Utterly despondant...

[WoodWildling]

MODS - sorry if this is irrelevent please feel free to move/delete accordingly!!
Is it just me or does anybody else feels disgusted with the way the world works?
You have every right to call me naive because I suppose I am, I'm only 18 and finding out how the world works for the first time. I am discovering all kinds of laws, taxes and obligations which seem to me mind to be totally unfair, exploitative and laughable. For example stamp duty. I mean you OWNED your house up til the moment you decided to sell it!!!!
It makes me angry to the point of tears. The general cycle of life seems to be: go to work, earn money, pay half of it back to the state, work yourself into the ground, and then at 60 discover that actually you have done s*d all with your life. We get ONE shot at life ( I am not religious!) and its all about money!!!
And when I try to talk to me father about this he just snaps that thats the way it is and I'd better get used to it!!! There must be more to life?? It seems most older people have just accepted this and become chained to the wheel of drudgery, without questioning if there is a better way!!
Anyway sorry about the rant but does anyone have any opinions on this? Does bushcraft help you 'opt out' of the accepted lifecycle a little?

Wild

 

[Shewie]

Maybe this wants shifting to other chatter

At 18 I`d say you were in a good position to decide for yourself what you want in life. If there`s something you really want to do, now is the time to make serious plans for it. On the other hand you could just go through the routine of get up, go to work, come home, have your tea, watch telly and then go to bed, every night until your 75 (which will probably be retiring age for you the way this country`s going). Which is what probably 95% of us do day in day out. You put hard work in and try to make a good crack of it but at the end of the month you see how much tax you`re paying and think what is the point.
I`m approaching my mid 30s and I`m seriously considering what I want in life, is it a steady 9 - 5 with all the benefits like company car, mobile phone, pensions and health cover etc, a huge mortgage I`ll probably never pay off, taxes, rates and bills coming out of my ears and the coupled with all this is having to put up with people above you who don`t have a clue about what is important in life.

I`m not exactly old but I wish I was 18 again

 

[Toddy]

A very off topic thread, but if the political stuff isn't played up, why not ?

Maybe it would help you understand if you knew the background to all these *laws*, taxes and obligations.

The stamp duty for instance............well, you only own your house/ land if you have legal right to it. To 'prove' legal right that right and your details must be a matter of public record. Why should I pay to have 'your' right to own or sell your house recorded ? The stamp was originally the official bit that stated the document was legally acceptable and binding and duly recorded. Thus stamp duty.

Taxation....sorry that's been going on for at least 8,000 years in one form of another. Basically it provides the funding from those who are earning that pays for the stability of our society; from education to defence.

National Insurance.........I thank everyone who pays it. My son is alive now because you did
It simply means that if anyone needs medical help they will get the best we can provide whether they are rich or poor.
Before the advent of the Welfare State simple diseases meant that over 50% of children born did not see their fifth birthday, the poor had almost no access to medical care, life expectancy was much lower than today and people had to endure what they could not afford to have cured.

I think you are actually awfully lucky to be on the cusp of adulthood now You have a lifetime ahead of you, what you do with it is up to yourself, but, we have never had such wealth before, never has it been easier to travel, never has there been so much food, never has there been such healthcare, never has there been such potential for personal development.
You're 18, away and enjoy it

p.s. The bushcraft, well, it's a bit of natural reality that helps keep most of us in touch with our inner caveman (or woman) the bit that still needs to be self reliant, capable and knowlegable about the world around us. It's also incredibly relaxing

atb,
Toddy

 

[Wallenstein]

It's always been this way. Sadly, life is hard work.

But think of the positives... you live in a society that's safer than it's ever been, where the chances of you dying in a war are minimal, and where your kids will be born with the lowest chance of infant mortality in human history. You have access to a range of knowledge that was unimaginable even 30yrs ago, and you can travel anywhere in the world in 24hrs if you want to. You can buy fresh fruit 'n' veg 24/7 and you won't die of scurvy.

You don't have to buy a house... you can rent one or share with other people, or go live in an organic yurt. You don't have to drive a car, or work 9-5, or spend your life in an office. But most older people realise that actually a warm house, a full belly and someone to talk to are pretty much all you need ot be happy. The rest is just incidental.

And yeah, bushcraft can help... you can get out into fresh air, see green trees and listen to running water; you can sit and watch an open fire and give your brain a chance to relax; you can take time to carve wood or twist cordage as an alternative to instant emails and phone calls; you can turn off the phone and leave the laptop at home where work can't find you.

So it's not that bad really

 

[Kerne]

Mortgage, taxation, credit crunch..blah blah blah.

I hear it all the time - as do we all, so:

Why am I so happy?

Perhaps bushcraft (and some other things) provide a little balance in my life?

Also, I agree with Toddy. Perhaps one of the reasons I am happy is that I don't have rickets and don't live in the workhouse.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

sorry taken post back due to posted on wrong thread and am really to young to comment on this said thread due to being twenty

 

[wicca]

Blimey WoodWildling that's a question that could take a long time to answer. I'm getting on, 65 in a few months, and not qualified to answer your question except by virtue of years. My opinion.. you're going to spend the next 40-50 years working, can't really avoid it, so find a job that you really enjoy doing. I mean really enjoy..doesn't matter if it doesn't come up to the expectations of family or friends "I thought you would do better than that etc:" What's success? lot's of money? maybe to some but it's a double edge sword mate. I live on my boat, it's all I own. The bloke in the next berth , big posh boat worked in the City.. I say worked..all gone, years of 0700hrs to 1900hrs on the commuter train now he is about to lose his house ,poor sod.
I'm on a service pension, earned doing a job I loved, not rich but absolutely no regrets that since I was 16 I've done what I wanted to do. You like bushcraft obviously, ok..Forestry Commission? Outdoors activity instructor? Look for something where you don't feel your on the treadmill, otherwise the rut will feel 10 feet deep. I'm sure others will have other ideas. This is not a dress rehearsal..one life, happiness and contentment beats money and err? success? Good luck wicca

 

[sapper1]

Welcome to reality!

 

[saddle_tramp]

im not a religious type, but i heard a sermon one time and the preacher said that, If you had a good meal today, and have something left in the cupboard for tomorrow, if you can travel freely and mostly go where you please, if you reach the age of 30 and both your parents are still alive, if your children can attend school, and if you wake up with only a ten pound note in your pocket. then youre one of the lucky 10 percent because the other 90 percent of the worlds population cant take such freedoms or luxuries for granted. puts our woes in perspective dont it

 

[ScarletPimpernel]

I note that you live in Woking, which judging by the last time I saw it, is enough to make anyone despondent.

 

[saddle_tramp]

I note that you live in Woking, which judging by the last time I saw it, is enough to make anyone despondent.

 

[helixpteron]

..... Does bushcraft help you 'opt out' of the accepted lifecycle a little?.....

Not when it is the accepted lifecycle!

 

[WoodWildling]

haha Woking - very true.

Right, thanks guys, have calmed down a bit and put things in perspective!! I suppose we just have to do our best and enjoy our time on the planet.
I'm definately grateful for our social advances and in no way want a recession to poverty and disease! Sorry if I caused anybody any annoyance or offence.
I have an awful tendency to engage mouth before brain lol

Wild

 

[drewdunnrespect]

mate you had me in stitches laughing when you said " i have an awful tendency to engage mouth before brain cos it remind me about my self i have done that to

 

[Tadpole]

MODS - sorry if this is irrelevent please feel free to move/delete accordingly!!
Is it just me or does anybody else feels disgusted with the way the world works?
You have every right to call me naive because I suppose I am, I'm only 18 and finding out how the world works for the first time. I am discovering all kinds of laws, taxes and obligations which seem to me mind to be totally unfair, exploitative and laughable. For example stamp duty. I mean you OWNED your house up til the moment you decided to sell it!!!!
It makes me angry to the point of tears. The general cycle of life seems to be: go to work, earn money, pay half of it back to the state, work yourself into the ground, and then at 60 discover that actually you have done s*d all with your life. We get ONE shot at life ( I am not religious!) and its all about money!!!
And when I try to talk to me father about this he just snaps that thats the way it is and I'd better get used to it!!! There must be more to life?? It seems most older people have just accepted this and become chained to the wheel of drudgery, without questioning if there is a better way!!
Anyway sorry about the rant but does anyone have any opinions on this? Does bushcraft help you 'opt out' of the accepted lifecycle a little?

Wild

you don't have to work till you are sixty, you can really really work hard until you are mid thirties, buy some small holding, and become a small holder, grow/raise your own food. I almost guarantee that you'll never really earn enough to pay income tax again. You'll still have to work really hard, have no holiday no money, no free time, no security, not much in the way of possession. you'll have what you have worked hard for.
the only chains holding you to the wheel of drudgery are the ones you make, I know for a fact that there are a couple of really great members on this site who earn less than 6k a year, yet have happy fulfilling lives, life is not easy when you are money poor, but you can live on next to nothing if you do it right
When all is said and done, in the end you'll have the same 108 square feet of earth as I will, and a multi millionaire will have not much more, like me it will be all above you.
I'm 44 I have a great family, a daughter who loves me a wife who loves me (most of the time ) great friends both in real life and on line, what more can a guy want.... (other than a cegga axe maybe...

My grandfather told me that we are immortal so long as we are remembered, My daughter loves to hear about her great-grandfather, I've kept his memory alive by telling her all about the things we did when I was a kid, I'm sure she'll tell her kids.

 

[John Fenna]

I decided at 19 to quit the rat race and only work at jobs I enjoyed.
Luckily I managed to end up doing just that and have a great life - but then I have had only one holiday in 29 years!
I refuse to earn enough to pay income tax and if my work is too successful.....I write a book, which keeps me busy but is basically a wage earner so far below nat min as to be a joke!
I need very little in the way of material "things" (I would not know HOW to operate an MP3) and made the decission not to have kids. My wife owns the house (having worked all her life as a secretary) and our outgoings are minimal.
Firewood is scrounged and harvested from our hedge or from fallen branches down the lanes.
My clothing is a perk of writing gear reviews, I rarely eat out or go down the pub, but I have an active social life!
The heck with living to work!
Make what you do to live so enjoyable you never work but get paid to have fun!
I am living proof that this can be done....

 

[firecrest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4

 

[Bimble]

Woodwilding,
What upsets a human being is not the reality of any situation. It is the conflict between his/her wants and reality which leads to anger. I suspect this anger has lead in your case to a feeling of having an injustice committed to you by the world.
There is a dangerous innocence in this thinking. I would imagine that you have been told from a young child that if you do good things, good things will happen to you, and inversely if you do bad things bad things will happen to you. As you are no longer a child, welcome to the real world, such things are simply not true.

Part of growing up, and I mean this in a ‘mental’ sense as there are plenty of child minded pensioners, is to accept this fundamental truth.

Unfortunately plenty of greedy, selfish, lazy, ignorant people are wealthy and in positions of power. To the same extent plenty of generous, kind, tolerant people are poor and exploited.

The world/nature is under no obligation to you. Nature, to which you are a part, is morally indifferent, it can squash you in a hurricane or burry you in a landslide, for no reason.

If you feel that the world is unfair it is a failure in your thinking not the world. The world is what the world is. This is not to say do nothing about things which concern you, quite the opposite in fact. The only way anything is changed is by the personal effort of individuals. This applies equally to both Ghandi and Hitler. (Hitler only got where he got because good people sat by despairing rather than acting.).

If something bothers you, do something about it. Despairing just makes you a victim of your own flawed thinking. You may not necessarily succeed in changing things. More often than not by trying you learn other things that show that your initial conceptions were flawed, at which point you laugh at your former views (this being the true mark of mature thinking and happens a lot as you slowly grow wiser).

But never, ever, succumb to despair as this will surly ruin your life.

 

[sam_acw]

At the moment I'm convincing my wife of the same thing - once you get beyond a certain level of money (and it really isn't that much) everything is just extra. I'd rather see her a few more hours a day and have her happy and fresh than have an extra couple of grand in the bank.
One thing i would suggest at your age that really helped me in life is to get a job in a "people" industry for a bit. I ran a pub for a while and that has helped me so much in dealing with people, negotiation, personal safety, business knowledge, management, bookkeeping, small talk etc.... Even if it is part time you'll be getting a great life skill.

 

[Kerne]

Up to about 6 years ago I had a high-flying career (or as high flying as you can get in teaching! ) - just getting ready to become a headteacher. Then I thought better of it - what I like is being in the classroom. What I'm best at is being in the classroom. I gave up my post and over £10 000 a year but now:

I see my wife more (not sure how she feels about this..)
I get out more
I'm doing a degree with the OU
I still get to go on holiday, have treats etc - you just cut your cloth as it were.

And yes, from time to time I can rant with the best of them - but life really is what you make of it.