Here is a response to Phelan's post which I started to comment on and decided it was too long of a comment so I am writing it here. Make sure you read here posts first because this might not make much sense.
If we were rich, we wouldn't homestead. I think there is some thing to be said about being poor. (what ever your definition of poor is. If you are going by the gov't's poverty line then most of the U.S. is in poverty and therefore most of the U.S. need to be dependent on the gov't , but that is a different post and maybe I listen to too much talk radio...) If you had more money to spend, you would spend it on other things. i.e. convenience. That is what society (advertising) teaches us now. Make money to buy an easy life. That is the world we live in today whether we agree with it or not. If you had never had the opportunity to suffer and get between a rock and a hard place, you would be where you're at right now. You had the choice to get up off your butt and do something about it, or choose to have a pity party that lasts forever and rely on other people's pity to get what you want. (I know people like this, their story is the same no matter what part of the country you live in) I don't think we would appreciate the way we live and raise our children and all that stuff now, if we hadn't gone through the rough times we did then. Are some homesteaders rich? Maybe. Are they our age?(30's) Probably not.
We are taught that if you don't have a lot of stuff and money to get more stuff, then you're a failure. Most kids these days aren't taught the values of working hard, and living within your your means not charging everything that moves. OK I am done ranting. I think we get the point, working hard, and not spending more than we make, are good choices for everyone in the long haul we call life. For us, homesteading is a part of that life.
4 comments:
I'm still forming my thoughts, Tim, but I wanted to first thank you for this post. Not for what you said, but for causing me to consider what "homesteading" is and should be. Maybe I'll take some of your thunder for a post on my blog.
Wow, I couldn't agree with you more, Tim. I feel sorry for people that work all the time to have more 'stuff'. What a rat race! Yeah, I want that oak, Amish-made furniture, but I'll be paying cash, one piece at a time. And I'll do without other things to have the security of a savings account. Just in case. My bills are not now, nor ever have been, someone else's responsibility. Does this make me sound mean? Self righteous? I hope not. Just the way I was raised. And I'm thankful for that.
You just had to remind me that I am 30 now, didn't you? :)
You may be right. I grew up with money. And I choose to leave it behind. My husband grew up without money, and he only wants enough to be comfortable. But lately I find that I would like a tad more. I want life to be slightly easier for myself. But then I turn around a aquire a tractor with a hand crank, go figure.
Being homeless taught me how to cheat, lie, steal, and roll. I had the option of continuing my carefree life. And at my age, I was 15 when I left home, it was drug filled and lovely. But then I got knocked up and things changed for me then. Before that, I didn't feel the need to do anything for myself. I was cute, boys always wanted to take care of me, even if I didn't put out ( a lot had to do with how I treated everyone around me) A child changed my husband's junky ways as well. Though it took longer. I like to think that it was my upbringing that made me feel like I didn't have to have money to be in love with life. I still feel that even if I had more money now, would still be homesteading because it has been my dream to be that girl that lived in the house in the hill since I can remember. Maybe I am like a nun and it was my calling. (I might be feeling a little onery today)
Cheryl, did you ever surf that link about the Amish furniture I left on your blog?
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