Cathy Meadows

Granola Bars, Soy Beans and Peace and Love

The children of the 1960's and 1970's began what many of you are pursuing, to one degree or another, today, believe it or not. For example, have you ever done yoga, participated in any alternative, spiritual gatherings, meditated, recited affirmations, ate a granola bar, considered a diet free of red meat, ate a soybean, or danced to rock-and-roll music at church? Then you, my friend, are some left-over remnant of the sub-culture known as, The Hippies, and the greatest and most socially important concept they ever gave us was the ideal of pursuing Peace, Love and Understanding. In fact, I could make an argument that all of the other hippy-type things floating around like marijuana, health consciousness, and spiritual interests, etc, all exist because of, and revolve around the most important, progressive and personal contributions of Peace, Love, and Compassion.

The concepts of Peace, Love and Compassion are directly related to our survival instincts and led to great social change during the 1960's and 1970's. For example, during the 1950's, unmarried women had to hide in a convent or go visit some obscure relative somewhere just to have a baby, people could be arrested and jailed for simply having a domestic partner whom they weren't married to, and people could go to prison for many years just for possessing marijuana (an acquaintaince of mine went to prison for 7 years for having 2 ounces of weed), and so on. Even Sarah Palin's kid would've be hiding out in shame under these punitive social conditions. The 1950's was a difficult decade in which to be a kid and when the 1960's roled around, those kids had grown and went on to implement social change.

The Hippie movement welcomed and embraced and was embraced by people from all over the world and from of all political, religious, spiritual, and racial groups, on one level or another, and the movement embraced them back. However, it's always difficult when a person or group is on the cutting edge of social change. The Hippies weren't readily accepted by everyone and it took awhile for their lifestyles to be tolerated before people were ready for any social changes. Like them or not, they ushered in a new society of mostly permanent change

The Hippies also changed the supply and demand economics worldwide. For example, we have a multi-billion dollar soybean industry in this country. Forty years ago, farmers would have laughed out loud at this sobering fact and then they would've told you to cut your hair, get a job and buy a car (Something about growing up in the 1950's made some kids abhor capitalism. They weren't communists. They just felt that all that material stuff was a veil that hid a truer reality). The Hippies ushered in a new industry built on natural products, alternative spiritual ideals (did you know that the born-again Christian movement socially evolved from hippie Christians?), and so on.

I tarry. Let's get back to the point. Peace, Love, and Understanding were the concepts that brought cohesion to all of these seemingly disorganzed groups. Everywhere, there were, Peace and Love bumper stickers, Peace Sign flags, Peace pictures, and a wonderful, fantastical and mystical quality to a lot of the art work, which is still being produced today. That's what it was all about, my lost and wandering children; the Love and the Peace, and unless you actually make great efforts to endeavor to learn how to practice Love and Peace, then you are far off the path.

The concepts of Love and Peace were so powerful that the proliferation of the concepts of Love and Peace is what cointelpro was all about destroying. Plainly, the government allowed many other inventions and, as mentioned, the social mores the Hippies introduced, because they have capital value. However, the concepts of Love and Peace were denigrated and destroyed, or at least there was an attempt to do so. They were bad for the war industry, I think.

Now, in this time, anyone 50 yrs. old and younger isn't always getting the full grasp of the original granola years. Many have wandered off into the jungle of the dog-eat-dog mentality, granola bar in hand. Some are using the Love and Peace culture to enhance their social and financial investments, all compassion aside. Several, however, are doggedly persuing the ideals of personally developing mutual cooperation between all living things, which requires compassion and understanding at a base, emotional level, and these ones are the true inheriters of the gift because, in the end, that was what it was really all about and around which all other things of evolutionary value evolved.

So, I would remind you that if you can reach inside of yourself and muster all of the energy that you can to get along with others in your environment including, family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances, whether you agree with them or not on fundamental issues, then you will have an understanding of how cool this culture really was. To see, first hand, how difficult and rewarding an endeavor this is will make you reel...and real. Make an effort. Get along with those whom you don't agree with, with those who have accidentally interrupted your flow, and with those who are different from yourself with regards to color, creed, lifestyles, and preferences, and I promise you the most difficult and rewarding challenge of your lives. Love and Peace!