I can relate to a lot of this stuff. I was a part time hippy back in the 60s/70s. I genuinely felt disenchanted with society and politics and the way we were raping our landscape. I still do in fact. I would have loved to have dropped out but didn't have the courage to and also liking my creature comforts too. I honestly believed our generation would improve the world when the old fogey politicians had passed away. We would bring in a new order. I'm saddened to see we failed. I guess politicians are a breed of their own and don't subscribe to anything that the young or alternative generation of the time wants. Those of us who cared certainly didn't want to be in politics so we were naïve to think we could some how change things for the better. What is encouraging though is the growing awareness of the younger folks in this country, who are getting back into learning old country crafts and growing their own food etc. So I think we did pass on some good values to our kids. We still live in a f*****d up world though. We might teach our children and grandchildren to care about all the creatures and plants on our planets but what hope have we got when there are other folk who'd happily decapitate you because you don't conform to their twisted ideololgy.
On a more positive note and somewhere between the two extremes, have a read of Ben Law's books if you haven't already. He's living and extolling an approach to sustainable living that makes a massive amount of sense but without being too "hippy dippy". He's fantastically versatile and practical in his outlook and even if we can only take a little from his philosophy, we'll be on the right track. Amen!
