CHECKING OUT THEN BEFORE CHECKING BACK IN NOW

Checking out, dropping out, call it what you will, but leave the back door open.

Why the back door?

Because you may want to check back in and avoid the scrutiny out front.

The nice picture above was not taken at an Amish farm last week, or a pioneer homestead in the 1860’s.

Nope, none of those. Instead it’s a group of young people gathering in 1969.

You know, hippies.

In 2021 you can buy this Life Magazine an Amazon for $24.88.

Sort of spacy considering the time span.

What do you suppose those young idealist have in common with the richest man in the world?

They’d probably thank him for the chance to buy the magazine along with suggested titles like Trees Of California, The Power Of Positive Energy, Shortcuts To Mindfulness, and Interesting Stories along with others.

Or buy it on eBay for $6.99.

Checking Out Life

The interesting part of the front page, besides the people, is the title:

“The Youth Communes, New Way Of Living Confronts The U.S.”

Doesn’t that sound like something an older person would write, like they needed to add ‘Confront’ to what was actually confronting America at the time?

This was a month before Woodstock and a year after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where local policemen rioted.

It was also a year after the assassin deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

If there was ever a time to step back and regroup, 1969 was it.

What Else Did ‘The Youth’ Confront In 1969?

The Vietnam War confronted the youth in the late 60’s by way of the local Draft Board.

For all of the freedom and new ways of living, one force could tab young men to engage in the oldest activities of civilized people: learning how to kill strangers.

A draft notice was the invitation to class.

“Selective Service System Order To Report For Induction.

Greetings, You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States of America?

Does reading that put a chill in the air?

There you are living on a commune, or working, or going to school, and one of these show up.

Next thing you know you’re on a bus, getting a haircut and shots, and learning how to fire a war rifle well enough to put three rounds inside the circumference of a quarter.

Back then stunted parents didn’t keep a war weapon at home for protection. Instead, they failed to protect their kids.

It seems almost quaint today after the longest war in U.S. history winds down in Afghanistan with an all-volunteer military.

What Happened To Checking Out Peace, Love, And Understanding

Twenty-five year olds in 1969 are seventy-seven in 2021, give or take.

In other words they aged out, grew up, matured. Pick one.

After checking out, they checked back in. Linen isn’t as itchy as burlap; expensive food tastes better than a steady macrobiotic diet.

Call it the pursuit of hippieness. Macrobiotics, with its brown rice, beans, sea vegetables, and Asian yin-yang philosophy of finding balance in life for health and vitality, was the original counterculture diet back in the ’60s. It’s actually been around much longer than that.

A macrobiotic diet isn’t just about your weight — it’s about achieving balance in your life. It promises a healthier, more holistic long-term lifestyle for men, women, and children that encompasses mental outlook as well as food choices. Macrobiotic dieters are encouraged to eat regularly, chew their food extremely well, listen to their bodies, stay active, and maintain a perky, positive mental outlook.

Today’s former hippies have high blood pressure, enlarged prostates, and swollen ankles like everyone else, if they’re not busy checking out early.

How many turned over a new leaf, joined a fundamentalist evangelical church, and vote a straight republican ticket?

Who among them are covid-denying, vaccine hesitant, conspiracy kooks who know more than ‘The Government?’

Even better if they denounce their previous life and raised their kids to not pick guitars and drive them old trucks, and urged them to be lawyers and doctors and such?

Keep The Dream Alive

In the hustle and drive to stay afloat in rough water we lose track of some of the things we count on, like kindness and compassion and empathy.

The kids who grew up in the shadow of The Man, grew up to be The Man. Even the women.

They went from ‘sticking it to The Man’ to getting stuck. And shockingly enough, they liked being the sticker more than the stickee.

The kids in the top image are middle-aged now. Do you think the adults would be more proud of them if they lived close to the land in a hand-built rustic home, or a four bedroom, four car garage house with a hot tub?

I enjoy thinking we all learn from experience, how to move forward with grace and dignity in helping those less fortunate.

Turns out we’ve all got a long way to go, but a short time to get there. Whether you’re 76, 66, 56, 46, or 36, it’s enough time to conjure up an opinion for a future you want to see.

The hippies weren’t wrong about nutrition, the environment, and protest. At the same time the high rollers weren’t wrong in trying to build and protect their assets from getting trashed.

The key, and this is as important now as it’s ever been, is the degree of equality available. Putting all else aside, men and women of all stripes deserve to be treated equally.

A hand up is not equal to a hand out.

The dream of possibility circulates among the rich, the poor, and everyone in between.

Expectations based on good-hearted benevolence come with a long list.

What’s at the top of your list? Mine is seeing a world that welcomes effort and rewards it, along with understanding the barriers others face.

You? Are you checking in, or checking out?