The Occupy Wall Street gatherings in cities around the world make me think the spirit of the 60’s is finally returning. It’s about time, and hopefully in the nick of time.

The people camped out near Wall Street and across the globe are voicing the outrage of the silent majority who are saying, loud and clear, “enough is enough.”

I was one of the baby boomers who voiced that outrage in the 60’s about the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and the corruption in our government. We said it in non-violent, peaceful protests that galvanized the silent majority, led by a generation of long-haired, pot-smoking lovers of rock and roll and folk music. Give peace a chance. Make love not war. Those were our mottos.

That spirit is evident in the Wall St. protests. There are a lot of long haired youth in tie dyes in the current movement. There are also teachers, union members, senior citizens, mostly liberal and independents, a wide cross section of society. They’ve had enough of the corporate cronyism between big business and Congress that has led to the epochal disparity between the richest 1% and the rest of us. They’ve said “enough” to Wall St. traders whose purpose is to make a killing for themselves and their bosses and to screw the rest of us. “Enough”  to the corruption and greed that have led to the rape and pillage of our planet’s natural resources. “Enough” to the crassness of the Tea Party movement and the pitiful idiocy of the current slate of Republican candidates and leadership.

As a baby boomer and proud aging hippie, I’m delighted to see the spirit of the 60’s reborn in today’s youth. Many of us from that era have been focused on earning a living, doing our best to bring good products and services into the world, practicing “right livelihood” as much as possible. Our political activity has been tempered by the need to make a living, and to help others do the same.

Here’s hoping this new movement will help us finally move out of the industrial revolution mindset of this being a dog eat dog world, into a new age of cooperation and prosperity. The writing is on the wall. It has been for some time. The planet can no longer sustain us if we continue to rape and pillage its resources for short term greed. A paradigm change is percolating under the surface of the Occupy Wall St. movement. It’s calling for a different way of being, peace over power, compassion over selfishness, cooperation over greed. It’s time to cultivate our humanity, not our portfolios.