When we lived urban, we had a city-oriented mindset of course. WHAT exactly that meant was not always clear to us at the time because, well, it’s a mind and it’s set. And you kind of have to get away from a mindset for a time to be able to see what it is or was. Vacations helped, of course. But not two weeks at an all-inclusive beach with folks from Ontario. That’s just living the same but different. Ya really gotta get out amongst the foreign natives in a strange land and live each day differently than what you are familiar with to have any real chance at a proper mental respite. For Sal and I that meant three months or more at the very least – just for vacations.
Habits, routines, ruts, patterns, protocols, disciplines, even daily, ease-of-doing behaviours/memory/routines/schedules that help get you to work on time and choose the right hallways and elevators to use…..all keep our minds more than just somewhat set…..the word, ‘concrete‘ comes to mind. Mindsets (beliefs and habits) and constructs (self perception) act much the same as well. Lifestyle (preferences and behaviours, taste, style), too. We are not only creatures of habit but we tend to seek such a perspective.
I once heard that major law firms will not grant sabbaticals or even long-term leaves to junior lawyers because too many of them never come back. In other words, like people incarcerated for a long time, you do not know what your real perspective on life is until you get away from it for a good long time. If you don’t get away you can’t really avoid it. You just get programmed.
….but that is not my point….
The point is: that from our OTG perspective (our new, reformed, holier-than-thou point of view on just about everything) too much of our modern society is really, really stupid (not to mention self destructive). It does not work. It is not sustainable. Makes me wonder if we really need the governments and institutions we have. Makes me wonder about our economic, justice and education systems a lot, too. To be blunt, just about every major aspect of modern life needs a radical review and reformation because, currently, it is off the rails.
Get this microscopic example: It seems part of inflation is now being blamed on warehousing! First the Covid-affected supply chains emptied the warehouses and then, duh, they later filled them up. But the demand and logistics for products coming and going faltered, stuff got out of balance, the system got the hiccups and bottlenecks and jumbles resulted. So now the warehouses are full.
You’d think that would lower prices but, NO, that raised them because warehousing costs a lot and they simply can’t get rid of the stuff fast enough. Everyday your product sits stored, they raise the price of it to pay for the storage.
Solutions being undertaken (by all of them) include selling on the secondary markets and, of course, destroying new product so as to keep primary market prices high. That’s right – you put in an order for a $2000 fridge but it’s on back-order (translation: stuck in a warehouse that is spilling over with fridges) and so the ‘system’ sells 20% of the new fridges to Argentina for $250.00 each or else they simply destroy the product. They have to or else the supply chain backs up again. Oh yeah, and because of the storage cost, your fridge is now $2100.00.
And that is just one tiny, silly, inconsequential aspect of a world-gone-mad (just in the ‘warehouse’ category). Here’s another: Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court judge, regularly takes private jet trips and stays at private resorts courtesy of a Republican donor who has also donated some $10M to non-reporting private societies associated with Thomas and his wife. Last year Thomas and Ginny enjoyed a $500,000 private yacht vacation courtesy of the donor. Thomas, of course, is supposed to report any kind of gift or donation over $415.00 but has never done so. This has been going on for over a decade. THIS IS A SUPREME COURT JUDGE!!!!!
Those two examples of Orwellian-level absurdity and corruption are not without way, way too much company in a vast sea of modern day ‘mindsets’ that either condone, practice or ignore the city-centred madness. No one needs a comprehensive ‘urban-centric’ list that includes police belligerence, voting scandals, fraud, pollution, drug deaths, wars, homelessness and political corruption. No one needs to know of all the madness all the time everywhere. So, the modern person just hunkers down, looks ahead and applies their nose to the grindstone (which aids and abets the insanity even more). We choose NOT to see!
They ignore everything they can because to address it all is impossible. In fact, addressing all that faces just themselves is getting impossible. The kitchen is getting unbearably hot. Everybody’s kitchen is hotter than hell. But they still hang in there…..like the frog in the pot of heating water. What the modern first world citizen has come to accept as normal, everyday, the-way-of-things is now absolutely beyond reason from our perspective.
I don’t know how y’all do it.
Our Off the Grid Home 
Here’s another thing about storage. Most of the big box stores don’t have any. Their inventory is on the floor. So then when they get a big delivery and there is no room on the floor, they keep the trailer it’s in, even though it belongs to the trucking company. So the trucking company has to get more trailers and trucking costs go up! Glad to see you included the Justice system in things that are broken. Having gone through almost a year of dealing with the RCMP and the court system, In heartily agree!
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Basically, it is just a rant on everything that is broken only using ‘warehousing’ as a micro-example. I think we could do it on marinas, roads, logging, ferries, RCMP and just about everything you and I know something about…what bloody nonsense plays out so much of the time in everything!
To sort it all out, I think you have to go back to the very human basics – money, capitalism, trade, greed, ambition, exchange, gifting, charity, equality….all the way back to the very basics of what makes up mankind…maybe even further back…..
………..I am not religious at all but that call for renewal is very ‘Easter-ish’. Jesus is reported to have said on his unexpected resurrection, “I am making everything new! Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Rev 21:5
I dunno…..I do not disbelieve HIM but how long is HE gonna wait to get started….?
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I guess after a war with China over Taiwan with millions (billions?) dead and the world economy in an utter shambles….
You can say, “Told ya!”
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Good point. There are very few ‘wins’ in my current view save one – living OTG. Of course, with the world in shambles and/or dead, living OTG won’t be the walk-in-the-park it is now but still, I feel as if I have a chance. And, anyway, the world does not have to be blown up and/or everyone to be dead…that is not a prerequisite…it is just that modern life right now has gone over to the dark side and life in the woods is good. Why NOT choose the sunny side of the forest? It is really just my dramatic way of saying – once again – many people would be happier NOT in the city. They would be happier in the woods. Jus’ sayin’…
And, anyway, if everyone is dead, who am I gonna be saying ‘Told ya!’ to?
BTW….the Chinese are too smart. They’ll push. They might even threaten and shoot something….but they advance by a thousand cuts, not with bluster and bombs. They’ll get Taiwan but not for a long time. In fact, they’ll likely get Taiwan the same way they are ‘getting’ BC and Canada. They’ll just buy it.
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“The kitchen is getting unbearably hot. Everybody’s kitchen is hotter than hell. But they still hang in there…..like the frog in the pot of heating water. ”
Maybe those who move OTG are more in line with the frog in the pot of cream allegory, if any here know that one.
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I thought I knew everything…..but I do NOT know about frogs in cream….pray tell
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I do NOW! Good point.
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I heard that one long ago from my mother. Maybe it came from her native Norway.
In brief compass, it goes like this. One day a frog falls into a bucket (or pot, it you like) of cream. He swims around and around but cannot possibly climb the steep sides of the bucket while swimming. He thinks of giving up and letting himself drown. But, he refuses. He persists in his efforts, struggling and swimming furiously. His persistence is rewarded. In time, the cream whips and churns into butter. Now, with a firm footing, he is able to jump out.
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It looks like you posted your “pray tell” at 4:50 p.m. and had your epiphany at 4:53, while I was typing my “pray tell” reply, which is apparently moot.
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Thanks for sharing it with us other 6!
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Referring to your last question “how we do it”?
I think you could answer that question for yourself, as you have been living the rat race for a long time yourself, untill you took the leap
As you know, at this moment, some of us are not that brave yet, although we KNOW that life OTG is a lot better, and staying in the rat race is not a way to live
I know I said you could rant, but you nailed it again, and you have shown me again that I should get out fast….but no problem, I asked for it!
The world has fallen over the Dark Side, I agree, and something will happen very soon, a bit like the point of no return
The Chinese play it so smart, they even convinced the Saudi’s and the Iranians to meet in China to discuss re-establishing diplomatic relations
No diplomacy if you ask me, just big bucks!
BTW : this frog is again very close to boiling point
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