Fishn4bogy,

If you get rid of the television and social media you’ll get to where you want to go a whole lot faster. No so much to be afraid of out here, just lots of peace and quiet :)

C,

I didn’t think you thought that at all, and I know Carla loves your posts too :)

And I agree 100% about patriotism. Yesterday I sailed by the new Freedom Tower in NYC and past the Statue of Liberty.

There is an inflatable buzzing around the Statue of Liberty with a crew, and mounted with a machine gun. I’m woundering who would ever attack the Statue Of Liberty, and if “they” did, would a 50mm machine gun matter? It looked to me as if it was just a show for all the tourists. They buzzed by Eleanor to check us out too.

It’s all too complicated and “safe” for me, I was happy to put New York to my stern and sail under the Varazzino for New Jersey.

Speaking of my personal views …

You are one of the most patriotic people I know. The flag-waving element of the population (for which I assume you are referring to) is prone to confuse loyalty to the country with loyalty to the government. These are the lost souls who watch the MSM media like Fox, CNN, MSNBC and actually believe they are getting the news, when in reality they are being spoon-fed a sanitized and Americanized version of events, otherwise known as propaganda. These are the same fools who confuse patriotism with blind loyalty to the government and the politicians who run it. These people are not patriots … they are people who have been domesticated and conditioned to believe in a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods.

A patriot is not loyal to government or the people who run it, a patriot is loyal to the principles this country was founded on. Real patriotism is a willingness to speak truth to power and stand up and challenge the government and hold the politicians accountable for their actions.

You often speak of how the country changed following 9/11. I couldn’t agree more. Critical thought has been considered “unpatriotic” since 9/11 and anyone who is critical of the official US Govt narrative or questions the bought-and-paid for politicians who are driving the ship of state onto the rocks are considered “unpatriotic”, or worse, called a terrorist and placed on a “watch list”. Sadly, this country today more closely resembles a fascist tyranny than it does a democracy.

One of our countries founding fathers, Thomas Paine, he said it is the duty of the true patriot to protect his country from his government.

Holding your government to account for subverting the countries founding document does not mean you are calling for the overthrow of the government – to the contrary, it means you are calling for the reinstatement of our government. It does not mean you are calling for lawlessness – it means you are calling for an end to lawlessness and a return to the rule of law. It does not mean you are subverting the country by critically examining and questioning your governments actions to undermine it – it means you are calling for the reinstatement of the Constitution. This is what it means to be a patriot.

By this definition there are very few patriots left in this country…

– C

To sit down with all of you with a few bottles of wine, some fresh food….the conversations would be EPIC!! I’d be drinking my green tea, or a nice rum and coke!

Anyway…..

This is top three, maybe even the best blog so far. We all get caught up in the “I needs” that we just spend hour upon hour busting our ass to buy things! Three weeks ago I almost bought a 2015 Jeep Wrangler. I’ve wanted one for the better part of 25 years. When the salesman slid the paper across the table and showed me my payments would have been anywhere from 590 to 671 dollars a month, I wanted to cry. It literally took my breath away. As I drove away I realized that a new Jeep for me was never going to happen. So 1200 dollars later my 17 year old Ranger has new shocks, control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, serpentine belt, oil change and front brakes! Oh, and I bought a Jackson Big Rig kayak, so now I can go fishing! We are awash in consumerism. Everywhere you look, someone is trying to get you to buy something. I too am trying my hardest to unplug. I am exhausted. Not in the physical sense…ok maybe a little…but exhausted from being constantly bombarded by everything. You cant watch the morning news without someone trying to sell you a new car. I can’t read an article on the web without some advertisement. I’ll be trying to read it and then I hear voices that I have no idea where they are coming from. So I have to scroll up or down to find it. Now they are getting clever and not letting you pause or cancel it!

I just want off this continent. I crave a simpler life, but I am terrified out of my mind. I’ll be 49 in October. If I can pull this off in the next say 6 years, I’ll be 55 then. If I ever came back to the states my only employment options would be to go back to long haul trucking, which I absolutely dread.

I need to quit over thinking things. I need to get off my ass and take care of business. Over the past few years, I’ve watched 3/4 of the people I know and love battle cancer. Some have won, others have lost. Burying your best friend at 48 really, really sucks. Yet here I sit, worrying about stuff I can’t control. Worrying about whether or not I’ll have enough money to afford the next latest and greatest thing. Wondering why the cute girl down the street seemingly wants nothing to do with me anymore. I’m tired of worrying about why people do or don’t like me. I something that said “If you aren’t good enough to be in someones life, is that your problem, or theirs!” Boy I need to start listening to that a whole lot more.

I’m so sorry for rambling on…Have a safe trip, Alex!

Hi Carla!!!

In no way do I begrudge those with money and couldn’t agree with you more, nor do I dislike those who work hard to acquire it. And I must say I am very “greedy” myself when it comes to my freedom and time. Those however who force me to give up my time (freedom) are a differant story all together. Aside from the multinational corporations, mainstream media is something that i truly despise. I’ve lost my father to Fox News and it breaks my heart. He is so afraide of Isis and the North Koreans that I want to cry. I recently got him away from the idiot box for a few weeks and he was such a differant person. Happy, laughing, and seeing the beauty in the world and not the over dramatized, sensolationized, near-sighted, and often fictionilized version of what “news” is supposed to be.

I really do feel like Neo walking through the matrix for the first time. Many people may call me un-patriotic but the truth is it hurts to see my country so lost, divided, and taken advantage of by the very systems that are supposed to be in place to protect it. I don’t want to get into a political debate as all I can do to fight it, is to live as free as I can and share my experience with those who are interested to read about it.

I’ll be sailing by the Statue of Liberty today, it’s kind of a big deal for me as it was such a positive icon throughout my childhood.

In case you haven’t read the words that are carved at her base, here you go:

New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Im finally leaving on my trip home today !!!!!!!

Peace

Alex and Carla –

Personally, I don’t begrudge those who have money, nor do begrudge those who have taken a vow of poverty. These are distinctions with a difference yet they are opposite sides of the exact same coin. Striving to live on as little as possible takes the same levels of self-discipline and commitment as striving to earn as much as possible. The personal dedication and effort to achieve these goals are the same — even though the objectives and values are different.

In nature there is a perfect symmetry and equilibrium … and humans are part of nature too. Some animals are vegetarians and others are carnivores, some plants require desert climates and others need a forrest to survive. Some of us are Muslims, Christians, and others are atheists; some are Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and others are political atheists; some people seem to thrive better in the concrete jungle than the natural one. Some people prefer life inside the Matrix to living outside of it, and the vast majority don’t know the difference. This is the way its supposed to be. Everyone is on their own unique path – some are drifting others are running and some are further along that path than others. Some refuse to move and have staked out a spot on the path and will never budge. I think it is important to accept people as they are right where they are at. Acceptance doesn’t require agreement, just mutual respect and acknowledgement without judgement.

If we value freedom then we should also value those who are freely choose to live differently than we do. If we believe everyone should be free to live as they choose then we should hold those who are poor and choose to live on peanuts in the same regard as those who are rich and choose to chase money. All of us who value freedom and hold it dear should respect all those who freely choose a different path than the one we are on.

But another persons freedom to swing their fists should ends at my face. I don’t care what you do or how you live your life so long as your choices don’t affect me or hurt those I care about. My enemy is not the Muslim, the vegetarian, or the wealthy businessman – my enemy is the person or entity who in order to get what they want have to take something away from me to get it.

We should reserve our collective angst for those who by coercion or violence try to consolidate their power and wealth by taking away ours. Most people with a different view point or socioeconomic situation are not a threat to you or me. Most governments however and some large corporations pose an immediate threat to all of us, because in order for them to get something they have to take it away from something or someone else.

The more powerful the state the less powerful the people. The wealthier the state the poorer the citizens. The more liberty and freedom the state has the less freedom and liberty the people have.

Ok, I’ll step off my soapbox now….

I gotta say I do feel a new awareness in people, a new spirituality, let’s hope a new era begins, and that we can slowly restore that balance.

Capitalism does not function without greed and its ugly child, consumerism. We all use money now because that is the system that we are stuck with in so-called “Developed Economies.” I am anxious to experience life in Panama; and elsewhere in my future travels. It seems that the further you get from the center of “Development” the easier it is to live on less money, and barter. By living with less we can weaken this system. If we can influence others to also live on less, we might be able to start people thinking about alternative economic systems. The propaganda in social media, the news etc. all function to keep people believing that what we have is the best option; that we should be happy. It is no wonder people are stressed. They believe very strongly that what they are doing will result in their happiness, yet they know deep inside that they are not happy.

The primary philosophical driver of Multi-National Corporations, and capitalsim itself, is growth at any cost. The only thing in nature that functions this way is the cancer cell. Not the best model to build an economy on.

In an ideal world, if we all took only what we really need, then there would be enough for everybody.

But I assure you that here, in the real world, in the area of Panama where I currently reside, next to our anchorage there’s a small village. It’s one of the most “impoverished” areas of the country with no running water or garbage collection. People get their fruit and drinking water walking up the mountain. They catch octopus with a piece of old wire and line fish from their canoes just with a string with a piece of straw tied at the end. Children play with sticks and leaves and walk round the reef to catch small bait. They can’t afford a mask and they certainly don’t have violent video games or social media problems.

I hear their laughter everyday. Most of these people only do odd jobs a couple of times a month. They have time to be together, and do those things they like doing. Families are tight. Schools and local hospitals are free for all (Alex got treated for his leg infection here in Portobelo a couple of months back and it was better care than in the private clinics we visited later in the city).

Life is not perfect here, they can’t always put meat or eggs on the table, their roofs might leak when it rains, but many of them have found happiness in watching their children grow, watching the sunset with their spouse, or dancing to (very loud) music. They do not have a mortgage or credit card bills to worry about. They have built their homes with their own hands and there is only one electricity bill to pay every other month, that is if they use electricity at all.

There’s also drugs and theft, which is very painful for those people who want to live in peace. But there’s drugs and theft in your local police department, House of Representatives, or IRS office, wherever you live. Just on a much bigger (and refined) scale. And it is just as painful for those who want to live in peace there.

Happiness is a philosophy and freedom is a choice. Both have very little to do with how much money you own. Sometimes, I assure you, less is more.

That’s what I mean when I say I disagree with the statement that money can’t buy freedom or happiness but it helps. I really don’t think it does. It usually brings more stress, obligations, confusion and clatter. We choose to live a simpler life with more free time and less possessions.

Some people are happy, some people are free, but it has nothing to do with income. It has to do with their attitude towards life, their spiritual wisdom. No number will ever make you happy if you’re not happy today. It’s something else entirely you should be searching for. Reach out. Work on it. Be more spiritual and generous. And it will gradually become simple and clear.