hippie gazing

by Alice Mulford

A while back, while I was sitting outside the old Student Center, I decided to write about the people around me. I was gazing across the great lawn at the beautiful tie-dyed people under the trees. I was painfully reminded of the weak conversation I always have with any one of them whenever I attempt. I don’t blame them for this. It’s my own shy nature, and has nothing to do with me or them lacking in conversational skills.

They look so different next to the practically uniformed majority of campus. There are so few of them that it’s like dumping a macaw in amongst a flock of sparrows.

I wonder what it is that makes them so different. I wonder what they believe. I am fascinated and terrified by them. When I think about it, though, how different can people be? Why should it be any harder for me to find a topic of conversation with one of them than for me to talk to a football player? If anything, it should be easier. I’ve stereotyped them all as brilliant and artistic, two traits I would never pin on a football player, and two things I boast.

Underneath their bright and whimsical exterior, I expect they have plenty in common with me. I’ve tried talking to a couple of them. I find I am tongue-tied by Ted. I draw a blank around Kelly. Jake I (verbally) tackled several times before I finally found common ground between us, and while the portal was open, we covered many topics and I realized that he thought he was normal. He grew uncomfortable when we discussed his “popularity.” He rejected the title of hippie. It didn’t occur to him that he and his friends seemed so unreachable.

Things we have in common: We like coconut. We don’t set out to hurt people. We are naturally flirtatious, and are usually oblivious to it. We both think of ourselves as being awkward around the opposite sex. We are faithful to our respective religions. We don’t try to be different, we just Are. We don’t like lies.

I have no deep thought-provoking conclusion to this. It was just one of those experiences that felt important – realizing that some people don’t put themselves in a labeled box. Some people are who they are by nature, and not by choice.