Colorado - Home of the first Rainbow Gathering - 1972

Most people have heard of Woodstock, but not as many have heard of a Rainbow Gathering. These have been going on since 1972; the first one was in Colorado. Although yesterday I expressed that it seems like all the hippies were gone by the time I started kindergarten, the fact is, they are still around. You just don't see them everywhere you go, as in the late 60's / early 70's. One place you can still find them is at a Rainbow Gathering - a gathering of peace and love. People share with each other or trade items there, rather than exchange currency.

I couldn't help but chuckle when the guy in this video was talking about smoking a joint, and the way he sounded so mellow while talking about it, plus the joint photos to go along with it. It's that aspect that freaks non drug users out the most.

These Rainbow Gatherings are located in a different national forest in the US every year, and I know that scares many of the local folks. What is so scary about human beings gathering for a week to focus on peace and love? Is it the way they look? Or, is it the idea of some of them smoking pot? I've actually never used drugs myself, not even pot, and I have no interest in giving it a try. So, I'm in that group of people who should be freaked out by pot smokers. But, if the worst that some of them do is smoke pot, they can't be that bad. They're not going to do anything violent to anybody.

So many teenagers smoke pot these days in every suburban neighborhood, but without the love and peace point of view - they're just smoking it to "party". So, as long as these colorful hippies don't drive anywhere after smoking pot, they are really no threat (they are camping anyway, so not driving off). Their main purpose is to focus on peace and love. I've never understood why pot must accompany that for some people, but again, if that's the worst thing anyone at one of those gatherings does, it's just not a big deal.

Maybe there's a way to achieve a bit of that peaceful and loving feeling inside and towards others even for those of us who haven't been to a Rainbow Gathering. You don't have to go to a festival to celebrate peace and love. Here are a few peaceful things we can do now:

We could try to be complaint-free.

We could do some random acts of kindess.

We could plant sunflowers.