Get dirty, get self reliant...

Self reliance isn't pretty, I have learned(and continue to learn). It requires hard work, dedication, and forethought, as well as the application of what used to be called common sense, but now seems like soothsaying to most of the population. Sometimes, though, all it requires is a willingness to get your hands dirty. Literally, getting down on your hands and knees, and getting dirty.

Handling your own plumbing problems isn't our first instinct anymore. We've been persuaded by decades of government conditioning and countless television commercials that it's smarter to call the rotor rooter man when our toilet clogs, that we should go to Jiffy lube, rather than try to change the oil ourselves, and to spend extra for neatly packaged meat that we can just buy as we need it.

To break the chains that bind us, to live a free life, to learn the skills of our forefathers, we must be willing to get dirty. Oil, dirt, blood and poo will liberate us. Yes, I just said poo will liberate us. Bear with me.

There is great freedom in learning to take care of your own problems. If you need shelves, to build them, and if you need a car repaired, to do it. Oh, it's easier and more comfortable to pay someone else to do the job, but where does that lead? It leads to the need for more money, which means even more time spent working for someone else.

As I work my way through 20 pounds of hamburger, bagging and freezing the fruits of my trip to the store, I think about the money I save by buying in bulk, and I look forward to the day when I am freezing meat I have hunted on my own. As I put books on the shelf I built, I think about the money I saved over a trip to IKEA.

Which reminds me, I have gaskets to change on my truck, and a funny sound coming from the heater blower.