Wait what?

In case anyone has been holding their breath to read more of my thoughts I am sorry this took me so long. I believe I left off saying that I had come to the conclusion that the "pursuit of happiness" is mainly the pursuit of money. Though I do not think that money is happiness I would like to clarify that in any part of the world I've been to money is certainly the vehicle to happiness.

"Tell me more, Captain Obvious" I hear you say. Well here it goes. It is impossible to exist in the US without either spending money, or having someone spend money on your behalf. I don't mean eating, or having a roof over your head. I mean existing. Every last acre of land is owned by somebody. A person is either going to have to pay someone to be on their land, or be trespassing, or own it themselves (Ok, I guess by impossible I meant impossible to legally exist). Even public land e.g. parks are only open to those who pay fees, or are open for only certain hours. Homeless people, for example, can be arrested for sleeping in parks. They can go to shelters, but someone has to pay for those.

What I am getting at is basically what I understand the Hippie movement to be about in the 60s. There is no place from sea to shining sea that a person can go to aimlessly play out the rest of their lives, or do something productive without first shelling out a little somethin' somethin'. The land of opportunity has been surveyed, parceled and claimed a long time ago.

Now imagine adding in stuff like food and shelter. If you're able to wonder around long enough without getting arrested or shot for trespassing you'll eventually find some fruit or nut trees (or something) maybe some wild game (pigeons, mice, bugs, ferrell cats) that can be eaten without some exchange of money. Hey look, maybe it's not impossible to exist here without having a little cash flow. "The best things in life are free" I think you were thinking a little earlier. I agree with that, but crossing the threshold of comfort needed to enjoy them is not.