Shorter hair has always been more professional in my career. Once it was difficult to get a haircut while in lockdown, but I realized how much I enjoyed growing it out and having it longer. 

It's pretty close to hippie-level length now and I'm happy with that. It's very freeing to be able to do things you've wanted to do but didn't feel comfortable with in years prior.

I love animals, more than I ever have. Late at night, I often watch and tear up about rescue videos of homeless or hurt animals. A dream of mine would be to own an animal rescue perhaps have it off the grid. Hell, maybe I'd even start a commune. 

I always joke about starting a commune. Like a nice, friendly one. No Kool-Aid, donate if you feel like it to or are able, but no pressure. Volunteer your talents and efforts, no drama, just enjoy each others' presence and love the animals.

We could make music, great food, and art. Love our people, our animals, and nature. That sounds so much more appealing than chasing the almighty dollar and hating on each other. Who's coming with me?