Finer things in life

[Abdul-Aliyy Shadid]

I don't know where to put this frankly I don't care, I'm not here to turn into a fully active member anyways. All I'm here for is to discuss and ask about certain experiences that I've had and still continue to have. Now I don't class myself as anarchist, frankly I wanted to go to the green anarchy forums to talk about this but their website is shut down and this was the closest thing relating to it. Back in June I started hitch hiking to a city in Quebec called Sherbrooke from Montreal(lived there for a good year), I ended up in Halifax many weeks later on the bus after searching for places to reside. I was on the starting point of a pretty much everyday life there until I met an old friend. He was apparently living outside catching crabs and fish with his pals(not long ago I saw him panhandling on the side of the road in Kingston). When I got back home after seeing him I starting thinking to myself "What if I started living like that." And thats exactly what I started doing, it escalated from typical run-of-the-mill street life to sleeping in the forests(this was in Halifax anyways). I started off by staying under bridges and squats, from there I started going out into the woods to sleep, I remember it being right by the shores of the sea. Later on I ended up hitch hiking back to Toronto and stayed there for a few weeks, thats when the real deal started to let loose. I found myself walking very long distances. Sometimes I would walk for over 200km just to get to a certain place. It was very interesting times taking rests and breathers in the nearby forests, setting up occasional camps on the way to Sudbury(which was cold as f*ck). Now eventually I made my way back down to a place called Whitby, I took a rest there and continued on through Oshawa and through the South Ontario farmlands all the way to Kingston(My shoes were nearly giving in by that time). Right now Im residing at a relatives place in thoughts of going back to normal life, yet theres a part of me that just wants to take that leftover money I made on my travels and spend it on a bivy sack to replace my tent(random fantasies of being a nomad ). Well, whatever, its been an interesting ride. I look back on the movie LOTR sometimes and I wonder how they all had the balls to sleep in the rain like that with just a wool blanket! Especially when they were in the middle of a terribly bloody pilgrimage.

Now I also wanted to ask about street life. We are all aware of self-afflicted "hobo's" who piss their lives away through drugs and alcohol. Why may I ask do they clog the streets with their misery? I met a panhandler in Toronto once who had scars on his face not from street fights but from encountering wild animals out in the woods. This man claimed to have resided in a variety of spots and campsites in the woods north of the GTA. He had a knife that he carved himself out of stone, it looked neat. I was fascinated by this mans stories, turns out he moved around quite a bit and had been out to places like BC and the Yukon. Now about the hobo's, personally I wonder why(If they want to get off the streets so badly) they just don't apply for welfare so they can transit to their "prefered work" if they want a job that badly. You know, thats why this country founded welfare in the first place. They practically have programs in those places that help you tranist to work from welfare. I don't understand sometimes why they got to clog up the streets with their sorrow, get into crime and make the people who are wanting to actually live free look bad. Honestly I dont like the idea of putting a buddhist monk in the same catagory as the alcoholic or the ex-con or the junkie or the angsty punk that has no idea. The other thing that pushes my buttons are those self proclaimed Street Punks who think their revolutionists when in fact they do pretty much the same stupid things as any other bum on the street would. Using their welfare cheques to buy poser jeans and stud-punk badass type clothing so they can put lighter caps all over them? Its almost like being slapped in the face without knowing who is in possession of the hand! Who do those people think they are anyways? They claim they love living outside when really their stories are the same shitty sob stories you hear from any old alcoholic or crackhead and that fasion statement they make is so old and fake its a wonder nobody calls them clowns whenever their panhandling for their next beer/hit. I'm trying to lean more towards the simpler life, I've started with learning how to sew and I'm also attempting to carve my own knife like that guy did(he inspired me). I know it can be tough sometimes but I've felt like whenever I step into the danger zone I'm closer to the "Idea" of the free man.

Well, what are your thoughts on this? Questionable? Retarded? I'd like to know. Thx