A friend of mine just died at 81 years of age, he was one of the early organic farmers, eggs and garden produce, 40 plus years ago and worked most of his life with help from the Amish. He supplied many of the organic free run chicken eggs in the North East 30 years ago. One of the chicken coops that he talked about, caged egg production now, was built for about 10,000 chickens, now it hold more than 60,000. I was talking to a guy I work with who lives in a suburb of Boston and we were talking about caged humans in our modern world. They live in an apartment in Boston, 1 bedroom average rent is about 2,800 a month, which they often share in order to afford, ride the T to work packed in like sardines, work in a cubical, or in a Starbucks, or go to a college and set in classes, but all the time crowded with no space and at the same time no real social interactions. Many do not have cars, parking and insurance are very expensive, and when they do go some where it is on public transportation or Uber, etc, and they are limited to the areas that they can go to. When they do go out it is often to clubs, bars, etc where they are surrounded by crowds of strangers. They are more likely to have close friends on Facebook in California, etc, than to know the name of their next apartment neighbor and spend hours a day at work on computers and almost all of their leisure time is spent watching videos or on some form of social media. In many cases they have social and economic views that were installed into them in the public education system and their insular nature means that they are not receptive to new ideas and are not exposed to them. The cage being supplied to those entering this country who are not assimilating is just as confining, you no longer have to learn English, everyone is forced to furnish translation services, the internet and cable TV allow you to be informed and entertained in you native language, more and more people are living in enclaves and are electing individuals to congress who are trying to modify our system into their "native" system. It might be argued that a lot of our problems, drugs, poverty, racial and social disputes, are all at least being made worse by almost all of us living in our own defined cages and not interacting with others as we used to in the past.
Thank SM. I will miss him, one of the last farmers left in the area, one of the last in the rural generation I was raised in and one of the last with a value system that we shared and enjoyed. His health was good up until last year when he fell off a ladder while painting. He had made peace with the Lord many years ago and had no fear of moving on and much hope of a better world with the Lord. I don't know when it happened, but many in my generation, born before WW2, had little real fear of death and somehow never developed the mindset that every resource known to man must be used to delay death even 1 hour. Nothing like not knowing if you will be alive in 20 minutes at an early age, to make you appreciate what time has been given to you and be thankful what the Lord has given you, rather than fretting about leaving 10 minutes sooner.YMMV.
@duane so sorry to hear you lost a good friend. He sounds like someone you admired. My grandmother told me one time that the hardest part of aging is not just the physical restrictions but that you lose all the people who knew you as a girl/boy and the shared memories. I did not fully appreciate this bit of wisdom until I started to loing people. I think that living on top of each other makes us a bit insane. Not having alone time to sort out what we think or feel without outside influence makes people more angry/rage filled, stressed and difficult. The animal part of us strikes out to get more space. Whether is physical or mental space. without this alone time we just don't take the time to figure out who we are and what we stand for. It sounds like your friend knew himself. And accepted life and death. You were lucky to have known him I think. Thanks for sharing the memory and the thoughts.
We all live within our self imposed boundaries (Cages) Which is a good thing when we are the ones who choose those boundaries based on our own comfort level and with some care and morality. It is when the cages are imposed and people are herded into them whether through manipulation or direct force, that those cages become the cesspools of of society. Interacting with each other as we used to is BAD, there was real meaningful thought and the conveying of ideas that endured. No that had to change to text and quick chats that are forgotten moments after sent because the next critical thing popped up before you even finished thinking about the critical thing before....... meanwhile the real problems get brief mention but buried under the constant stream of minute to minute crisis. Much better to keep people focused on how lucky they are to have few square feet to dwell in and to be part of such great company and to not have to think about those things. We see it daily Morality is Bad is the constant message, You might think you are thinking but we will direct your thinking. God is dead and you are now your own God! Doing wrong is really doing right. And you are free to do this and more inside yer own cage that we cared enough to herd you in to and believe everything we feed you via yer multiple devices. Oh and did we mention you have to pick an identity and base all of you activities based on that identity. But not to worry you can change your identity and beliefs daily. Not my cup of tea, I will keep going to the elevator and pulling up a chair and having real conversations with real people once a week. Going to my friends house and sitting on the porch or in by the wood stove killing a pot of coffee or pitcher of tea. Or Them coming over to my place and doing the same. Or just take a walk in the woods or around the farm and visit with the hogs or tomatoes. And living life free within my own boundaries that I chose freely and with a morality based on something higher than myself or any other human. The only real choice a free human should have to make is.......... Do I do what is right or do I do what is wrong and the line between right and wrong is not blurry at all until people make it blurry to justify doing wrong. And sorry for the loss of your friend far too many of the Old Good Guys are leaving us and far fewer of us stepping up to try and fill their boots
Thunder5Ranch brings up an excellent point, what is the difference from a self assembled cage and a fortress? Can the walls be used to keep others out and defend you from the mass society? The Amish made that decision a long time ago, as did in many ways the LDS. Is it viable to live in your own cage or will it soon no longer be tolerated? Home schooling and using your own selected textbooks is building walls for your cage, as is becoming more self sufficient, and the "standardized tests" they require your children to pass and food safety rules are an attempts to put windows and doors in the cage, only they always open only from the outside. There are cages used to protect the chickens from hawks and foxes as well as cages used to confine them to a minimum space, use the least amount of food and water, and being able to trace every egg laid and get rid of the "sub par producers". Can be very hard for the day old chicken who is now a 1 year old hen to tell which is which as it has only experienced the one it is in. Might be why the powers to be fear us older free run individuals with experiences outside of their control for the last 10 years or so and perhaps both the will and the means to resist the desired changes.
Good memories in the hearts of good friends are the best that a man can leave behind. When you put rats in an overcrowded environment, their entire social order breaks down and they turn into cannibals. They eat their own young, go "insane", and do all the other things that people do when put into an overcrowded environment. This is no surprise to me. What I do find surprising is that people live in cities of their own free will. They don't have to, even to make a living. Although they may choose to make their living in a way that requires them to live in a city, even then it's a voluntary choice.
The problem is so many people feel like it is someone elses responsibility to make the hard choices for them and just follow along. This is good in the military (without getting into disobeying illegal orders etc.) It is not so good in what is supposed to be a free society. But I guess part of the freedom is electing to give up your freedom.
And yet... I have noticed since I returned that people here (in the states) tend to be, stand offish (is that a word?). It is almost like they don't wish to know you or are afraid to know you or don't have the time to know you or maybe they just don't want the hassle of knowing you. Who knows because even they don't? While overseas, I lived in a world of comradery. We looked out after each other, went places together, watched each others back, totally different world - but here - talk about a wake up call! It's a jungle, and whoever gave it that name knew what they were talking about. I can't put my finger on it but there is no closeness here and it's not just me. I stay in touch with all my old cronies and they all see it, feel it, it's like we came from a different world and one just sort of exists here which isn't truly living. We speak about cages but we build our own cage, piece by piece; however, most have a choice...sort of. Most those people live in their 'city cages' because the jobs are more plentiful and pay is better, it's not their preference. That is the only reason. I haven't met anyone that lives in a city that wouldn't rather live in my country world. But, the biggest reason is 'financial slavery' - pure and simple. Whether it's is their own fault or not is debatable. Hell, medical insurance in this country costs more than you will make at any of the Big Box stores (i.e. Home Depot, Walmart, Best Buy, etc...) or after you pay it there's nothing left to eat on. So, what are they suppose to do, roll over and die? They live where they can find work to survive. But, does it drive people crazy? I certainly think so. And, that's why I don't live there. But, the entire world has got too many people and it continues to grow. The USA has got 360 million and people seem to think the space is endless, it's not, nor are our natural resources. But, what are the options? None, at least, no realistic options. China tried a government mandated birth control and it didn't work. They finally nullified the law. So.... So, I guess just be thank if you live in a decent area and have a few good friends that aren't too whacko.
@duane so sorry to hear you lost a friend. Live your life WELL !! Nod , smile and agree with nut-so's Not worth the time
Sorry about your friend,Condolences to you and the family. We were just talking about that today,Loosing friends early in life. Ones in school to drugs and car wreaks. Nowdays some of my friends and family are gone early due to cigarette smoke. Its a damn shame too!!
There was an experiment where rats were raised in two environments, called Natural and Hell's Kitchen. In the Natural environment the rats were living like GOD intended them to live, and in the Hell's Kitchen environment there were all of the social problems and disorders that you listed above. Then the researchers connected the two environments and allowed the rats to move freely from one to the other, some of the rats stayed in the Natural environment, some moved back and forth, but most CHOOSE to live in Hell's Kitchen! How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen the big city lights?
In the biggest city near me ,, they are building massive amounts of apartments ,, townhouses etc ,,, and they're piling them all right in the middle of the city ,, or as close as they can get them ,, they're close to the rail line they put in a few yrs back ,, and even stretching that out to a few of the closest cities . Thankfully,, my little town is not on that course . But , my area is building up , mostly small communities, or retirement communities. Won't be long and I figure I'll have to sell out and find another little slice of heaven somewhere. I've driven thru that center part of the biggest town ,, all the high rises etc ,,,, and I'll look at them folks walking around,, and it's like they're all in their own little bubble ,, very few are interacting with others ,, of course I'm not an interactive person myself,, but it just surely is not the way I want to live. If I have to ,, I'll just get me a pack , and a small tent ,, and just wander on down alongside one of the rivers passing thru the county . Times sure have changed .
