Do You Have Choices? Is It All Destiny?

 Or is it just that danged Murphy?

While I might be considered a "Believer"... I'm not one who believes in Fate... or some Organized, preordained Plan that controls my trail. I mean... if what I'm gonna do and where I'm gonna go was already written down somewhere then why, If I've no control, am I strugglin' so hard to sort it out? In fact, if those decisions were already made, why even get out of bed of a morning? Let the 'stand in' speak my "part".

Nope. I believe in Free Choice. Either I have it... or I don't. Now... of course that is tempered a lil' bit by that danged lil' Irish prankster... but then I do have the option to rope his beer swillin' behind and brand him up a bit... maybe even notch an ear or two!

Along the same lines, I don't much believe in the fatefull; "It wasn't meant to be" ~ or ~ "When your number is up your number is up" kind of thinking either. I just don't... I won't believe that the world around us makes our choices for us. Obstacles and difficulties by the bus load are thrown up sure... but... the choices are ours.

Fact is... there's been a time or four that it sure appeared that my Number Was Up. Only, bein' the stubborn buster I am... I refused to accept that. I Chose different.

My thinking is... Everything a body needs was put down here for us to use. If we waste it, that's our choice and the consequences are ours. If we husband what was put together for our use, and manage it wisely, it's Shining Times., and again, by our choices.

Now... THAT, managing Wisely, is something easier said than done ain't it? Since Wisely comes out of wisdom... and Wisdom comes from scars... Even doing it Right sorta means doing it painfully wrong a time or three!

But, in the end I think success or failure, is mostly dependent on how much we want something, and the choices we make in pursuit of Jack Palances "One Thing".  It's also colored by how much of the "Rest" (our secondary ambitions) we're willing to sacrifice to overcome the obstacles we find along the way; To find, achieve and hold on to That One Thing.

Remember that? Jack's Line in the City Slickers film?

Jack asks Billy Crystal; "Do you know what the secret to life is?"

    Billy answers; "No, what?"

    Palance answers: "One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean sh*#."

    Crystal looks puzzled and asks, "That's great, but what's the one thing?"

    "That's what you've got to figure out."

That's the bottom line of most ever'thing I write about and that; You stick to that One Thing... and everything else don't mean sh*#!!

The inmates of the Goin' RV Boondocking Fifth Wheel and Cowboy Biker Publishing Empire are approaching one of those 'Choices of Wisdom' forks in the road I'm thinking.

How many times have I knocked the dust off my soap box on a tirade 'bout "Avoiding the slithering entrapment of credit?" Or... how it'd be best to swear off the stuff and dig your way out of it, assuming that, like pretty much ever'body else in this soh-sigh-uh-tee, you'd taken a taste... and then like the sailor on his first shore leave... got staggering, face-in-the-mud plastered on the hooch! 

Again, easier said than done. When you're on the shady side of the mountain and can see the good years NOT stretching Out of Sight in Front of You any longer... and that Brick Wall of Mortality comin' at you in a rushin' hurry... the patience required to exercise the alternative to credit kind of loses it's shine... don't it? :)

Choices... Always choices and judgements.

Yeah, well... I guess Avoid and Best are the operative words here, since in this world the only available choices are often the two that have you deciding twixt the Devil and his Demon Sidekick. Unless you're willing to sit and wait, hoping that maybe if you hold your ears right, the clouds will part, the sun will come out, and suddenly everything will be all sweetness and light.

OK... That's a nice thought... But you're not sitting there holding your breath right? and... just in case you haven't noticed... I'm not real long on patience any more. There was a time, as others have said, that I had "the patience of an oyster"... Now? Not so much.

Our rig was supposed to be a lil' different than it is... a little stronger, a lil' better shape... But... the choices I had, the obstacles presented, and the pursuit of That One Thing... has us where we sit. The most important was protected but with a cost to the rest.

... and like Jack promised; all that "everything else?" ... "don't mean sh*#!" ;)

Now, I might get philosophical 'bout a lot of things but it don't mean I tee total ignore reality and everything else. Philosophy is the controls of the boat. The Rudder. It helps me keep things in perspective.

The point is... though I'd like to never use credit again, I'd like to never work for "The Man" again, I'd like to be as Free as the Beaver and the Wolf; The Reality of my Freedom is tempered as is that of the Beaver.

Sure he's Free and can live where ever he chooses... but he's gotta keep a wary eye for the Wolf too! If he wants to avoid being just another Freely Hunted meal on the Wolf's list of Gourmet Wildlife Feasts.

I can see the writing on the wall, some many miles down the road. We've used this Old rig hard, and it has miles left in it for sure... But how many? Is it wiser to wait until we're parked in a high mountain camp north of the back side of beyond... when it craps out? or... get out in front of it... and do something about it before we're backed into a corner where time and situation whittles our options to those that are fewer and less tasty. But, doing "something" means the use of money I don't have... again... the choices and the balancing of priorities.

So... I'm bein' a lil' ambiguous here... with intent. We have choices to make, and realities to accept, and eventually, we'll make 'em and accept 'em. Bein' fortunate to be blessed with a good tolerance for risk and a Fairly clear vision of what's most important to me, I take what comes and deal with it, one way or the other. I'll fly high or I'll crash hard...  Without a whole lot of grey in between. It's how it has always been for me, and how it will always be.

If I crash and burn? While it can be wearisome...it holds few fears. Been there ~ Done that! :) I'll stand back up...lift up My right foot... stick it out in front of me... and Start over... again. Either way, it'll be a hell of a ride! :)

You have choices to make as well. The only advice I can offer is; One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean sh*#."

 "That's what you've got to figure out."  ... In the mean time, I'll be...

Chasing My One Thing... Always
Brian