our great society...

I just finished a small novel, Henry and the Great Society tonight, and wanted to post a little bit about the message it brought to me. Before I do, I first want to preface this by referencing that there are many bloggers that I read on a regular basis, and most of them have to do with agrarian living. Some are radical, and some are quite "normal." So as to not offend any of them, I'll keep my opinion about who the radicals are to myself. :) Most of the ones that I read are located on the preferred blogs list. They range from city to country folks, institutionally educated and self-educated, financially well-off and financially struggling, and a smattering of everything in between.

Side note...I got my test results back today that states that I know enough to teach Art in Ohio. I am just waiting on the Ohio Department of Education to send me a teaching License now.

However, there is no need to move from the city to the country to live an agrarian lifestyle. You can do it right where you are. In fact Jules Dervaes at Path to Freedom is doing it in Pasadena, CA right around the corner from where I lived. Back to the novel.

In this story, Henry goes from a contented farmer with no modern conveniences to a ......(wait a minute, I don't want to spoil the story for you :) person who is not as happy as he used to be. It seems throughout the story that the answer is to always "get back" to the way things used to be. I enjoyed the story, and it made me reflect on many of the "conveniences" that I have now that are not actually convenient. But the point I want to make here is that no matter how hard we try to get back to a place in the past, progression takes us toward the future. Are we trapped by the forward movement and unable to stop its affect on us? I think not. Actually, having lived the progressive life for years and not finding too much benefit in it is what has causes us to desire a more rural, self-sustaining life in the first place. I think that if a person (or family in my case) establishes a vision for their lives and actively pursues accomplishing it, they will find that the future holds more promise than always trying to recapture something that they once had. So much for my Thursday, I just read a book, wisdom.