With a 45th high school reunion coming up

 I am sitting here wondering if any of my former classmates have a clue as to how I have lived my life on the road less traveled. Most of them I have not seen since I left the graduation ceremony.

For example, I seriously doubt that any of them have lived in bear country and had to have either a .375 H&H or a 12 gauge loaded with slugs in their hands just to go outside and take a leak. If they have it has been for a very brief period of time.

I spent 14 months in a tipi in the Rockies when I got out of the army because I wanted fo follow a childhood dream. When that adventure ended I hitch-hiked to Alaska and adventured there for over the next decade, hunted, buillt houses, fished both for subsistance and comercially, dabbled with airplanes, and bought a sailboat and adventured on board her.

For quite a lot of this period I suppose I could have legally been considered among the ranks of the homeless, but I was anything but. I always had a place to park myself come evening.

I was probably cosidered to be dirt poor by some, yet I always seemed to be well fed, fairly clean and I took care of myself with no real outside help. I didn't need the government and the truth is all the government could do for me at the time was interfere with me.

What should be noted is that when I wanted something I simply went to work, lived frugally and saved. When I decided to save for my sailboat a lot of people thought it was a pipe dream until I showed up with it.

I learned that I could do whatever I wanted to if I decided to buckle down and work at it.

From the time I got out of the service until the time I embarked on my present career I lived the bulk of my life in a subsistance lifestyle. For a big part of that I fed myself. A lot of my food I either caught or shot myself.

It made me into a pretty self-reliant person that didn't have to rely on much more than myself. The only thing I took from the government was the money from my GI bill and that I had earned. It was a part of my compensation package for serving in the army.

When I was just shy of forty I embarked on the career I am still working at. I went to sea and learned to move oil and these days that's what I do. I run a 50,000 barrel tank vessel.  

I didn't opt for safety and I suppose I'm lucky to have made it to the ripe old age of 62. 

While some of this can in fact be attributed to dumb luck, the bulk of it has come from making good decisions while being involved in risky ventures.

I think the reason I am making this post is because I have noticed that a lot of my classmates seem to have opted for much safer careers. Many have decided to become government employees which actually isn't a bad choice if you want to go that way.

Still, a lot of these people have opted to let government take care of them and seem to think that it is the job of government to take care of individuals. My experience says otherwise.

It is the duty of the individual to take care of himself. I have come to the conclusion to that based on my own personal experiences.

To those that keep trying to drag people to their level of their definition of happiness I say, butt out!

People are about as happy as they want to be and will live at whatever standard they choose if they are left alone to achieve what they want to achieve. 

Most of the people I grew up with seemed to have taken other somewhat safer paths in life and it is pretty likely that they will try and put me into some sort of category based on the path most commonly traveled. It's hardly fair.

I have simply taken my life, lived it as I see fit and have come to the conclusions I have based on what I have seen and my instincts.

As I age I get more and more convinced that I have done myself justice by taking the path I chose. I have been places and done things few of my classmates have. It's pretty satisfying having done things and been places most people only get to see on the Discovery Channel.

I have also lived life with a flavor those that took the safe road will never enjoy the taste of.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY