Free Thinking Shouldn't Be So Expensive

You know, it's sad really. I know I'm a disappointment to my parents. I'm sure they know it, too. They even probably know that I know it, just as I know that they know that I know it. Still with me? Good.

Anyway, I love my folks, but I can't talk to them. Any time they try to say anything encouraging or talk me up, like tonight's little heart-to-heart, they're just making it plainly obvious how disappointed they are with how things are working out for me. I wish they could be proud of me, but for that to happen, I'd have to do something they'd be proud of.

Sadly, they and I have completely different ideas of what it means to be successful in life. Just the concept of someone living a happy, fulfilling life without a nine-to-five job perplexes them. The idea that money doesn't have to make the world go 'round is completely foreign to them.

Times like this, I'm reminded of Rolling Kansas, yet another movie that proves that every moment of my life that I haven't spent smoking pot was an utter waste, and the fact that I'm not a stoner now completely defies all logic and reason. Anyway, the point I was trying to get to: a line of Dick's from the final part of the movie (I'm paraphrasing, of course):

"My business failed for a lot of reasons, but it was never about money. And if my marriage fails, it's 'cause I didn't try hard enough. We met a guy... who hitch-hikes across Kansas, and he's got to be the happiest guy I've ever met."

You know, I really wish more people could think like that. It's sad the way things have gotten so damn capitalistic. Whoever first said 'money makes the world go round' should be violently beaten with rusty farm implements.

If I could have one wish, it would be to have been born early enough to be a hippie. I'd give my left leg for that lifestyle. Travelling cross-country in some beat-up technicolor winnebago... that's my vision of heaven on earth. I'm a member of a generation that died off before I was born, and it makes me sick to think about.

My only hope is the advent of the Internet will help shake up people's paradigms of how life works. 'Cause if I have to see one more teenager get sucked into the system and spat out into a cubicle, I just might lose what little faith in humanity I have left.

So, that said, I have a proposition for anyone reading this. If you think I'm right, and the world has gone money-crazy and forgotten what it means to really live, email me. I'm going to work on finding a little piece of land where a guy can live in peace without all that crap. I'd love to have company there, so if you're into it, have an idea for where to start, or just have nothing better to do, drop me a line.