Mere hours after I write this article, my good friends will take the stage to perform our university's production of "HAIR," an iconic musical written in the 60s about the legendary "age of love." The past few weeks, as I worked as a sound tech on the show, I have come to realize some things that are changing my perspective on my own generation. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the old adage, “what goes around comes back around” is undeniably true. And you’d have to live under a rock to not encounter a girl sporting a “bohemian” look or a guy with shoulder-length locks nowadays. With the resurgence of the natural hair movement, the current popularity of middle-parted, down-to-there hair, and the unbelievable amount of flower prints floating around, it is beyond clear that the fashion of the late 60s is upon us once again.
The picture above may as well be my roommate and I out on a picnic. Yet, the revisit of hippie culture is going far, far beyond floral and fringe.
Just like the protestors of the late 60s, we are fostering new ideas. We are focusing on love in a world of hatred. We have become disillusioned to the idyllic world our parents knew. Our generation, despite popular belief that we are lazy, is incredibly aware and active in the world. We seek peace, not conflict. We are concerned with social injustices and the wrongs of the world. It is our generation participating in the Black Lives Matter movement. It is the females of my generation that are working to close the wage gap. It is us who are protesting against the Syrian crisis. We are registering to vote; we are going to the polls.
Not only have we re-embraced circular sunglasses, we have re-learned the concept of peaceful, unadulterated caring. Welcome to the second age of love.
