You know? I keep hearing how many folks feel we are too reliant on the government and that is what is wrong with this Country. I can't say I disagree with that but I feel there's much more to it than simply that. I was raised from birth by my grandmother. Just me and her. We were very much self reliant. We had to be, we were poor. We heated with wood, grew our own vegetables, and gathered many foods that grew wild including nuts, fruits and berries. Stuff that was much healthier and better tasting than anything you can buy in any store and we were wise enough to realise it. Much of our meat came from me hunting, trapping, or fishing. I was bringing rabbits, squirrels and quail, and various kinds of fish home as often as possible which was almost every day. If I wasn't in school or church I was usually hunting or fishing. I was only 8 years old when I made my first bow and arrows. Not toys, but a bow that I out shot my tournament shooting uncle with at age 10. No fancy rod and reel nor tacklebox full of exspensive lures. Just a pole cut from river cane and twine donated by the owner of the local hardware store in town. Hooks were made from bone and bait was either caught or dug. Everything I needed was provided by nature, gifts from the Creator above. I ran barefoot, shoes being for school and church. Once I stepped on a sharp rock and sliced my foot open from one side to the other. I wrapped my shirt around it and hobbled home. My grandmother just had me stick my foot in a bucket of kerosene, wrapped a bandage around it and I was right back out running in the woods. No crying nor whining, I just gritted my teeth and dealt with it. No need for a trip to the doctor. We had our own well with the best tasting water you could ever hope for. Had rain barrels at the corners of the house too. No bottled water or soft drinks, though once in a while I'd walk into town with an hard earned dime and bought a 5 cent candy bar and a 5 cent coke in a real bottle which were both real treats. We ate snow icecream when it snowed and I'd about kill for a bowl today. When out in the woods if me and my friends got hungry we'd pick poke when in season. A local farmer would donate a couple eggs, ears of corn and a potatoe or two. We'd boil the poke while roasting the corn and potatoes in our fire. When done we'd put the poke in a skillet, dice the roasted potatoes on top of that, shave the kernels of corn off the ears into it also, add some wild onions and then scramble the eggs with it all. Washed down by cold spring water we feasted like royalty in our young minds. Sometimes we'd roast a rabbit, squirrel or fry up some fresh caught fish. We had an old skillet and metal pot just for cooking that we kept stashed in the woods. Then there were wild grapes, cherries, plums, apples and a variety of berries for deserts. No need to run to the grocery store and places like McDonalds wasn't even thought of yet. Fast food meant something with legs that could run! Wild herbs were the remedies for many an ailment. Trips to the doctor or hospital were reserved for only if all else failed and you were getting desperate. We earned what little money we had in any honest manner we could. I shined shoes and collected pop bottles for their refunds to buy my few store bought toys. Really I was more interested in my bow and fishing pole than store bought stuff any how. I could both entertain and feed myself with them. Though I once fished a whole set of toy soldiers out of a storm drain in town with a stick tipped with bubble gum. They were Civil War soldiers both blue and gray and one of my most prized possesions. We had no car, first time I even road in one I was 12. If we needed to go somewhere we walked. That's why the Creator gave humans legs my Granny would say. There was no Government checks nor health insurance. Didn't need it, want it, nor ask for it. If there was something we couldn't do on our own there was always neighbors, family and the Creator to help us out. When folks went to war it was because they believed in a cause, not simply because they were told they must. Patriotism was something we were very proud of and not ashamed to say so. The same for our belief in the Creator. Folks went to church and actually practiced what they preached not to just put on a show for their neighbors. Now adays everyone needs grocery stores, some even restaraunts, to just be able to eat. Slightest sign of a sniffle and it's off to the doctor to be shot full of antibiotics. Heck, when I was a kid germs didn't dare enter my body. My imune systom would have kicked their butts! Now people exspect health care, housing, food, jobs and a good life garaunteed them and if they don't get it they blame the government and everybody but themselves. They either expect, or allow, the Government to even tell them what they can eat, how they should live, to tell them what's good for them and what isn't, and even what they should believe in both physically and spiritually. I'm sorry if I'm rambling but I often speak from the heart and I feel pasionet about what is happening to this Country and us. I just wish people would start taking responsibility for their own lives. That folks would act like people instead of puppets. There is absolutely nothing a human being needs that wasn't provided by the Creator. My ancestors knew that. Many of my People still recognise that fact. But sadly people now days think progress that makes life seem easier is a good thing. That it is the answer to all problems. I say it make you less a human, more a puppet and that sometimes to move forward in a good way you must first stop and take a hard look back. A return to old values is what this country needs. Not new plans that sound good, at first, but soon lead to nowhere. As I said, pardon me if I ramble but I felt it needed said.....SH ^i^
