Thoreau has returned to Concord

Today I at last finished “Walden”, which was both better and worse than I expected. As an observation of nature in New England it was quite compelling. As a seminal philosophical work I was somewhat disappointed. But then I believe that much of what Thoreau and the other Transcendentalists proposed has become such a part of American thought that we probably become familiar with Thoreau’s works without ever having read them.

In any case, Thoreau and I have made our peace. As you likely detected in my earlier posts, I find Thoreau a bit vain and pedantic. His continual criticism of his fellow man grates on my nerves, mainly because he always seems to add an unspoken “unlike myself” to every fault he finds. I can only tolerate so much self-aggrandizement before I stop listening to what one has to say. Fortunately for Thoreau, he intersperses his sermons with nature study, which pulls me back in enough to allow me to listen to him a bit more next time he meanders off to vex his neighbors.

But in the end I do not necessarily disagree with him. We all do live unexamined lives to a large degree; accepting with little question the path society lays before us rather than thinking carefully what it is we want and how to get it–or become it. We live lives “out there”, constantly focused on the world and society around us while paying very little attention to what lies within us. No wonder our society teeters on the brink when so many of us build upon unsteady foundations.

How Thoreau’s Walden experience will impact my own thoughts on self reliance remains to be seen. I have a great deal more thinking ahead of me. I’ve read what Thoreau thinks on the matter. Now it’s my turn. Fairly soon I shall put to pixel my own theory of self reliance–and then proceed to poke holes in it for the next year or so. Even better, I invite you to join me in hole-poking. I highly doubt any thoughts from my head will be solid enough to stand on their own without reinforcement and reconstruction, and I doubt even more in my objective ability to locate all the weak points on my own. I look forward to learning from you–and I hope before I’m through you’ll be able to learn something from me.

But for now the lofty siren song of intellectual exercise must give way to the rustic realities–it’s bath night, and I have my role to play in the cleansing of the children. What e’er thou art, act well thy part.

The worst flood in 200 years you’re not hearing about

Did you know that Nashville, Tennessee has experienced the worst flood in 200 years, twenty people have died, and many national landmarks have been completely ruined? Probably not, unless you caught it in passing as the media moved on to more “important” news. A few websites have speculated as to why we don’t see more about it in the news:

Unlike what transpired in another southern city hit by a crippling storm a few years back — a city deemed by the media as worthy of ad nauseam coverage — there was no crime spree. In the aftermath of heart-wrenching destruction and chaos, there were zero reports of looting, assault or rape. Oh, and neither the mayor, nor any elected official in either Nashville or Davidson Counties got on national television and shrieked about how it was all Barack Obama’s fault (although the least the President of the United States could’ve done was issue a statement of support). They were too busy actually doing their jobs and fulfilling their responsibilities to the locals who elected them.

 

Funny, but the residents of middle Tennessee bear a striking resemblance to Louisiana’s neighbors, Mississippi and Alabama. Parts of those states were hit just as hard as New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, yet they barely merited any mention on the nightly news either. And instead of looking for a scapegoat, these American citizens also went to work. Side-by-side, neighbors of all colors, races and creeds rebuilt their homes and their lives. They also had competent governors who executed well-planned disaster recovery procedures, in fulfillment of their obligations and responsibilities as CEOs of a state.  And in stark contrast to the myth perpetrated in the media and in pop culture, southerners proved that they are for the most part, decent, caring, generous folks — not wild-eyed, Bible-thumping, card-carrying KKK racists.

Though the commentary comes from a conservative site, there is a fair amount of truth there. Had the Nashville flood paralleled New Orleans in any of its worse aspects you can bet there would be coverage. Conflict and outrage sells papers and grabs viewer eyeballs. There was a time when the media would also have loved to cover stories of people coming together to minimize the impact of such disasters, but that’s falling out of vogue.

The message here is obvious. Regardless of how important and how beneficial self reliance can be, don’t expect any praise or adulation for it. Those who are prepared will never get any reward for it beyond the benefits of being prepared. But then again, what good is praise if your family is hungry? What good is media coverage if you’re stuck without shelter? What good is a television crew when you’ve lost everything?

No, I suspect that while the Nashville flood is not getting much outside attention, the people of Nashville wouldn’t have it any other way. They’ve got each other, and that’s worth more than millions of viewers on the nightly news. That is what self reliance is all about, really: minimizing the impact of such events to yourself and your family so that you can instead turn out attention outward to helping others.

So here’s to the people of Nashville. You’re a class act all the way. Thank you for showing the rest of us how it’s done.

 

Staying grounded through work

Anthony Siino, writing for Chico State’s independent student newspaper, produced a column about the value of hard work and producing something with one’s hands. He encouraged his fellow college students to not get too caught up in the “life of the mind” and try hard work now and then to boost one’s self-reliance:

Students should remember to stay in contact with the physical world. Hard work brings even the most philosophical people back to the ground and grants us appreciation of the simpler things in life.

The beauty of hard work comes twofold. Not only can you appreciate the relaxation that comes after grueling labor, but you can immediately see the results.

He of course catches heck in the comments, proving once again that college students seldom read anything all the way through, let alone think about what they’ve read. But if Mr. Siino ever comes to me for a job some day  he’ll have a much better chance than most of his readers–I mean, skim-and-detractors.

Car emergency kits

Angela over at Adventures in Self Reliance shows an emergency kit she put together for their new vehicle, which includes some basic items that would be helpful in event of a breakdown, unexpected stops, etc.

They’re also sponsoring a contest, ending this weekend. Photograph your car emergency kit and you could win a prepackaged survival kit! I’d consider it, but with in-laws coming next weekend, we’ve got a few emergencies of our own to deal with before they come. I’ll be busy with lots of other projects this weekend.

 

Self reliance and your attitude toward yourself and others

Leonard Carr of the South African news organization Times Live examines the connection between your level of self reliance and how you interact with your environment. He decides that the “Truly noble tidy up their mess“:

Servitude occurs when you live in a state of lack. The consequent need that arises from what you lack makes you dependent on the help of others. This puts you in an inferior position to those upon whom you depend. Freedom, on the other hand, is characterised by self-sufficiency, self-respect and self-reliance. In short, it is the independence to, among other things, look after yourself and take care of your own needs.

If have often felt similarly. I worked on the housekeeping staff for a department store to put myself through college, and while a certain amount of mess can be expected from even the most considerate people, there were some messes we would find that could only have been intentional–someone who either felt themselves too important to take care of their own messes, or someone who got some sort of thrill out of making others take care of it for them. I can only feel for those people. Someday they are going to be in a situation where no one else will or can take care of them, and they simply won’t know how to cope.

On the other hand, I have seen some of the most high-ranking people in various organizations go to unusual lengths to tidy up after themselves. It speaks volumes, not only about how they view themselves, but how they view others. Those are the people who truly deserve the positions they have risen to. Those are the people most worth paying attention to in matters of importance.

I hope I never rise so high in life that I ever forget what it was like to clean hand prints off of glass partitions. And should I ever stoop to low as to purposely smudge a freshly cleaned window I hope the janitorial gods strike me dead on the spot. I will have ceased to provide any true value in the world.

 

Self Reliance and religion

In my recent research into self reliance I have begun coming across uses of the phrase “self reliance” in a negative connotation. These are almost always in reference to religion, and usually describing a person’s relationship with God. In this case the self reliant person is trusting in their own strength and abilities and not in God.

This is not to pick on religion or anti-religion. This is simply to clarify something. When I refer to self reliance in this blog it is not in that sense. Self reliance, as far as this site is concerned, simply refers to ones state of preparedness and ability to subsist with minimal charitable assistance from others.

However, I will state here also that I am a religious person. I believe that God wants us to be self reliant in the sense I have discussed and, to quote a common phrase, that “God helps those who help themselves.” We rely on God, and we acknowledge our reliance on him, but we minimize the extent to which we are beholden to other people. Owing too much to others limits our ability to fully explore our relationship with God. Or, to refer to another common quote, “No man can serve two masters.”

Now, having clarified that, I don’t intend to get overly religious on this site. I want to include as many people as I can, and you don’t do that by purposely picking fights. If self reliance is your interest I really don’t care if it’s because of religion, environmental concerns, thrift, doomsday-ism, or because the voice in your freezer that normally says “Zuul” is encouraging you. If you have something to add, please do. If you find something of value here, wonderful!

Nor will I exclude religion. Religion, especially my own, often has a lot to add to the discussion of self reliance. If it’s appropriate to the discussion I won’t shy away from it. I think we can all be respectful of each others’ beliefs and still discuss our own when we have something to add. I think we can learn from one another.

That’s what this site is all about.

 

The joy of fixing things

Self reliance manifests itself in various ways. Here’s an article by Bill Kirby in The Augusta Chronicle about reclaiming a bit of his spirit of self reliance:

It prompted the faintest of grins because it caused me to remember: I fixed a pump motor the day before — the highlight of my week. 

I cannot fully explain why it gave me such satisfaction, such a feeling of achievement, but it did.

 

Like many of you, I went to college and got a degree and began a career so I wouldn’t have to fix my own stuff. I could pay someone else to do it while I wore a suit and a tie and focused on more cerebral, creative tasks. 

 

But in making that choice I lost something. 

 

I missed out on some sort of American reliance on figuring things out, on fixing what’s broken. 

Since I became a homeowner I’ve discovered that I really do enjoy a good fix it/build it project. There’s a definite feeling of satisfaction in a job well done. Even if you’d never do it for a living, it’s somehow comforting and ennobling to know that you know how do something. And to be able to point to the proof. I’ve felt that way about many things, from the playhouse I built for my kids to the carpet edging around the fireplace I repaired. There’s always that moment when you step back to inspect your work and think to yourself, “Go, me!”

Follow travelers

Self reliance is as much a journey as a destination, I believe. Many who take the journey do so with a certain amount of self-bemusement and self-deprecation. We realize, after all, that many people probably think we’re a bit crazy for making the choices we do.

I picked up that familiar tone in a blog I discovered this weekend; 12 Acres and a Dog. The first sentence of the first post on the page gave it away:

It’s time for my wife and I to reveal our inner crazy. Since we purchased our 12 acre piece of earth, we have been planning and dreaming of building our country home. Even before we found our land, I had begun researching building techniques and floor plans.

Incidentally, I don’t think they’re crazy at all–which may make me similarly crazy. I do look forward to reading more, however.

Victory Gardens: a little bit of history

Here’s an interesting article about Victory Gardens during WWII and what happened afterward.

Following the cessation of the war, mass interest in home gardening as a national duty, as well as government support, dried up almost instantly. The post-war shift in agriculture from small and local to large-scale, monoculture meant the increased use of chemical pesticides, shrinking of varieties and genetic modification. Henry Ford was on to something when he proclaimed: “No unemployment insurance can be compared to an alliance between man and a plot of land.” But following WWII, gardening was relegated to a quaint hobby.

Low profile living – why and how

Self Reliance Exchange has posted a series of articles on low profile living, or living so as not to attract notice from others. I saw similar articles there a few days ago but initially thought they were being just a bit too paranoid. The more I think about it, though, it’s not so crazy. There is a fine line to be considered these days between trusting people too much and shutting oneself off from society. Everyone needs to draw their own line, but there are still ways to take as few risks as possible of letting too many people know too much about you.

Read the above articles and decide for yourself. It’s worth pondering.