Hippies

In the 1960s and 1970s there was a huge counter-culture movement of young people from all across the United States. They fought for women’s rights and African-Americans’ rights; they protested against the war in Viet Nam; they experimented with all kinds of mind altering drugs. These people were called hippies.
Then, starting sometime in the 1990s and still very much alive today, there came the children and grandchildren of these so-called hippies in a new movement. They started making visible efforts to save the environment; they started working to not pollute the air; they started eating healthier and encouraged others to do the same. This new generation wanted to make a name for themselves, but they ended up being called by the same name which their parents had been called: hippies.
That brings up a question then: what really is a hippie? Are the [often violent] druggies of the middle of the century the true hippies? Or are their clean-aired modern children the real ones?
The answer (drum roll please) is…both!
A hippie is open-minded and active in reaching their goals. They do what they think is right and avoid whatever they feel is wrong.
Generally hippies believe that all people—whether black and white, male and female—are equal. And in past decades they really had to fight for that belief. Hippies are also usually against wars, and even now they work hard to protest them. In modern days hippies tend to be very environmentally aware, so they recycle, avoid plastics, and do what they can to reduce toxic air emissions.
Too often hippies get a bad reputation for doing drugs. Sometimes they are also associated with transcendentalism and the powers in inanimate objects. This is not always true, though. Yes, hippies do often partake in drug use, and many a hippie believe in alternative powers. But those are not necessarily criteria to be a hippie.
      Just because someone is a druggie does not mean that they are also a hippie. And just because someone...