Take me in a time machine

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have grown up in the 60's or 70's? I often do... there's a part of me that's a strong free spirit, despite becoming more and more of a realist and less and less of an idealist as I have aged. I think in my heart I'll always be the six year old that wanted to be an artist when I grew up, or the college kid that scared her roomate because she thought that locking doors was unnecessary (if people are poor enough to steal, they must need it more than me).

Sometimes when I see pictures of people from that era, I wonder what kind of people they are now. Whether they became yuppies, or still hippies or if they were soccer moms and trophy wives and wore bumper stickers that said "my son is a honor student at ___ high school" bumper sticker. Sometimes, I wonder, if my parents had grown up in the US, whether they would have been hippies... Would they have hummed along to the Beatles, and Led Zepplin, and gone to school dances in bell bottoms and big, flowery skirts? Would they have gotten caught smoking pot in the boy's locker room, and thought they could change the world with free love, and peace?

I know this post is about to take a sharp philosophical tangent, but I feel like we, as a generation, on average, are less idealistic than our parents generation was about things. We care way too much about material possessions, money, and are way too obsessed with looking hot and not aging. If you look at the commercials on tv, every other ad is some anti-wrinkle/cellulite cream, lip plumper, butt minimizer/maximizer, diet pill/miracle weight loss inducer, and etc... All our models get photoshopped and airbrushed so that they are perfect when we see them in magazines. I totally admit, I get caught up it too, but I feel like it's a pressure that my parents or grandparents generation didn't have to deal with as much.

Also, I read a news story about how most college graduates nowadays are more interested in how much money they can make with their degree, than what they can learn (this was a survey style study, and I guess they had polled college graduates from other eras as well, and compared the answers to recent college grads)... regardless, I don't blame them. The economy is shit, and it's a totally valid concern to look out for your own future well-being. I just wish it wasn't a necessary choice- that we could offer something better to these young people who are still relatively naive- that they did not have to choose between something they want to do, and something they do to make a secure future for themselves.