Doombus Omnibus

I keep trying to vision what it would mean to shed the material trappings of our lives. I know a few people who have gone a long way down this path; they seem to be doing alright for themselves.

Here's the problem. I don't want to shed community. But surely, any community worth keeping is not founded on trappings, you say. And you're probably right. Still, in my experience it has been the case that the further along people get towards their goal of detachment from things, the further detached they become from other people, too. Some of this is because of the center's rejection of the fringe; but a lot of it seems to be the inverse, too. In other words, BobbyJo ditches her stuff and moves off the grid. I go to visit Bobby Jo, thinking that this is awesome, but Bobby Jo now thinks I'm a spineless sellout who can't take the leap.

As a result, when I show up at Bobby Jo's mountain cabin, she smiles sweetly and kicks me in the groin. With the pointy part of her home-made mocassin. This hurts, to be sure, but the worst of it is the rejection this represents. I roll around on the floor, trying in vain to stop shaking all over. This is when Bobby Jo's partner Stacy walks in, fresh from a kill. She's carrying the bloody carcass of a mole and grinning ear to ear. I think she killed it with her bare hands.

Stacy's never liked me. I am better than her at Scrabble. She hates that. Once, I snuck in some extra tiles and played "zyzzyva" just to get a laugh out of her. She didn't laugh. And now, too, the grin leaves her face as soon as she sees me crawling around the floor, gasping for air. I'm afraid. I only wanted to see how they were doing.

I want to ditch the trappings, but I don't want to change my name to Bobby Jo. Is this possible? Where do I sign up, please?

Also, I'd miss my friends and family. And my books. Meh, I'll probably not be a hermit.

Up next -- "Sustainable Living in City Environments (wtf-style)". Doombus, yo. Peace.