a hippie by any other name...
I read several hippy mama blogs, so this shouldn't be surprising to me, but somehow it still strikes right in my cognitive dissonance center when another hippy mother makes a radically different decision from me. I just assume that if someone is crafty and eats locally that she would also, for example, I don't know, do a home-birth or home-school her kids or something like that. Then when I read an article like "Ten ways to pack an organic lunchbox" I'm all confused. Just today I was reading a blog today where the mother started by writing, "When my doctor looked at the ultrasound and told me that I was having a girl..." and I was all, "Wait what? Ultrasound? Who are you and why am I reading?"
There are many different kind of hippies, it seems, each of whom define hippiness in their own way. For example, you'll probably NOT be surprised that I, as a self proclaimed hippy:
- buy local produce
- don't wear makeup
- birth my babies at home
- hate driving
- sew and mend clothing
- support homeschooling
- nurse my toddler
- don't have a tv
You may, however, be surprised to hear that I:
- eat meat
- fully vaccinate my child
- hate yoga
- never used a baby sling
- am suspicious of alternative medicine
It's kind of fun to think of the ways one does and doesn't fit a counter-cultural sub-mold. I'm anti-circumcision but pro-birth-control. I'm environmentalist but I cherish the invention of durable plastic (like tupperware). I hate consumer culture but I LOVE IKEA. Well, I don't know if that last one is really a divisive issue. Who in the world doesn't love IKEA?
I'd hope that the salient feature of hippiedom is a spirit of free-thinking, which would imply that we're likely to reach different conclusions about many issues. It makes me wonder if there is any indivisible quality, without which hippiness is impossible. I dunno, I've never met a hippie who drove an SUV. But I could be wrong...