Vandwelling in the blood

[Unlocking Freedom]

While I never ran away I often went cAmping. Normal at 12. Not so much at six or seven. Dad would come find me in the forest by our house. Staying out overnight he’d ask. I said yes and usually he’d say see you for breakfast then. Sometimes Georgi Girl my 150 pound Saint would come along for the adventure. Sometimes I was alone.

Then like our camp counselor I joined the military.  Didn’t know then that it was designed to chew you up and spit you out. It choked on me and at the end of the day, recently speaking, I won. Lol.

Most certainly in the blood. The yearning for adventure devil usually getting the best of the safety angel. The longer you’re in Danger Close situations the more you see the reality of our fragile nature. Like any skill set it is learned slowly, and usually the tuition is pain.

Out the other side it’s not all rainbows and unicorns but it is freedom and the price for that is… Priceless.

I think the greatest gift is meeting weirdos like yourself and quietly sharing a drink by the fire with others.


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sierra1 , I never got gobbled up the military. With some of my friends they told me they joined as it was their only chance to "see the world", some had never been on a plane before! I am Anti War / Nuclear Disarmament. All the way back as a little 8 year old, i concluded that it is our human right, based on sheer existence to be constitutionally permitted land to build our home to live freely on.

Somewhere in the past we used our hand and legs and happily built our own homes, developed community. Then something truly crazy changed that into land not being out right, we were transformed in workers with currency, set by federal reserves, given identity cards and told to strap on machine guns and get parachuted into countries where we do not speak their language,nor know their history.

I've done a few degrees, am glad we invented the automobile, computers and stem cells. We have been over run by a criminal class that work above the law. War criminals going pretty much what ever they want, propaganda has become obvious since the masses have woken up now.

I think though the outcome is so sad that we do need something to reset it, like a financial collapse.

It happened when we justified drones, which most militarizes around the world have transferred to save on costs.

I'm 43 years old, get the occasional back pain, but with an acre of land, a concrete mixer and some power tools I still could build something pretty large and comfortable. But the tax man would come and bulldoze it down for building on land that "they" own.

[Unlocking Freedom]

Nobody says it better that Steinbeck

Cammalu, could you make the resolution sharper of the image you uploaded? it is only a couple of hundred pixels and blurry, I see you did a screen shot, could you copy and paste the text in the message instead.

I love  John Steinbeck, in my UK private school we read in class "of mice and men". I did not get at the time why Americans called a "bush" a "brush", but i did understand the notion of having the shoot a friend in back of the head when they becoming annoying trouble.

I have known a few "Lennies" in my life, with me being the "George".

[Scott7022]

I find that the greatest peaceniks are those that have tasted blood mixed with one’s own bile. Or they go the other way and like a close friend of mine get “Death and hatred toward all mankind” tattooed on their body and forever be the monster. Two ways to go. I try to avoid all conflict now and strive to find love for all creatures be they broken, Ill-programmed, or just stupid.

I know the savagery that is just below the surface and while I understand and respect that monster inside. Controlling it is a far greater challenge and more worthy challenge than just using it.

Yet I also never forget those that died before me and afforded us this gift of freedom. However watered down that freedom has become. I used to say I like Russia as it was more free. Many Russians called me on this point not believing it could be true. Those lucky enough to travel to the west understood after a few weeks what I was suggesting. Great freedom requires great training and responsibilities. The idea of being free, while at the same time knowing you have a Garmin connected to a satellite, and a first responder complex at the ready for extracting you after a foolish decision isn’t really the same thing. Lol. I am not suggesting you do. Only that many do!

Self reliant, freedom is almost a zen like pursuit. I remember sleeping in a tent while Grizzlies wandered the area. We’d see them daily hiking toward Tweedsmuir Glacier from the ocean. We had one shotgun, to make a loud noise not for killing. No real time for defense if you both have to sleep. An acknowledgment they are the alpha and I live another day by their leave.

Good lessons for a 16 year old.


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[Cammalu]

You can read what I quoted here: http://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/steinbeckj-tr...-00-h.html

It was the first paragraph. Great book.

[GotSmart]

One of the few rules on this forum is no political viewpoints. 

My youngest daughter spent a semester at Westminster University as an exchange student. Every weekend she and her classmates would go to a different country. One time Stonehenge and another time Rome. Amsterdam, Paris. She said it is like visiting a different American city only everyone was speaking a different language. The train system there is one major difference in the accessibility to travel. Here we need cars to get around. On your side of the pond public transportation is far advanced.