It's the American Dream - the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - these inalienable rights are meant to be protected by the government. Our right to life is under attack by both the pandemic and our government's failure to protect the population. We will soon reach 100,000 deaths from this virus and most leaders are encouraging people to resume their normal economic activities despite the fact that nothing has changed in terms of a vaccine or a treatment (though there is some promise on the horizon). Liberty is a nebulous concept when you live in the country with the highest per capita incarceration rates. The pursuit of happiness is limited by the extraordinary economic divide between the haves and the have nots - and this situation grows more dire every day during these Depression Era levels of unemployment, hunger, and inequality. Of course our government is all too willing to bail out corporate America and leave the rest of the country with no health insurance, no safety net, and a paltry stimulus check. We are an Empire in decline with leaders who are unwilling and unable to ensure our most basic inalienable rights.
There are no saviors in this day and age - if you are waiting for one you have a long wait ahead; if you think you have found one it is only a matter of time before they let you down. No saviors. We've moved beyond that testament to the last - we have to save ourselves.
It's daunting, I know. I've been working on this problem for 20+ years on and off between periods of wishful thinking that the current systems could reform, that a great leader would emerge, that the world was not mad. I deluded myself because the path to self-support is a long an difficult one with no leaders, no models, no community for support. We are lone wolves, nomads, and travelers sharing stories of what works and what does not. We have to consider unique individual contexts so that each solution is tailored to that time and place. We can not mass produce our way out of this, we have to craft unique solutions for difficult times. My solution can't be your solution, though there may be a resemblance. It's time to burn down the walls in our minds that keep us from following our own bliss and forging our own way.
In saying this, we can agree on the problems - that we must free ourselves from systems that are unsustainable, crumbling, and failing. If we don't free ourselves from these systems we will be unprepared to thrive when they dissolve, and dissolve they will, the warning signs are everywhere. Do you put your faith in the mighty Amazon? Is Jeff Bezos your savior? A man who will become the first trillionaire while 20% of American children go hungry?
The good news is that you can look at your situation and move on a path towards your own self-support. There is nothing more comforting than knowing that I can free myself from many unsustainable systems. I can grow and make food, educate my children, produce renewable energy, remain socially distanced, and create a life, full of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While many people are struggling with realities of life during a pandemic we are following the less trodden path we have forged. We planned on spending this summer working on completing the homestead and the pandemic gave us an extra month away from the city (due to remote working).
Joseph Campbell said, "If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living." He also said, "Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.” I had no idea that a pandemic would give us an additional month to work on this project, but I am grateful for the time. I'm living in a moment where a goal set over 20 years ago is near fruition. So many thoughts and possibilities occur to me - for I had spent so much time thinking how to get here I had not given much thought to what happens once we achieve it. Finishing a goal (or even approaching the finish) allows you to think beyond it. This is such an exciting time for us, standing on the precipice and ready to jump!
During these difficult times I hope that you accomplish your goals and find a life full of liberty where you can pursue happiness; because creation and vision is the antidote to worry and despair in the midst of these troubling times. If you do create a vision, a mission, or a plan please share it because we nomads can certainly use the inspiration as we each take this crazy journey.
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