Fascination from Afar

I have been meaning to post this for a while.

It is true that people are always more fascinated with things that they have never experienced. Or think that they have experienced, but have never really been emersed.

I recently began thinking about this on my family vacation to Asheville, NC. I personally am facinated with Asheville and all its glory. My sister has never been, but openly professed her undying fascination with the place as well. This is solely due to one word: hippies.

My parents, weeks before, kept referring to Asheville as a hippie town. And Abby loved this. She thinks hippies are "awesome". Since she has never been exposed to the sixties counterculture, being only twelve, her definition of hippie revolves around rainbows, peace signs, and hearts.

Imagine her expressions walking through Asheville experiencing real hippie culture. When tofu and vegetarian options were offered at every restaurant, she frowned. "Why would anyone want to eat that?" When sizing people up and down, she proclaimed their attire as "weird". She refused to listen to my explanation that they value comfort and room to be free and move. She also saw that my habit to dance whenever music appeared was shared by many others. I was not alone in her mockery.

The best was the night we went to the drum circle: people playing drums and everyone surrounding them, listening and dancing. I have rarely seen her so freaked out and bored at the same time. How is the act of people playing drums so entertaining? Why is everyone dancing? They look weird. Why are there so many weird people here? There is nobody normal.

Needless to say, my sister's fascination for hippies quickly dwindled after our vacation. She realized that the term "hippie" means a lot more than doodles on a sheet of paper.

She experienced the culture. Realized its not for her. and has now moved on to her next fascination: hobos. Let's hope her fascination for this doesn't fall with an experience.