Bring Back The Hippy Movement...!! (without Charles Manson)
Manson was never a Hippy.
Recently while clicking on different causes that l care about. e.g. Save the Rain forest, or The World Wildlife Fund, l spotted a ´¨cause¨ entitled ¨Bring back the hippy Movement.!!!¨
It seemed rather trivial in amongst the serious ´causes´...... Starvation, Poorest people in the world etc.,
Not only that, but a few days before l had been reading about Charles Manson., the murderer who is still in prison , thankfully , after almost 40 years.
It´s a pity that his name has been associated with the word Hippy for decades, because, let´s get one thing straight.... Charles Manson was NEVER a Hippy.!!
Sadly he was an older man (born 1934) who was very charismatic and attracted young teenage hippies of the sixties. So at the time of the horrific murders in 1969 he´d have been about 35 yrs old.. His life had always been a troubled, one. In and out of reform schools until he was old enough to be sent to adult prison.
He hardly sound like someone who would fit in with the original Hippy idea of love, peace, and avoid war at all costs..
Despite the saying Ïf you can remember the sixties...... You weren't there¨.
l have wonderful memories of the long flowing summer skirts, our hair long and flowing too. flowers on everything possible. l wish l had a picture of me with my enormous daisy earings.
flowers on everything.....
Not all of us descended into communes of people having sex with anyone and everyone, taking drugs, every day, although l know there was a lot of that going on.
For my friends and me it was all about the music, Love, Love, Love, (The Beatles)the clothes,
going barefoot as often as possible.
My memories of Hippy days still make me go warm and fuzzy, even though l should really regard myself as weekend Hippy, because on Monday morning, my very long hair would be piled on top my head, neatly, High heels and pencil skirt(though rather short when l think of it now) were the order of the day for my 9 to 5 at the office.......BUT, wow! come Friday night, the weekend (plus any weekday evening that l could manage) Down would come my hair to fly loose, off with the pencil skirt to be exchanged for a long floaty one or a short little dress covered in flowers, of course, , and beads.....We mustn't forget the beads , both boys and girls. Goodness ! How many rows of beads could one person wear?.............l loved it...........
This must have been the schoolgirl look for some reason
l guess l should count myself lucky that l was grounded in a good family, l adored my 3 younger brothers and l enjoyed my job. Who knows if l had lived in a part of California where l´ would have moved in the sort of circles where people met Charles Manson...????????
There but for the grace of God go l.
l can´t believe the man was sane. It seems impossible , or was he so, so clever, to believe and persuade others that he was the New Christ.? He told his followers that only they would be saved when the Black population took over the world. He even had a hiding place in the desert where just Manson and his followers would be safe.!! Strange that it wasn't black people that he targeted for the murders.
The beautiful, young, pregnant actress, Sharon Tate and the unfortunate friends who happened to be with her that night, butchered, slaughteredin unspeakable ways , as were Rosemary and Leon La Bianca only one day later...........
Those young ´¨hippy´´¨girls would do anything Manson asked of them, even cold-blooded murder .
These people were a million light years away from your average Hippy, who was more interested in love and peace, and music, Yes, there were many who smoked pot and cannabis is still a bone of contention today. Some people equating it with alcohol l have no particular views on that subject. l´m not interested in either of them, but oh! boy! do l still love the clothes, music and my long hair, though going grey now.
¨Bring back the hippy movement¨doesn´t sound like a serious ´cause´to me, but theré it was right next to ´Save the Rainforest´
It made me think of our British pliticians.
You have The Conservative candidate.....
Here you have the Labour cadidate.......
and right next to them you have your representative from The Monster Raving Looney ¨party...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (l´m serious).
Actually, monster, raving and Looney are words that could have fitted those killers especially Charles Manson back in the sixties.
hippy does NOT describe Manson.
l never did look into the so-called ´cause´of Bring Back the Hippy Movement´´
l´m happy with my memories of the clothes, the music, and a vision l´ll never forget on television of a row of soldiers and hippy girls walking along the line putting a flower down the barrel of every gun. The soldiers looked straight ahead and stood perfectly still, bless them.
Being anti-war at that time was considered to be unpatriotic, but for me and my group of friends aged 17-19 here in Britain it was an horrendous thought that boys our age were being drafted to go fight in a place we could barely find on a map.
No, we didn´t fully understand the full picture of the Vietnam war, but we did know that we wanted love, peace and life.! How we loved LIFE!!!!!!
If Bring Back the Hippy Movement is some people wanting what my vision of it , l wish them well. Life is short. Make the most of it without hurting others.
