We did what? This subject can turn into something personal, yet there is much debate out there about the cop-outs of yuppies and if they were ever really hippies. The jury may still be out, but the true hippies of yesteryear are in denial of ever being the Young Upwardly Mobile Professionals of the ’80’s.

First, most of the hippies were no longer young at that stage, when careers and the economy were more in sync for the computer-savvy next generation. The yuppies are their youngest siblings or their children. Most of the real hippies are still juggling part-time jobs and trying to live off of the land, referring to old tattered copies of Mother Earth News, bartering for goods and services, and participating in the underground economy. There are high percentages of artists and musicians, writers and creative types in this lingering sub-culture. A few have found day-time jobs in the Establishment, but there is much compromise and guilt when the innovations they bring to the jobs are not fully embraced. Many became entrepreneurs and small-business owners, living the dream of making a difference.

The ones who did the old Jungian switcheroo at the age of, say, 30 (Don’t Trust Anyone Over Thirty,) and became corporate types were not truly hippies, but just caught in the wave of rebellious youth. They probably did not drop out and move to California or Vermont or New Mexico or Colorado like the rest of usOops, there’s the personal again. But it was about the personal, not the status quo. Even the communes were not communistic, but a collective of individuals, and so were often short-lived, with all those personal goals and issues getting in the way of getting things done.

Let’s remember a bit of the ’60’s and early ’70s when the Aquarian Age was at its height. The basic premises of questioning authority, bohemian lifestyles, back-to-the-earth simplicity, revival of crafts, peace over nationalism, etc. were strong, timely challenges to a boring era of post WWII stability and less-than imaginative institutions. The hippie culture found encouragement from the Bohemians of the ’40’s and ’50s; artsy types, jazz musicians, theatre people. It was refreshing for many who were old enough to be in financially-secure, power positions. So, some of the New Age suggestions were heard, morphed into conventional venues and the best of that philosophy has remained a part of contemporary life. And this gives hope to many of the now urgent social and environmental problems the yuppies, in their consumer frenzy of the last 30 years, created.

Many old hippies have continued their lifestyle, if a bit subdued, practicing their pagan ways, home-schooling their children, voting Green or Independent or liberal, contributing to causes and foundations that Give Peace a Chance. There are more aging Earth Mothers, grey hair braided, and long-haired, pony-tailed old men around, with bemused grins and memories of a simpler time. Something tells us that they have more than a few stories to tell, and that this economic recession will not affect them much. Any of the old hippies who consider themselves the yuppies of today have sold out. There lies the difference and the difficulty between yuppies and true hippies. The Establishment has always been corrupt. Some things really haven’t changed.