Might just as well as say, why do we get out of bed in the morning? Oh, let's see ... to avoid bed sores? Maybe it is to get some chores done? How about the taming of that wild hunger of the bellie? To enjoy the feeling of accomplishing something? Maybe it is far more simple, like needing to drain the bladder or the bowels or both? Maybe it is a ravenous craving that is calling ~ caffeine, or tar and nicotine? I don't know, why do you try? Any and/or all of the above? Or does something else inspire and drive you forward? Please feel free to chime in.
Personally I drifted aimlessly after graduation from high school in 1973. Nothing really inspired or caught my eye as being something that I really wanted to do in or with my life. Being rather uninspired, the feeling of accomplishment has eluded me for most of my life. I got by, and did what I had to do to survive another day, week, month, year ...
I grew up on a dairy farm, while doing the mandatory kindergarden through the 12th grade of school. So yes I started working at a very tender age, childhood was questionable at best. Neither my younger brother nor I wanted any part of the family farm, so in the fall of the year that I graduated, the family farmstead went on the market. After that I drifted from place to place, state to state, job to job. Through the college of hard knocks, for the last ... let's see ... 39 years now. I did find a little passion in my ability to cook. So the restaurant industry became the interment with which to pay for my way through life.
In all of these 39 years, for one reason or another, I ended up basically living on the street, about 4 times. I admit this not for any one's sympathy, nor guilt on my part, but to illustrate a point ~ I know how to, and ways to survive when am down on my luck. I never begged on a street corner. But if some one wanted to give me a helping hand, I never refused them. How ever I made certain to run away from all of the "slave trade" of governmental "hand outs" and "programs designed to help". Because they are designed to only help one entity, big government. So with more slaves to house and feed as cheaply as possible, while stealing more and more from the tax payers. OOPS! I am sorry, but it seems that politics is drifting into the conversation again.
Now where was I? Oh yes, opportunity has finally come knocking. It also has brought along passion and the promise of the feeling for accomplishment. Or at least something to work at, that is bigger than myself at last. The ways to go about this are many, and all are clouded in the misty fog of uncertainty. But self is pushing forward to try to fill a long empty void, the need to feel passionately about something. This blog is part of that push. Along with some friends who say that "I have a way with words". To them I say thank you as I struggle onward.
OK, now I know that everyone is wondering, "What is it?" That has gotten me hooked into starting something in my 58th year of life. Well to say the least, it is to try to help my fellow mankind if I can. Maybe not everyone, but more along the lines of those who are down on their luck. Or those who see the end of a lifestyle coming at them, for what ever reason. Or those who have been pushed out of society and thrown to the wolves or to the street corner as it were. Yes, the newly down on their luck.
Thanks in a large part to http://www.atomiczombie.com/ a website that I stumbled across a couple of years ago. They offer plans on building bikes, trikes and quadracycles, from hacking up unwanted bicycles for parts, then rebuilding those parts into some things that are different, eye catching, exciting, unique and comfortable to ride. There is also a forum with the site, that has an active brother/sisterhood from around the world. Who will offer advice and aid when they can, however they can.
With the Atomic Zombie website, their forum and gallery of other people's builds, and with some imagination thrown into the mix, I should be able to help quite a few newly-down-on-their-luck people. Maybe some cheap pedal powered transportation is all that they would need. Or maybe something like, oh let's see ... a micro mini super small camper. The kind that to change your mind in, you would have to go outside to do when you are living out of one of them. Then maybe, just maybe they can learn to survive and restart their lives again.
What do I mean by a micro mini super small camper? Well ... I'm not quite sure, it just sounded like a good title and description of them. OK, all joking aside let's take a look at the modern RV industry. Camp trailers of all shapes and sizes and options, bus campers from moderate to luxurious, class-C campers and van campers, all chugging and guzzling along on gas and diesel fuel, that is getting more expensive almost every day. Why??? Or better yet, How??? How can that be called camping? Those are just a type of mobile housing, some are even complete with the latest gadgetry as well. Just because you can do a Thing, should or must you do the Thing?
Why not alter the Thing, to a small and environmentally friendly Thing? Being pedal powered mainly, with an electrical assist by using rechargeable batteries. Or if petrol powered, there are many small engines 50cc and smaller on the market. That way many of your hard earned coins, could be saved for other necessities ~ like maybe food. Also living small and close to the land, why not try mobile gardening in flower pots? After all vegetables do flower. Maybe running a snare line in the woods, to garner some fresh wild(ish) meat? Surviving off of the land, can help those who know how to do it.
Let me try to sum this all up ... You see that building on a smaller scale, and with out massive engines to feed and maintain. Then surviving is a whole lot easier. Transportation that you build yourself, or working with a builder on, can teach new skills. Also a less hectic way of life can be learned. Do you want a small camper pulled by a bicycle, tricycle or a quadracycle? Maybe it would be better for you if they were combined into one unit. The possibilities really are endless, just remember to think small and compact, for when you look in the mirror you are looking at the perfect engine ~ just maybe a little rusty ... maybe. Downsizing to the barest of essentials is the necessity for surviving hard economical times.
Be they personal or on a larger scale ...
No comments:
Post a Comment