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existential hippie

As I walked into work today, I realized that hippies rarely if ever suffer through an existential crisis. Maybe I’m just stereotyping, but I think I’m right. I can’t imagine some hippie rolling off his dirty futon some early afternoon, drawing deep off some heady nugs that he packed the night before, turning on some jamming tunes, cooking up some scrambled eggs and then collapsing into a ball of anxiety, struggling for breath as he ponders the meaninglessness of life.

I guess it’s possible, but it’s definitely not common. Much more likely is the hippie staring at the eggs in his pan, when a ray of light that he confuses with the divine cuts through the glass and refracts into a rainbow vision of Jesus Christ. The rainbow Christ causes the hippie to explore a copy of the bible that he picked up for 50 cents at a yard sale 3 years before. The bible draws him in and he realizes that the movie, the Matrix was really just about Jesus. The hippie becomes born again on-the-spot and never looks back.

I’m not going to become a hippie and I haven’t collapsed into any balls of anxiety, but this morning as I walked into work, I wondered why I was doing it. I stood in Rittenhouse Square watching people in suits and people in hardhats and construction belts trudging thoughtlessly towards their respective livelihoods. I decided that I’d rather build something solid like a tall building that I could point to it and say “I installed the electrical system in that tower,” than put on a suit and make tedious documents, legal promises and enough money so that I could live in the tall building.

All in all, I’d rather not do either of those things. I decided that I didn’t want to continue on to work at all. I wanted to go to a bookstore and read for a while, then maybe have a cup of coffee and catch up on the news. After that I’d go for a walk. It would be late afternoon and the light, wind and cold temperatures would make for some great photos. I’d stand on a pleasing block and shoot men in suits as they clutched their hats and walked headfirst into the wind.

I thought of all of this as I walked into work.