No...I'm not complaining about being physically tired. Sure...I do a lot. I work two jobs, both of which are at their busiest for the next two months. Yeah..., I've got two small children and try to be an involved and active parent. No doubt I'm married and try to be a loving husband who takes care of his wife. Of course there are those everyday responsibilities. But, that is not what I'm tired of.
I'm tired of "the man!"
I kinda say that with a lot of oomph and slight laughter. I don't mean to sound like the radical anarchist or the old man who's just tired of paying taxes on property he has already paid for. I'm tired of being fed the American lie. Seems the American dream has turned from freedom to slavery. We are constantly fed the idea that if we work hard or play it smart we can have this or that and if we don't we can always borrow money (go into debt) for it. It's always something we never needed before but now must have. Something to make life a little easier or more convenient. I'm sick of it! I'm tired of being told how I need to get money so I can have this or that, or how what I've got now is old and not good enough anymore and how I now need something "better."
But don't quit on me yet! I'm not putting up this post to whine and complain. There's enough of that happening all the time. I'm writing to say I want to do something about it! No, I'm not aiming to do anything extreme crazy. Counter culture, maybe...but not loose-my-mind insane. I'm not telling Erin she can't wear makeup, has to cook all day, and can't leave the house...yet (just kidding).
Really though, the question of what I can do to break away from the typical American/Western mindset has been plaguing my mind for quite sometime. It probably started when I thought I'd train to teach in order to make a positive impact on society, and found out via pay schedules how little society sees education as important. Then, over time realizing that in order to live a just barely middle class income American life, I've gotta work two jobs to keep my wife at home and that my family has to eat processed and unhealthy food to keep the grocery bill halfway reasonable, while still occasionally having to go into some debt to make it work.
Time to turn this thing around...for real! I'm slowly realizing that I don't have to have everything I think I need. I've never been a huge spender. I'm not going to say I've never bought something I didn't need or spent a little more on something I could have spent less on. I'm not foolish enough to make out my situation to be a total consequence of someone else's bad idea. But I can do with less. And probably in most cases I can do better with less. And not only can I do without certain things that are normally expected, but I can do a lot for myself without relying on "the man" to take care of it for me.
There is a definite movement in America in this direction. It seems that a lot of people are trying to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining. I want myself and my family to be a part of this movement. We've been slowly heading in this direction for sometime, but in the past couple weeks my mind has been churning on how to amp it up. This is the third year we've had a garden. While I enjoy it to a degree, it's not for the sake of a hobby that I'm trying to grow our own vegetables. I'm truly endeavoring to provide wholesome food for my family without paying extra hours of side work away from my family in the process.
Gardening is just the start. Overtime, I hope we as a family will slowly find ways to cut our spending and provide for ourselves as much as possible regarding our food and other resources. Our next project is installing a clothes line in the backyard (know the neighbors will love that). For years I've been wanting to get our recycling act together. That begins this week when I purchase some bins to get it organized. Also, we've reset out thermostat to allow a greater variance in temperature and are using windows and fans to compensate. Any other ideas are more than welcome. My dream would be to own a couple acres and have a mini-farm/homestead that's off the grid. While that dream is probably a ways away, I want to do what I can to move in that direction starting with the smallest changes. It's going to be a growing process, but I know we'll be better for it.
I'm hoping not to compare myself personally with other people. There will be those of you who read this post who make less money than I do, or who do without in ways I haven't experienced. Others look at my little bit of gardening and say, "really, is that all you're doing?"
With knowledge comes responsibility. While the cliche states that "you can't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see," it's obvious that the choices we've made to make our lives more "convenient" have most often negatively impacted the environment, the economy, our families, and ourselves. I truly hope to turn that around for my family as much as possible. I hope that this blog will provide a good outlet of what we're doing to move in that direction. Small steps in the right direction are better than no steps at all.
-g
Picture courtesy of Wind Power Authority
