Ever Buy a Gizmo... and Only Read Part of the Paperwork That Came With It?

Everyone seems to have little trouble seeing my description of the problem... but seem to stop reading there and miss the rest of the story. The part where I lay out how I deal with those problems.

Like yesterday. I get the feeling all people see is the sunset / downer part and don't read on to see the sunrise. You know what? There isn't reason for doom and gloom, unless it is your choice to do nothing. I believe there IS reason for hope and celebration.

"Huh? You write about the end of the world as we know it and then you come back all sweetness and light? What gives Cowboy? Huh?"

Yes sir. In the greatest tribulations lay the greatest opportunities. Fred said it the other day in a comment; "We The People could do it!"

He is right. But... It will take a basic change in core Philosophy. A turn away from the philosophy that "I have a Right to what you have" and a reversion to old ways. Those old ways being a return to a self sufficient mentality. That place where you are responsible for you.

But, Shouldn't the "Community" help people when misfortune comes calling?

You bet!

How-some-ever, that "Help" from community should be a cultural thing; voluntarily born out of a sense of community. Neighbor helping Neighbor... as in the old days on the farms and ranches. NOT... a redistribution as a matter of routine living by gov't edict.

... Otherwise, it is simply theft under color of law.

In the end, like you demand of your children when they reach the age of maturity; We must demand that each individual stand on his own two feet. We must insist that each person be responsible and accept the consequences of their decisions.

They should Not be encouraged to pawn them off on the community while they run off to stack up a laundry list of New poor decisions. People must be required to endure the consequences (pain) of their bad choices and learn from their mistakes.

Now I can already hear the caterwauling of those who are gonna have to do without and not have all the freebies they insist are their Right... Save your breath. I can't hear that noise any more.

:) Look people. Here's the deal as I see it. There's us and there's them. That's the consequence of their choices. They set about to divide us and they succeeded. But, like Satan his own self, their power is all in their talk. They have no magical ability to force people to be stupid. They can only coerce and use tricks and cons. The only way they can achieve anything is by conning folks into following their lead... Pretty much like a Judas goat.

So... don't follow! Don't listen to the doublespeak and deceptions. When it's all said and done, there is little they can do if you won't play the game.

Yup, it's uncomfortable. Stepping out from the imagined security of the system is a downright scary deal at first. But people, that security they've promised is ALL smoke and mirrors!

I've talked to people who had just "boondocked" for the first time.  They were nigh on to quivering in their fear of goblins and ghosts they imagined would come raging out of the dark. It pretty much amazes me. They walked down the street back home without a care, with kooks and cretins running all around them... yet in the silence and purity of the high up and lonesome... they quiver in fear. Simply amazing.

I've been robbed. I've been assaulted. I've been conned. I've had misfortunes... almost universally... down there in town.

Yo! People! Those ghosts that keep you from chasing the joy of your Freedom are all imaginary. They have been planted in your minds by the bossman in his effort to keep you strapped in the traces. They are the phony chains used to con you into being your own jailer!

At the end of the day, your greatest ability to provide for your welfare, good fortune, happiness and security do not reside in some gov't program. The best provider of all those things is YOU. They live in building your own personal ability to adjust to events and deal with whatever comes down the road!

For instance, there's an old saying; When seconds count, the police will be there in MINUTES. Think about that. There are seconds to deal with whatever is happening. "Help" will not arrive for five minutes or more... What are YOU going to do?

You have a small cooking fire in your kitchen... do you really want to wait MINUTES for the Fire Department to show up? or... would it be better to have provided yourself with the tools to deal with such a possibility yourself, while the blaze is still small, and with little or no damage? What are YOU going to do?

Most of the issues of life are likewise best dealt with personally; on your  own string and on your own initiative. What are YOU going to do?

Is it better to depend on gov't handouts if you become unemployed? or would it be better to have fallback savings or better yet, skills to employ to keep hearth and home rolling along?

Is it better to depend on yourself, or to be dependent on some benevolent gov't agency to hold your hand? Is it better to stand as a man, battered by life but proud and enduring? or a slave on his knees; dependent on benevolent ??? Gov't?

Is the way I live the best for everyone? Hell no. Not even close. While the details of my way of going may not be, the basic environment of it is. That basic environment is Freedom. The Right to my own choices and the Right to own the property produced by my labor and sweat.

What is the right trail for you to follow? How in hell should I know? I'm busy enough figuring out my own way. What fits me and my life is unlikely to be a good fit for you. That's what Freedom is! Finding the life that fits YOU! Ya'll need to set about doing your own cogitating on your situation.

That's the whole deal. The whole joy. The WHOLE LIFE.  Confronting all the vagaries of life and finding the shining way through. Looking back with pride tempered by humility at what you encountered and what you found the way to overcome. The Shining life you built in spite of the difficulties that life is.

What is the way forward? That's an easy thing to answer; Forward! Building on what you did yesterday to grow your independence. To be more sovereign and Free with every passing day. To cull out those things and programs which denigrate and debilitate your ability to live. To live Your life in Freedom and the prosperity created by your own sweat and initiative.

Easy to answer. Hard work to do. Life is tough in the west. You have to make decisions based on your situation and your own inherent intelligence. You must find your own way. But at the end of the day, the self respect it creates is worth every drop of sweat and blood it took to produce.

Like yesterday, I finally got the insulation and belly pan reinstalled after the tank repair from back in Zion. On my own nickle. Sweaty, dirty and hands bleeding. But it was my crippled up keister (with a lil' help from my brother in law) that fixed that simple difficulty in my life. Not some gov't handout from some gov't program.

A small thing... but a Large Principle.

Sweating and Bleeding
Brian