Thankful for the '60s. A weird rambling thought process here.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I have kept a diary or journal most of the time since I was very young. Recently I made a decision to get rid of all of them because if something should happen to me, I don't want them to fall into someone else's hands. Plus, they contain so much negative energy from a certain period in my life that I don't want to revisit that. I have decided that before they are destroyed I plan to go through each one and pull out a few things that I do want to keep and put them in a notebook or binder. I am leading up to the '60s part here. My first diary was 1965 and I was 13 years old. This one I want to keep and I am reading back over it page by page, enjoying the pure innocence of my days with my best friend, school and music, (mainly The Beatles and other British groups that came in their wake). The part that has stunned me a bit is the kind of person I was then: I recorded things about buying stuff, money I spent, getting things, getting my hair done (I was a KID! Why was I getting my hair done??) and so on. I am thankful that the later 1960's changed me to a great degree. When that culture or counterculture came along I embraced it, and to this day it still shapes a lot of my thoughts, actions and principles. I am wondering if not for the summer of love, the hippies, the rebellion/questioning/experimenting saturation of the times, if I would have gone on buying things, getting my hair done and spending money? Would that be the sort of adult I would be today, rather than a simple living person with a 15 year old Toyota that just turned over 150,000 miles, a consignment store shopper, a dedicated recycler and still out there gently proclaiming "Wage Peace"? I fully believe those times changed me from a path I may have continued on, to a very different one. Who knows? If so, then I am very thankful for those days of peace and love.

[Tussiemussies]

What a great experience to have those journals to look back on. It must be so nice to see the little things you would have totally forgotten about and to be able to relive them again.

I wish I never threw out all of the notes me and my friends passed in late elementary school and high school. I had saved them until a certain point in time.

I also feel that although I was young in the sixties, that I am basically a grown up hippie that doesn't do drugs, drink or swear! LOL!

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I also feel that although I was young in the sixties, that I am basically a grown up hippie that doesn't do drugs, drink or swear! LOL!
The best kind to be.

[catherine]

SEL, I have had a very similar experience with diaries... I was 12 when I started mine. I started in October 64 and for Christmas that year, my stepfather bought me the Diary of Anne Frank, and when I saw how powerful that tool was as a means of expression, Anne Frank became my "mentor" in writing my own thoughts and feelings.

I relied on it for many, many years as my therapy (still do, actually), and as my way to record experiences and memories. Like you, I laugh when I read things like "Went to New York City with my Tri-Hi-Y group. It was so expensive! A Coke cost $.25 and the chicken dinner was $2.75!"

I was thinking of doing exactly what you are doing and putting together a "Best of..." for my kids, leaving out all the boring stuff and all the stuff I don't want passed down. But I dread how long that might take, given these diaries span 50 years!

Chris, I identify with you completely on this:

I also feel that although I was young in the sixties, that I am basically a grown up hippie that doesn't do drugs, drink or swear! LOL!

My diaries definitely chronicled the times--I wrote about "today's culture"--and consumerism of my parents, the assassinations of King/Bobby Kennedy, the moon landing, etc. Once I got out of college, however, "life" took over and I didn't write as much and it was really more confined to daily events and feelings--I barely had time to write stuff on those.

So, SEL, I agree with you.. it's really fun to think about the impact of those years on our lives. Definitely interesting times, and definitely helped form who I am today.

[CathyA]

Sad Eyed Lady.........I think the fact that the 60s/70s changed your direction says something about you. There were LOTS of people back then, who weren't affected/influenced by the counter-culture......and they just went on buying things, not questioning, etc. I was in a university town back then, living in a commune, and we were definitely in the minority.
So I say give yourself some credit that something in you chose your path. :)

[pinkytoe]

to this day it still shapes a lot of my thoughts, actions and principles.
I believe that growing up in that time definitely influenced my behavior and beliefs today. The counter culture was not a staged media event like things today - it was a vast change - and I was swept into it too. I feel like an old hippie though a cleaned up one. I often think how my own dd, now almost 30, grew up in a time of relative calm by comparison. I have both of my parents journals from their high school and college days which I treasure (late 30s-early 40s). But...I also came across some that I wish I had not seen. They should have been destroyed so that those left behind would not see them.

[JaneV2.0]

The sixties (seventies) were exciting, transformative years, that's for sure. I was never really a hippie, but most of the ideas of that time resonate with me--except for that communal thing.

[Rogar]

I think I kept forgetting to keep a journal in the early 70's for some strange reason, but I did keep logs of my vacations which were mostly backpacking and camping. They are fun to look at now and some of the pages are smeared with bugs or chocolate. I had a small number of diary type journals and last years I tore out all the painful and awkward memories that seem unimportant now.

[Gardenarian]

I was a kid in the 60s too. My cabin is located at pretty much hippie central - the birthplace of the Merry Pranksters and the Magic Bus, home of Neil Young - and I love the wild independent freedom vibe that is still going strong there.

"I also feel that although I was young in the sixties, that I am basically a grown up hippie that doesn't do drugs, drink or swear!"
me too! though I wouldn't swear to the grown up part. :-)

[Polliwog]

I turned 20 in 1964 and don't have any journals from that time. But memory serves. I was going through hard times at home - didn't know who I was or where I was going, except to get married - which I did in 1967. That marriage was almost a mistake from the beginning although it lasted 12 unhappy years. I was very WASPY in those years and didn't appreciate the counter-culture and all the lessons to be learned. I do now. I just watched a documentary on The Eagles and it really took me back to that time in the 60s and 70s. In some ways, those years were the best. The richness of many of the experiences still resonates today.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I was very WASPY in those years and didn't appreciate the counter-culture and all the lessons to be learned. I do now.

oh but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

[razz]

Life was so busy in the 60's and I was so poor that I remember very little of them. Having these journals would have been something unique to help recall the experiences.

[CathyA]

It was a great time.......when (some) people really started thinking about things and not just going through life like a robot...........Women's rights, education, the environment, war, materialism, etc. Its about time for another one of those eras!

[JaneV2.0]

Free love, mind-altering drugs, rock and roll...:~):0!:cool:

[pinkytoe]

Just the other day I was thinking about all the terminology we used then:
Significant other - my old man, my old woman
Wonderful - Far out
to Like - dig
So many others...