The same view that I enjoy from the window of my rig for about two dollars---yes--just two dollars.
And these wonderful trails are just one mile away.
And the sunsets thrill me as much as the "People over there."
And here is the sad part----The "people over there" ---feel the need to close themselves off---from the rest of the world. Here's the locked gate. Frost's poem: Mending Wall came to mind.
"Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.
....Before I built a wall, I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out.
And to whom I was like to give offense."
Naturally, I want to go there to see what this Shangralai can teach me. And I managed to do so----rumbling 6 miles down a washboard road to a party at the community center. I noticed many places for sale and chatted with some property owners. I got the impression they feel trapped---by an ill considered vision of the good life. One told me that he had sunk so much money into his lot and house that he couldn't afford to escape the bitter winters.
RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:
AAAhh dear readers---Which side of the lake do you choose? Want to possess and be possessed by a house and land over there? Want to pay the price and live in a gated community over there?--- Or mingle with the masses over here? The land over there serves 2 hundred---this land serves 2 thousand ---in a weekend.
A curious incident at the party is instructive: As the music played, a spunky lady and I got up and danced. The crowd broke into applause as we whirled---seemingly delighted at our boldness. I asked myself if secluded communities breed timidity.
18 comments:
exquisitely well written post... and how true it seems!
I totally agree: down here in Brazil virtually the entire middle classe lives in what are little more then expensive prisons, with their gates, razor wire, gatekeepres and high walls; an amazing contrast to the luxurious scenery surrounding them
I'm in the middle. A wanderer with a need for a tad bit of security :)
Beautiful.
Thank you for writing this. I was just having this discussion with a new acquaintance.
I started with this to Jeff:
How do feel about using the Crit Group to suggest participating in a Guerrilla Art Show? We publicize a date, get people interested through correspondence and then post the location in some public park or parking lot the day before. We cut out all the middle men and the underlying reason why middle men exist, because Real Estate is Fraud. : )
Jeff said,
If not there is no responsibility. Look at section 8 housing, compared to communities where people own their homes. When people “own” things people respect them a lot more. There are some great articles about it. One instance was in Paris they gave free bikes out to people to cut down traffic. People were throwing the bikes off bridges on roofs. They didn’t care cause it wasn’t theirs. That is my riff.
Michael:
That's a good point about people taking care of stuff they own. I forgot about that. When I was married I went to China. My ex is Chinese, not a mail order bride as some of my friends liked to joke, but a well educated lawyer. Anyway the places on the exterior were a mess because people didn't own it. But inside where they lived it was beautiful.
-----
My thoughts at this point are to first forward your post to Jeff and see what he thinks. But I'm thinking that the problems with the Communist blight may have to do with overpopulation but mostly the states involvement. The John Stossel report on Freeloaders seems to show more examples of how state involvement creates blight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OQjlzh279E
I haven't come to any conclusions yet.
For some reason Blogger stripped out my link for Real Estate is Fraud. I guess if something is enclosed in "greater than" > or "less than" < symbols it gets taken out.
Here it is
http://theperplexity.blogspot.com/2010/08/real-estate-is-fraud.html
Randy:
Is there an email where I can write to you directly?
Thanks
Thanks all for your insights. You've caused me to think more deeply about the issue. It is true that private property, generally, is cared for better. Public property like parks, Forests, rivers etc require tax monies to maintain them. The proper balance of public and private stuff is an ongoing issue that I think is being debated and handled reasonably well.
My point in this blog is something of a spiritual one: OWNING MORE STUFF THAN IS NECESSARY IS SOUL SHRINKING FOLLY.
Owning less stuff is the future. (the thousand books I now own can be stored on a small kindle---pictures likewise on my computer)
The need to own things is diminishing---- and each step toward nothing makes us more free to do the things humans really enjoy---think, talk, love, create, evolve.
The people "over there" are burdened with much that we "over here" have side stepped. I have oodles of time to write this blog.
Anonymous: my personal e-mail address is in the heading of my blog.
I certainly dont advocate development...I think its time to work on Population control so we dont have the need for MORE land to be devoted to living space...but one BIG point you are missing, dear friend, is that not everyone thinks the same way and has the point of view, the same politics,,, but IF we all had the same point of view, the same lifestyle...What would be the point to keep the search lights on? We have to chose different paths in order to remain individuals....Enjoy it while its there!! (in a perfect world eh?)
Randy:
I should have noticed your email address, but I was looking for it elsewhere on the page.
Thanks.
First of all a very well and insightful post.
Just recently after getting closer to an age that makes me want to do less work and maybe enjoy just roaming around and appreciating the fruits of my labors I'm hit full force in the face of what to do with all this useless accumulation of property and all it's trappings? I'm not new to the RV scene as I still enjoy trips in my Fiver which I work on the road with. I do not wish to burden the kids with all this excess, but the money involved to just maintain this stuff is stupid. What I wonder is why this just hit me at age 66?
Parker: I think you just entered the 3rd stage of life. (1st--student--2nd householder---3rd the urge to simplify, wander, discover oneself, express oneself)
Go ahead---lighten up--come on in--yhe weather's fine----and if it isn't--you can drive to where it is.
Randy, 3rd stage probably nails these feelings down. Over the years while working up to seven months on the road living in my trailer, paying for full hookups on a mostly monthly basis (save a little money) is when I began to think of the nonsense of this method of living. Taxes,utilities, insurance, people to keep the yard and water when needed. Yes it was nice when you passed thru town for a day or two or even a couple of months. Even though I still was responsible for the expenses of these properties when I was on the road I still felt Free. I think my 4th stage might be owning only that which requires licensing and liability insurance in order to move around the country.
Randy you are on to something and I appreciate your sharing of your thoughts. Man I bet you sleep good at nights!!
You know Randy, I really enjoyed your view of the world. I looked forward to your posts, to seeing what you were doing, what you would share of your way of life.
Then to talked about killing the old because they were boring.
With that one little inhumane admittance I lost all respect for you.
I try, I really do but the spark I used to find in your writing and wanderings is just not there.
The world is full of monsters and evil, seems you are just another person in that crowd.
But your photos are still great!
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That's what feeds my love affair with houseboats -- or just about anything that floats. The most expensive real estate in the world is where land meets water. It can cost millions to be on the dry side of that magic line, but I can bob along on the wet side (or even on the dry side -- up to the high water line) for FREE!
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It's sad that someone would spend their live's energy (and savings) to end up STUCK in one place like a land-locked salmon . . . yearning for the open sea with no possible way to get there . . . majoring in the minors -- wasting all those precious hours mowing grass and trimming bushes just to impress all the others who are mowing grass and trimming bushes. What grand aspirations such folks have! I've yet to see the headstone which proudly proclaims, "S/He had the nicest yard on the block."
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sail4free
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Jim: Beautifully said: "majoring in the minors"-----"trapped like a landlocked salmon"---wish I'd thought to put it that way---thanks! (interestingly this lake is stocked with kokanee salmon that are lake locked---was told that they try to swim out of the only inlet)
Anonymous: Re: my rant against whimpering old age: Thanks for speaking straight to me---refreshing and useful. I sort of understand how you feel---I find it hard to respect anyone who does not believe in evolution or a woman's right to choose.
I re read my rant---and yeah it was a rant--not calmly considered but I leave it as is because I felt that way at the time--and probably still do. I'm confident you misunderstand my position---I simply want to end the super-expensive---end of life care that is impoverishes us all. Last night's documentary said that if we ended that kind of hopeless medicine---the medicare problem would be solved.
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RANDY: "I'm confident you misunderstand my position---I simply want to end the super-expensive---end of life care that impoverishes us all."
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My "banana van" holds 68 gallons of fuel and I love idling away the hours at slow speed on backcountry roads. One day I got so far back in the hills that I knew I didn't have enough fuel to make it back out the same way I came in. So -- worriedly -- I pressed on . . . hoping against hope that I would break out into civilization somewhere BEFORE the fuel ran out. I finally came to a paved road in a mountain valley with a beautiful river and deep jade green pools running down through an even deeper canyon. In that moment, I visualized myself living on the edge of that cliff and diving -- each morning -- off the cliff and into the river . . . only to struggle mightily to climb back up the cliff as best I could. I knew a day would come that I wouldn't make it back up that cliff, but at least I would die knowing I was never a financial burden on anyone . . . and I would die with my dignity, self-awareness, and a reasonable level of physical and mental health and mobility intact.
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This business of extending life to the last possible second completely ignores ALL quality of life issues. If you don't know who you are anymore? If you don't recognize your loved ones anymore? What's the point? WHO (aside from doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, and Big Pharma) benefits from this nonsense? And if somebody plays the "sacredness of life" card, I'm gonna' puke.
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sail4free
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Jim,
Very well put and this is about as straight forward and thought out as possible. I'm glad that we live in a Country that values Life but when there is no chance of recovery why in the World would one desire to be put thru the torture chambers of trying to coax one more breath from the body. We as a Nation Honor life as we should, but it seems as tho we have forgot to honor Death. Do we as a christian nation have second thoughts of our beliefs? After all the goal is to sit at the feet of God. For me let me go when I no longer know you, go in good faith that you have followed my wishes, do not prolong the inevitable. Also do not worry about my Soul! My peace comes from within and you would not know this place as I would not know yours.
I say all of this because of the experiences of death that I have seen at my age of 66. Needless tests, MRI's, Xrays, poking and prodding, meds that go straight into a bag! All to feed the GREED of Drs., labs and Hospitals. When you finally have enough and say no more! They send them Home, where they should be, soft music playing,loved ones around if they have them, all celebrating their life with them as they pass in Dignity!!
Seems as tho I did a Rant! Never in a post have I done this. But it seemed to me the time! Randy please feel free to delete this post as I feel this might not be appropriate.
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