It’s interesting that “self-reliance”, on the whole, is interpreted with context to only the materialistic. “Save your money! Learn to fix it/build it yourself!” That’s great, but why would I want to save more of something that is well on it’s way to becoming worthless (the US$)? It might have proven worthy in 1909 when a dollar was still worth a dollar, but in 2009 a dollar is worth about $0.05. Here’s my nickel Mr. Plumber, fix my toilet!

But more than that, what of self-reliance in terms of thought, spirituality, governance, community, law, etc. etc.?

Take a look around at what is happening in America right now (BTW, I’m not American). It’s citizens are being (and have been for the last 25 years) lied to and robbed from on a massive never-before scale. And…no-one is doing a thing about it. Not one protest, not one march, not one walk-out, not one staged event — nothing.

The people of Iceland overthrew their government with constant protests of a mere 10-30,000 people. In France, three MILLION (3,000,000!) people held a protest against their government’s economic actions. In America…zero?

We are still reliant on self-serving politicians to make our important decisions. Re-read the first lines of the quote:

“The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. He is supported on crutches, but lacks so much support of the muscle.”

It will take generations to ween people off of the capitalist teet (whose motto is “All for one and every man for himself!”) and build our muscle as a people who choose our governance, instead of a people who need government.

That’s my nickel!

p.s. — scything is best left to THE professional, Mr. Grim Reaper.

This may be true, but in some cases (like mine) you simply don’t have the $300 to spend. I can read a book on plumbing from the library in the evening and work on installing my new faucet on a Saturday, saving the money I would have paid a plumber. It didn’t cost me lost time from work (or time with my family since my son assisted me and we both learned). I have a new skill set that I can use over and over now. I got a repair done that I did not have the money to pay for and so would still be inconveniencing me if I had to go without.

For those people who prefer not to spend their hard earned cash for a variety of reasons, do-it-yourself can be the answer. It’s often ridiculously easy to do things like replace a faucet or fix a toilet – we just don’t realize it yet. I can replace light switches and fixtures, do minor plumbing, paint my house, garden, cook excellent meals – all things that yes, I could pay someone else to do. But I’d have to work a second job to be able to afford that. Doing it myself works for me, and I’m careful to do a quality job. By the way, I’m a 46 year old single mother and my sons think it’s cool that their MOM can do all this stuff.

And about cars, they purposely make cars these days so you can’t mess with them without screwing them up. Its not like the 70’s when even a girl like me could change my own oil, the filters, I was even known to work on the engine. No way would I do that today.

As for sewing. Cripes fabric and thread and time cost more than it does to go out and buy a shirt at target. I think our society has made it difficult to do the things that we used to do for ourselves. I can can fruit, but I can’t find it fresh off the tree where I live. I can fish, but there is no place around here that would support that. I can even hunt. But wouldn’t keep a gun here because of the kids.
I personally have many useful skills but the time it takes to use those skills are used up at my day job.

I’m really not sure what the value in this (or in that Emerson paragraph you quoted) is. So we write things down to make records of stuff–so what? Then maybe that frees up our minds to remember things that are more important. For things that are actually useful, like sewing, it is too bad that this generation hardly knows anything about it, which is why I’m getting my mom to show me how, but for things like remembering the equinox? Who cares?

If we take it too far to either extreme it wouldn’t be good. Doing everything yourself isn’t very efficient but doing nothing for yourself is wasteful too.

Jim

Popcorn is better stir fried.

We are getting to the point where we know very little about how things work and where things come from, partly because we don’t want to know, and so service people and manufacturers protect us. Do you remember when you found out where meat came from? And now if we want to know if something was grown without poisons or if the workers were treated humanely, it’s very difficult to find out.

And we’re getting so ignorant we don’t even know what our choices are anymore. I once taught someone that popcorn can be popped on the stove in a pan. She’d thought you needed a microwave. And who knows what *I* don’t know. I learned another one today: You can mow grass with a scythe. (Now I want to know how!)

While Ray’s hiking style isn’t for everyone, reading his book and following much of its advice viscerally taught me so much. I experienced the value of practiced skills, and making and intimately knowing my own, simple gear rather than buying something fantastic (and expensive) made by a company for its value in keeping the company in business. My home-made lightweight backpack is not bombproof and covered with fifty straps, loops, and accessories like a top-of-the-line REI pack. But I’m not carrying bombs or throwing my pack off cliffs. My pack is extremely light, works for what *I* take on my favorite kinds of trips, and since I made it, I know how it needs to be treated and how to repair it if anything breaks.

Since reading Ray’s book about a decade ago, my family’s motto has been “skill, not stuff” and the philosophy has extended into many areas of our lives. My husband built our (small, tailored to our needs) house himself; so when anything breaks, he knows exactly how to fix it. We prepare simple meals from scratch and we know exactly what we’re eating. And on and on.

Mentors are everywhere. It’s one of the beauties of life.

I like the idea of being self-reliant when I can be. I don’t mind learning new skills since it’s both challenging and rewarding, especially if it’s a skill that can be used over and over again.

Self-reliance is somewhat harder in current times however, with increased government regulation. I’m thinking things like building codes, etc.