How do we live?

[SunshineJoy]

As a late gen. x'er with the benefit of having seen the baby boomers (.e.g peace and love generation) and the post boom gerneration all I have to say is .......

Yech...

The 60's hippies are todays' corporate lawyers and political elite. After all they stayed behind while predominately the poor underclass was sent to South East Asia to fight the war of the elite from WW2.

They are essentially the George Bush's of the generation (perhaps more on the right wing) but nevertheless the same protectionist, imperialist that their parents were.

My generation has added little but critisizm but not too many solutions.

I think it is fair that one generation is critical of the other but by the time we all hit middle age we just want financial security and to retain our social position.

Just my take on the generation gap.

That's so far from where I am now. I kept my corporate position with insurance and benefits and a regular paycheck until my kids were grown and gone, and for the past 7 years, I have happily meandered through self-employment with lots of ups and downs.

Now that my kids are both over 25 and my parents have both passed on, I am free to live a life of risk and adventure. I have no social position to retain, and don't want one. Financial security is an illusion, but every experience can be seen for it's beneficial nature from the perspective of enough time passing.

I don't see a generation gap... just people who lived through different times and events at different ages. I tend to like the rebels and renegades of any age.

 

[ISP_SmokeTrain]

I dropped out & never looked back. I live in a nice house, no school bus here. Have raised two well educated kids. That pull their own weight, and understand, each persons destiny is entirely up to them. They understand there are no shortcuts, that only hard work ensures sucess and that it's good to question authority often. Oh, and my vehicles are all late model, with no Dead Head Stickers or Anti-Gov Stickers, as I prescribe to the blend in / maintain a low profile thing, cause I'm always holding.

 

[jarff]

I,m past 60 and was told 12 yrs ago I had a couple of yrs left to live (liver cirrhosis+Hep C)..but here I am still going strong (almost) My head is in order...I think?,,,,Doc tells me I,m in good health despite my illness.I live life to the fullest, I do love life and have never been happieer or more content.
Lost my wife and a daughter to cancer+Mother,father,sister,brother.After you see your fmily dying you have a greater appreciation for life.Also I am well prepared for it.I have what I need and never wish for things that I can,t have.When my feet hit the floor in the morning I always say "Thank you"...altho I,m not religious I do give thanx for whatever brought me into this world.
I live in the country on a nice piece of land with no neighbours,I enjoyy the four seasons we experience in Canada.." fall being my favorite time of the year.
I always use a Wayne Dyer sayiing .."When you change the way you look at things..the things you look at change"...I never think negatively of the past and what I could have achieved,but I do look forward to the next minute........and try to enjoy it to the fullest.
I am indeed fortunate

jarff

 

[Piel]

There´s a lot of wisdom in these replies -listen up kids! It´s weird how things work out, I hated school but wound up staying 10 years at a university. And then I wound up living in the country in an area where I knew no one.

But it turned out OK even if I have chronic pain, bouts of depression etc.

I feel healthy most of the time -good enough.

 

[Justa6655321]

Sometimes i just want to pack it all up and get the fuck out of Dodge! My body hurts when i get up in the morning....

Family and Freedom....are all that matters!!!

 

[Piel]

Justa: Is that girl a friend of yours? Could you please introduce us? Pretty please?
Freedom with borders is still freedom, the borders allows some planning...mainly of money!

 

[DickAnubis]

This is a great thread. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more posts.

I've never fit in with the American Dream and middle class values although I have nothing but respect for those who can balance such demands without falling into the abyss of over consumption and status seeking.

Jobs have never meant much to me and as soon as I figured out how to ditch them I was much happier. I haven't collected a pay check for over twenty years. An engineer by schooling I've been lucky to not have locked into one of those energy draining careers.

Sure I've been through tough times but if you don't limit yourself there's always a means to provide and live a pretty comfy life. Here in the USA even poorer people can live a better life than many elsewhere.

Throughout the years I've learned from some mighty skilled people how to obtain the Five Essential Skills. House making, Furniture making, Clothes making, food making and most important Love making. Sure I buy store bought things and I don't eat strictly out of the garden. And of course you can't buy love for long. But having the basics covered you literally have something to fall back on.

I've always been a city dweller, born and raised NYC, but have lived in several of the big metros. I live now in a large city sharing a loft in a former casket factory with my wife and six cats. We want for little. We even use money but it is often paid to us for something we create. My wife is a painter who only paints what she wants when she feels like it.
I write which yields little money but I'm driven to do it. I also have a business of sorts which I spend about ten hours a week on. I build utilitarian and decorative gadgets out of already existing materials. My latest gadget is an optical illusion you hang on the wall. It is mechanical and uses 90% re-use materials both surplus and recycled. The only thing new is the electric cord.
It is this kind of production I'm interested in and I'm not fool enough to think I can live in a city without using money. Banks however I do not use. Why should we lend our money without interest to larger concerns that will use it to profit in fields I may not agree with.
Does this complicate life? A little, but ease shouldn't always be the goal.

Gee like the old fart I am, I've run on a bit. Hope it makes sense.

DA

 

[armedoldhippy]

smoked weed all thru jr high & high school, thru the USAF even. got busted there & given an Honorable Discharge (nothing wrong with my work) went to tech school & got a job welding (STILL smoking) fuel rods for nuclear facilities (ie-three mile island sort of places.) swore i would NEVER get married, & if i did, there would be NO children, nor tobacco in the house! well, now i have a wife (who smokes), 2 kids, 2 cats, 2 dogs, & one house with three mortgages, & NO JOB! BUT, as my wife says "all things happen for a reason". my mother is over 80 yrs old, & if i had to work, she would have to be institutionalized, and all of the $$$ she & my late father scraped together to give us kids would be stolen by the nursing home BEFORE she passed away. smoking is what keeps me sane, & my mom wants to try it. says she has lost her appetite; i told her that "i can fix THAT! can't make you young again..."

 

[Hank Hemp]

Remember this armedoldhippy, Reefer will see you through times of no money, better than money will see you through times of no reefer. That bit of wisdom from Feewheelin' Franklin Freak. Times are tough in Dixie For sure.

 

[BlackThumb]

Man a ton of interesting and motivating tales here.

My 52 years pale in comparison to most.

The common thread is I have rediscovered weed and
I have learned how to grow it well.

Screw the crap from the 60's, 70's & 80's
I grow bad ass weed and enjoy the hobby.

-BT

 

[poina]

Piel, How ya doing, sounding good, makes me happy!
Been retired for over a year now after 30 years as a pilot, miss the airplane a little but try to remember hauling bags thru multiple time zones and reality comes back.

Living in french speaking north Africa, had my first swim of the year in the Med last Sunday, chilly but glorious.

Have no plans to return to the US, even tho people are hard headed here, they are also kind and generous.

Have 2 great daughters and wonderful wife, lotsa love in my house, that's what keeps me going. Not much smoke however, gonna try some late season gardening and see if I can change that! All the best!

 

[graybeard]

Reefer will see you through times of no money, better than money will see you through times of no reefer...Times are tough in Dixie For sure.

AMEN BRO!!!

 

[Mikos]

I've smoked since I was 13. I remember in high school I just knew that I was going to move to Alaska to 'live off the land'... and grow herb of course.

Well, flash forward to today.... 40, married, no kids. I worked 17 years for a large corporation before being laid off last year. Fortunately, my wife makes great money so I'm able to pursue starting my own business.

I've never completely lost touch with that teenage stoner I was back then... thank god.

 

[Reverend Mojo]

<Disillusioned with my current employment.

Mind numbing work, good pay lots of room for advancement (if you suck ass well) but I am doing just fine.

No drug testing, I do a very competent job. Generally I just like being left alone.

Would I quit my job? In a flash!!!!!!!

Would that solve or help me in any way.. Nope

Do I want to be a hermit in the bush.. Only if it's near a nude beach and the beer store.

 

[BlackThumb]

<SNIP>

Do I want to be a hermit in the bush.. Only if it's near a nude beach and the beer store.

</SNIP>

And a few steps from your garden.

-BT

 

[Willie Dean]

Thank you all for your stories and your take on things. It has been very therapeutic reading this thread.

 

[Piel]

This is the best thread I ever started, I´ve been on a trip so I haven´t been able to follow what´s been going on. I visited a friend in Southern Africa, had a great time and I can only wish that I can make it back next year...

having kids that are in their teens keeps you on your toes! I wasn´t much of a student in highschool but things have worked out nicely, I just hope my kids will get the breaks I´ve gotten.

Wish I could get my pension now, I have friends getting early pensions and I´m a bit jealous even though these people have usually been busting their butts as entrepeneurs and whatnot for years and years.

I think I´m better off. All I need is weed, love and space to move around in.

 

[icred]

I have a great home, family, job and pension and ALL debt is almost paid out, which give you a HUGE mental freedom in life. I could see this debt stink-hole coming in the markets years ago and got mostly out beforehand.

A health issue in the last few years has caused me to realize that I am not going to hundreds of concerts, camping or road trips "in the future" but at 40+ perhaps 25 years x 2 events per summer kinda puts things in a "tens" perspective and makes you treasure every little moment of every day. Things like "A bad day of golf is better than a good day at work" start to really make sense. I am really starting to relax and work hard on de-coupling from the rat race were and whenever possible.

Above all is this "gardening" infatuation and the idea that what I grow now is going to probably outlast me. Gonna have to find a method to move this stash on to my friends someday.

Can you imagine some lawyer droning out:
"And to my good friend Bob, my Grateful Dead music collection and this 2oz of red"
"To my good friend Gary, my Kraftwerk music collection and these smiley pills" ;-)
....and so on....

 

[frankborelli]

At 58 years old; I've never had a credit card. never owned a home. I have owned up to 3 or 4 cars and 4 or 5 motorcycles at a time. Then, again; I've packed a duffle bag and wander off into the world. I've had good jobs; usually in some sort of lead position, on the job as a weldor/fabricator/mechanic or in corporate offices as some kind of system engineer/designer. I've also taken long semi retirement breaks of three to eight years.

My preferred dress is still tee-shirt and Levis even in corporate offices (san Francisco - not a major feat). I think it safe to say I would of been thought of as some middle class workaday serf, and at times in my life I may have been. Certainly felt like it at times; usually just before one of those breaks. Still, I've helped raise my two kids. Surprisingly, they came out OK. OK enough to make their dad proud anyway, but my criteria is still based on that rejection of "middle class values" illusion I held so dear as a young buck.

There ain't nothing wrong with settling down buying a home, two cars, having 3.2 kids and gong to little league on Thursday nights. I've done most of that except the house thing and at my age have the land and plans for a house in Chiang Mai (Thailand). So I guess I'm slowly growing into that 'Middle Class, the Pit of Dispair" hum drum life, again. Got one more run of work to do, and a few more roads to ride but it'll be nice to have a home to go to when I feel the need.

Living in the USA it can be difficult to function; raise, and provide for, a family without being infected by some of those "middle class values." At the end of the day, as you put away the briefcase or hang up your overalls fire up a number under the headphones blasting "Dark Side of the Moon" into your poor worn out eardrums it ain't the cars in your garage, the mortgage on your house or the neatly trimmed roses that define a capitulation to those abhorrent "middle class values" we all feared as young men and women. it wasn;t middle class values that were such a rotten thing in our youth, it was label that worked at the time, kinda. if you still question authority in all it does, if you still prefer to take the time to understand many sides of an issue rather than following some jingle laden propaganda campaign, if you still place a higher value on being honest in your dealings with those around you and don't fear change simply because it's new or different then maybe you held on to the values that were important and if you lived a comfortable life, there is no capitulation in that. You did OK.

ON THE OTHER HAND
If you've been sucked into to some kind of consumer-slavery with the need to have every whiz-bang sweetheart of a thingie that was just on TV and are plagued by "OMIGOD I GOTTA BE JUST LIKE them successful people down the street" kind of thoughts. If you take all you see on Fox news as gospel, or by into anything over hyped without intelligent deliberation and open-mindedness. Well, you just might've turned away from that path you saw in front of you back when you rejected all that was holy to those that held (what we saw as) "middle class values." Way back then.

Reading the above, one last time before I click that button; one might excused for thinking I should not post in these philosophical-type threads while under the headphones listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" after burnin' a very tasty joint of highland Thai (a rare treat here!).

Great post!!!

 

[Piel]

I love following the wisdom in the posts, people seem to mostly have the same values as "back then".

Anyone still use Frye booys?