simple life

SIMPLE LIFE

Another short one.  Back to normal after my vacation.
*
Way back in the Eighties, I was unduly influenced by a converging number of factors to spoil any chance I would ever be middle class. The military experience highlighted how idiotic it was to sell your soul for a retirement. This was later reinforced when I worked for a Nevada casino for the first time and met several BA and Master degree holders working along with myself slinging coins to the blue hairs. Okay, back then the casinos actual paid Union level wages unlike now where they look down their nose at you and sneer that you are lucky to have any job at all. But still, the wages were far below their education. Another factor was reading the book “How to live without a salary”. I must have read that thing a half dozen times. Thank goodness I didn’t have to waste most of my life before I realized that time is much more important than money. Sure, I had a slight detour as I had to hold management jobs to bribe the ex-wife to allow me to see the kids ( but even before our divorce the plan had been for Her Evilness to go through school and then I would write full time and be a Mr. Mom, so the stress jobs were supposed to be short term ). But I’ve never been fooled into thinking the pursuit of cash was good, proper, just or desired.

*

The dirty little secret is that I’m not a super stud survivalist living primitive to train for the apocalypse. That is a side benefit, but not the main reason. It has been my pursuit of a simple life, less encumbered by mammon, that makes it so easy to except what others view as hardship or sacrifice. No, pissing away my day working on the gerbil wheel is a hardship. Not crapping in a buckets, only using as much electricity as the panels eke out, freezing in the winter or toting water. They are all a pain in the ass, but better than working for the ex-wife, Uncle Sam, the current gold digger, and all the con men out there ( lawyers, contractors, car salesmen ). You don’t work your way into an early grave to benefit yourself, but every parasite that attaches themselves to you ( children excepted ). Even a wife genuinely in love with you is a huge financial hit. It isn’t that the exchange isn’t worth it, just that it has a high price tag.

*

This big lumbering consumer economy, full of oxygen wasters occupying cubicles to feed to corporate beast, is fast coming to an end. Why not dismount the beast while you have some control over it and enjoy the time left before the end? Even if by some miracle you die before the economy, you can still have enjoyed the slower pace. Smelled a few roses. If the wife enjoys your paycheck instead of your company, that is your fault. That is the Faustian bargain you made before matrimony. You will definitely pay a price of some kind to change your lifestyle. I wouldn’t trade the simple life for lots of money, personally.

END
The Official Bison Web Site http://www.bisonpress.com/

*
My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
*
Anyone can submit a guest article. No minimum word length, no writing skill necessary ( just get the idea across ). You retain copyright ( this must be your original writing ) and I’ll just use the once. I’ve yet to turn down an article, just don’t use the N Bomb or libel another that can sue me. Send by e-mail ( please, label as “guest article” so I can find it easily later ). Payment will be your removal from my enemies list.
*
By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there.
*
Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon links in each article. You can purchase anything, not just the linked item. Enter Amazon through my item link and then go to whatever other item you desire. As long as you don’t leave Amazon until after the order is placed, I get credit for your purchase. Thank you.