The USA Is No Longer Livable

It's been a while since I've posted a new article. Life has been happening all over and around me. A lot of people see an idea that catches their eye and inspires them to read this blog. But, like most of us, we're looking for the magic pill, the secret elixir that will transform our lives from a place we're not happy or comfortable to that perfect life we're all seeking.

Well, that's not how it works. There are no magic pills or secret elixirs. Achieving the idealistic objective of living free and being happy takes time, research, energy, effort and - yes, just plain old WORK. There is no one size fits all. There are approximately 7.5 billion people inhabiting this piece of space dust we call home . . . planet Earth. And, every one of us is different and individual, even twins, triplets, etc.

There are so many things to discuss in an article like this. But, it seems like only a very few, basically countable on less than two hands, are willing to stick our necks out and introduce topics, ideas, concepts, philosophies, possibilities, realities, etc. I could suggest we few are the ones who may be closer to the answers for our own lives. I can only think that all those who are sitting in the background expect me and a few others to reveal a path to living free and ultimately being happy. Sadly, that isn't how it works in life.

Yesterday I read a blog post by a fellow nomad (he refers to himself as a vagabond). His name is Wade Shepard and his blog is titled "Vagabond Journey." He titled his September 21st blog article, "The USA Is 'Unlivable.' Ouch! This guy is un-American. If he doesn't like it here he should leave.

Let me give you a teaser to entice you a bit - he starts out by saying:

What's It All About – Part Deux

To follow up on my last blog article “What's It All About,” I ran into this interesting video on Facebook about the education system in Finland. The U.S., the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world is being eroded from within. I believe a significant reason for this is our deteriorating educational system.

Allow me to preface my remarks by stating that 50 years ago (I just attended the 50^th class reunion of my graduation from Montclair State College - now University), I earned a B.A. degree in education with my specialty being Industrial Arts. I also was awarded teacher certification, accepted in virtually every state in the U.S., for Kindergarten through 12^th grade.

I was, myself, a product of the public education system. I skipped kindergarten, but completed grades 1 – 12 in the Clifton, New Jersey public school system. Even as a wet behind the ears, know it all, 22 year old graduate of the teaching curriculum of the (at that time) crown jewel of the New Jersey state colleges, all specializing in teacher education at that time, I saw real issues I knew were going to continue to deteriorate in the New Jersey (and U.S.) educational system. In my opinion, I was not wrong in my projections.

Life On The Road. . .Living in 50 Square Feet - Part I

Life on the road is a unique lifestyle embraced by only a very small fraction of the population in the United States. As in most things, there are variations on the theme. Here are some examples: over the road truck drivers; traveling nurses; traveling specialists (engineers, technicians, consultants, evangelists and others); travel writers and photographers; artists; musicians; homeless/jobless; disabled; retirees and others, perhaps . . . like me. Another entire genre of “mobile” people include those who live on the water. But, that's another story for someone else.

Of course, the reasons, motivations and inspirations for all the people I've mentioned (and others I couldn't think of off the top of my head) are as varied as the various kinds of on the road people I mentioned. I should also mention, at this time, there are probably as many women, perhaps more, as there are men enjoying this lifestyle.

Those who are “housebound” or live in a fixed residential situation may not understand why people, especially like me and an untold number of my traveling friends, live this lifestyle. Many say they envy my freedom. Many are probably thinking, though unspoken . . . poor guy, he's broke, homeless and hungry. None of those are true in my case. I freely chose this lifestyle. Maybe I'm just reverting back to the “hippie” days I traded for college, graduate school, the Air Force during the Vietnam era, a business career and family.

Opportunities – 2017 Could Be A Banner Year For Them

First, allow me to extend my wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2017. A new year brings new opportunities

So, what are the indicators of opportunities in this year? First, we have a new president about to be inaugurated. Second, there are changes and issues in our economy that present opportunities for anyone keeping up with what's going on. Third, the world, through the Internet, is changing in interesting, exciting and, often, dramatic ways. This always offers opportunities.

It doesn't matter what your politics are. It doesn't matter what your social or economic positions or conditions are. It doesn't matter who you know or don't know. It doesn't matter what your educational background (or even a lack of educational background) is. It doesn't matter what your gender is or your color, race, ethnicity, marital status, age (considering you're probably 10 to 12 years old or older). Nothing really matters when it comes to opportunities other than your ability to recognize an opportunity and your vision.

You might be saying – but, I just don't get the lucky breaks. To that I refer back to one of the pivotal people in my life. He is one of the several pivotal people I can directly relate to where I am at this very moment in time as I write this article and why I'm sitting here writing it. I'm actually in My McVansion sitting in the driveway of a friend I met through this very blog. He's been reading it for years and invited me to meet up a couple years ago. The location is about a block from the shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida near St. Petersburg.

A Few Moments In Time That Changed The Course Of My Future

Wouldn't It Be Nice . . .

• if it is sunny all but two days every month
• if all our neighbors are nice
• if there is no crime or violence
• if everyone has all they need to eat
• if everyone has a secure, adequate size place to live
• if everyone has nice clothing appropriate to the climate
• if everyone earns a living doing something that's fun and suits him or her
• if everyone has a good, useful education
• if everyone respects each other
• if everyone has all basic needs met
• if everyone enjoys a few luxuries

I'm Still Alive.

I know it's been a couple weeks since my last article. Life has been very, very busy during this time. I spent about a day or so in Yucca Valley, visited Joshua Tree National Park, stopped in Cathedral City and spent about four and a half days in Los Angeles. In Cathedral City I visited my former wife, Cynthia, and still one of my good friends. In Los Angeles, I hung out with my son, Pete, and did some LA things with him.

Then it was on to Clovis, California for a family reunion and birthday celebrations for my former mother-in-law and two of my former brother-in-laws. We must have had over 50 people in town from all over the U.S. for the festivities. All of those events covered a week. I stayed and relaxed for two more weeks enjoying the California sun and the company of my former mother-in-law, BJ Gardner and one of my former brother-in-law's and his family. Then I was off and running again.

Compartmentalizing – Part 1

I came to a startling realization during the past few weeks of trekking around the U.S. Well, actually, it's not such a startling realization. I've understood this most of my life. What am I talking about? In a word, “compartmentalizing.”

I write of simplifying and minimizing life. M. Scott Peck, author of the classic bestselling book, The Road Less Traveled,stated it this way in his first paragraph – a three word, single sentence paragraph. “Life is difficult.” Indeed it is. And it has become exponentially more difficult over the past 50+ years of my adult life. I dare say, everyone walking on this planet, especially those living in developed, “western nations” has and continues to experience this.

Humans have learned how to compartmentalize virtually all aspects of life. Compartmentalizing is one way humans have invented to cope with the ever increasing complexity of modern life. Those of us living in advanced developed societies in the West enjoy, both, the benefits and and advantages of high-technology and the challenges, complexities and (often) the mind numbing addiction that can take control of parts of our lives.

Less advanced, more primitive societies still compartmentalize, however, to a significantly lesser degree. The less complexity we have to cope with in our lives allows us to live freer, simpler, happier and with less compartments.

The Possible Dream

Audio Version available - see player below

Once again, my good friend from our college days, Greg, inspired another article for this blog.

I love and respect what Greg is doing to help people. What I pointed out to Greg, in an email response to his “email blast” this morning, became the inspiration for this article. After reading, what I defined as another exhaustive and somewhat redundant list of things someone needs to do to be successful, I said I felt confused. It left me feeling mentally exhausted and not knowing where to start.

I went on to say, if I had to wake up every morning and face a list of things like his that I have to do to take a step forward to be successful at anything, I think I'd rather enlist in the military. My life would be easier.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #28 – Love Your Hobby? Make It Your Revenue Stream

Audio Version available - see player below

This week the idea is to make the drudgery of keeping a roof over your (and the family's, if you have one) head and putting food on the table a part of your history. It's the age old requirement of earning a living.

Let's face it, most people don't work because they want to. They work because they have to. There are so many variables involved in this major part of most people's lives for, typically, 40 to 50 years. Yes! There are some who are able to take an earlier retirement. There are also a lot of folks who don't feel financially secure ever retiring. You may be at one of the two extremes, but most likely, you fall in the largest segment between the two extremes.

I get a kick out of the people who really don't like what they do, where they work or who they work for, but they'll tell me they like or even love their work. I'm not going to go into it. But, I know that even a lot of those people would rather be doing many other things than what they do at their job. They'd prefer spending time with other people than who they see everyday at the job, including either being subordinate to their boss, manager or supervisor or superior to those subordinate to them. They would also rather be in any number of places other than where they commute to . . . including home.

You May Know HOW – But, Do You Know WHY?

Audio Version available - see player below
       

This blog article actually began as an email letter I sent to a good friend from our undergraduate college days. After I wrote him, I realized it might make an interesting blog article. As you read it, I hope it provides you with some insight.

I read an interesting article on LinkedIn the other morning by a guy who wrote about why he left the management consulting firm he had been with and started a philosophy company. He was inspired to take this action for a couple reasons.

When he was in college studying philosophy, the college bookstore was going through a renovation. It was in complete disarray. A store clerk had put up a sign - within the stacks of books - that indicated "Mathematics Ends and Philosophy Begins." He decided to make that a personal mantra.

Then he mentioned two big corporate business fails. In the 1980's, AT&T brought in management consultants. They asked the question, should they get into the wireless/cell phone business (service provider)? The management consultants basically said, “No!” It was a fad, not a future trend. So, AT&T fell behind in the massive emerging industry that wireless communication has become. 

The American Dream: Magic or Myth – Introduction

NEW FEATURE: AUDIO VERSION – to listen instead of reading, click on the arrow on the player below. You may pause at any time by clicking on the pause symbol, then pick up where you left off by clicking the arrow again. Please leave comments below the printed post about your reaction to the audio version. I'm interested in your thoughts and feedback.

The United States of America, America the Beautiful and The American Dream are the name of our country, a common description and a widely used sentiment about what this country is all about.

Let me start out by saying I'm proud to be an American and glad, of all the places in the world I could have been born, it was here. Saying that, most people in what we call the “Free World” feel the same about their own countries and heritage. I believe that's the way it should be. However, The U.S. is where the largest number of immigrants migrate to and that includes coming from other “Free World” countries.

The appeal is several things. Chief among them is “The American Dream,” the land of opportunity. Another is the supposed freedom/liberty the country was founded on. Still another is the standard of living. And, of course, for many, the U.S. is a haven from tyrannical leaders and oppressive governments and societies. There are, of course, other appeals. These are the most obvious.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #20 – Do What You Love And The Money Will Follow

It's been established that 70% (an average based on multiple surveys and polls) of the population don't like their jobs or what they are doing for a living. So, this begs the question, Why? Why do people keep doing something they don't like? I'm talking about their J.O.B.s.

I've mentioned this before in other articles like the ones I did about Living Life and Defining Yourself. Why do we settle for whatever ultimately seems to happen? This question can be applied to many things such as relationships, the homes we live in, where we live and the specific thing this article focuses on, our job, career, occupation, profession or however you want to describe what you do to earn your financial income to afford the lifestyle you live and the overhead to sustain it.

Have you truly taken the time to analyze why you do what you do and why you keep doing it? To many, this may seem like a rhetorical question. You're scratching your head and saying to yourself, is this guy, Ed, dense or from another planet? You're thinking to yourself, I do it because I have to. I have responsibilities and obligations. I have a family that needs to be housed, fed and clothed. I can't just stop doing whatever it is I do because I don't like it or I'm not happy doing it. That's a good rationalization for not allowing yourself to think outside the box.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #13 – Cutting Back on Buying Stuff and Services

I'm writing this article during the period of time that has come to be called “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.” Cyber Friday is relatively new, but Black Friday began as early as the 1930's during the Great Depression. The earliest use of the title “Black Friday” seems to date back to 1961 in Philadelphia and spread across the U.S. thanks to the mainstream media. It has traditionally been touted as the busiest shopping day of the year. One reference to the origin of the name is, supposedly, retailers operate “in the red,” meaning not profitable, until Black Friday, when the buying frenzy on that day take the retailers into a profitable financial position or “in the black.”

This article is not about Black Friday or the fact that Black Friday has now turned into “Black November” since the sales and buying promotions begin at the beginning of November. The traditional day of giving thanks for all our “blessings,” Thanksgiving, is no longer sacrosanct. More and more stores open on Thursday afternoon and disrupt the traditional time of family and friends gathering to share time and thanks for all they have. And, of course, it has spawned “Small Business Saturday,” “Cyber (online buying) Monday” and “Giving Tuesday,” a day to make donations. To put it simply, shopping and buying stuff has become an obsession, especially for people living in the U.S.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #11 – Reevaluate Your Expectations and Make Changes.

We are well into the 21^st Century. That still seems a bit strange when I say it or write it. I'm a product of the 20^th Century and, most likely, so are you. While I'm not officially a “Baby Boomer,” I was born a year earlier than the Boomer generation has been defined to begin, I still grew up as part of that generation. Those were good times and those were bad times. Those of us who are Boomers were initially defined by the aftermath of the Great Depression and World War II.

Our parents wanted us to have better lives than they had. That's not unusual. I believe all parents since the beginning of time want their offspring to have lives better than they had. That's probably never been truer than during the past couple centuries as technology advanced at ever more accelerating rates. Those of us born in the 40's were actually around before or at the time the first 12” 33 1/3 and 7” 45 rpm phonograph records were introduced. Since then we've gone through those records, the 4 track and 8 track cartridge, the compact audio cassette, the CD, the Philips Digital Cassette, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), flash memory mp3 players, the iPod and now streaming and downloadable music formats. And that's just one small facet of our ever expanding technological world.

Defining Success . . . for YOURSELF

Success! This word may only have one other word in the English language that immediately comes to mind rivaling it in use and misuse. The other word is “love.” And, yes, I said use and misuse. Allow me to use two quotes in this article to provide the preface and conclusion for my remarks.

First, is this quotation from Walter H. Cottingham, former president of the Sherwin Williams Company,

"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings!"

Weekend Wrap-up – Saturday, October 31, 2015

Happy Halloween!

Another week has passed. I don't know where they go, but seven days just disappear. I've talked about time in the past, so I'm not going to belabor that point. Time is linear, it's the same now as it was when we were kids growing up. But, it sure seems like it goes faster the older we get. Someone has likened the passing of time to a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end of the roll, the faster it seems to go. Oh well, it is what it is. Just live life to the fullest and get as much out of every moment as you can.

Nothing extraordinary this week. It's been pretty much more of the same. List stuff on eBay. Hope it sells. Take a beating if it does. Pack it! Ship it! And it passes into oblivion. Another point not to belabor – we just have too much stuff in our lives and most of us don't realize it and do anything about it until it becomes a huge chore. John and Sharon, a couple of, very soon to be, full-time nomadic friends are going through this process as I compose this article. We commiserate about the process via email. I try to make it fun and joyful. But, I won't kid myself or you, it's not!

Photo-of-the-Week #234 – A Beautiful Pacific Sunset Every Evening, Manhattan Beach, California, January 2015

This week it's a simple photo. These homes and apartments are overlooking the beach and the Pacific Ocean at Manhattan Beach, California. It's January, so the sun sets around 5:30 PM. It's about 4:00 PM when I took this photo. I've seen Pacific sunsets and I can guarantee, they are breathtaking. But, then again, so are all the other ones I've seen. . . 

“To sleep, perchance to Dream” . . . “what dreams may come”

If you guessed these quotes are from the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, you are right as rain. Actually, they're taken from the famous “To be or not to be . . .” soliloquy from “Hamlet.” The entire soliloquy goes:

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes Calamity of so long life:
For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time,
The Oppressor's wrong, the proud man's Contumely,
The pangs of despised Love, the Law’s delay,
The insolence of Office, and the Spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his Quietus make
With a bare Bodkin? Who would Fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered Country, from whose bourn
No Traveller returns, Puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
Thus Conscience does make Cowards of us all,
And thus the Native hue of Resolution
Is sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,
With this regard their Currents turn awry,
And lose the name of Action. Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia? Nymph, in thy Orisons
Be all my sins remembered.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #5 – Downsize Your Living Accommodations

This week Tip #5 is about where and how you live. Once again, the action required to fulfill this tip is not something that you can do instantly. It will require some serious contemplation, analysis and planning. Once you know, first, if you want to take this action and, second, what you want to actually do, you'll need to create a plan of action.

Contemplation, Consideration & Analysis

To get off “start,” the first thing you have to do is look around and contemplate or think what it would be like if you actually left your current home (this applies to a business, too), and moved to a smaller accommodation in a different location. There are numerous things to consider (the consideration part of this process) to take this action. Here are just a few:

#11 on the Top Ten List of Life Thieves – Your Job/Profession/Business

If you read the introductory article on the Top 15 Life Thieves I listed, you'll notice I have not necessarily been taking them in the original order. That's because it's only my opinion as to the order they are in. Each life thief will impact each person differently. The important point is to examine each of these thieves and realize what role it may be playing in stealing the essence of your precious life and time.

#11 Your Job, Profession or Business

According to a 2013 Gallup poll of workers, from a huge sampling, 70% of U.S. workers hate their jobs. That percentage hasn't varied very much over the years. So, what's the deal? As one person put it, and I'm paraphrasing, it's called work for a reason. If it was supposed to be enjoyable or fun it would be called fun.