Epilogue
"So you won your freedom and sanity, the President won re-election, four years later you're still in the Midwest, still broke and a couple of minor degrees under your belt and a few unpublished books written as well as a bunch of notecard artwork which hasn't made you any decent income. What you gonna do now?" Dr. Winston again was after me, seeking out my deepest thoughts.
Me: "Didn't hear you come in, but again, I never do.
"The answer to your question is just keep going on."
Dr. Winston: "Could you give me more specifics on that - have any details to clue me in?"
Me: "I've got my artwork to do, I have my family to support - and that means a farm to run. My ecommerce has to be pushed along and made to make me money in reality. I've got to make a living after all.
"The weather changes, but stays the same from year to year - never the same (unless you live in San Diego, where everything is plastic). So I'll be cutting wood this winter while I work on my ecommerce in the afternoons and work the seasonal warehouse job as long as it lasts - jumping ship in the Spring, more than likely, in order to do a tour of county fairs and art shows.
"In the spring, I'll plant, expanding what I am growing in order to work up some sort of sales I can do which there is an existing market or can simply be created. The calves will get sold about July, with another two taken to the butcher later in the year to make the annual freezer restock. Summer will have sweet corn for sale at the Farmers' Market, as well as fresh-cut sunflowers.
"Still need some degrees in order to earn some retirement, though my heart isn't really in it anymore. Why would it be when I can simply get far more money directly selling art to people? Have to pay my own benefits, but isn't this exactly what life is all about? We aren't guaranteed a place on this world to survive on, but we certainly are reminded that we are here.
"'Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,' as the Bard wrote it. Is this so untrue even today, when terrorism has major cities and financial structures in their cross-hairs. People who elect politicians based on the heart they wear on their sleeve or the feeling in their gut - that is probably just as scary - but not as much as the judicial legacy these politicians leave behind, which continue to to not interpret, but rewrite laws and constitutions years after those politicians have gone.
"But I'm not one for politics. I came back here to sort myself out and find my place, to build up reserves and live the rest of my life in relative happiness. I'll do my voting, but I can do more with my art and writing than I could ever by petitions or government action or anything else.
"The farm is my roots and my base. This is where I get my art from, where I get my peace of mind as well as my inspirations. Yet such requires work and participation.
"But that is life as well. You get out what you put in.
"If people find my art and writing worth something to them, then I'm happier just that much. It was good to search within myself and give these searches daylight and air to show their worth to the world. After all, those are two common ingrediants to all healing: fresh air and sunshine."
# # # #
Me: "Didn't hear you come in, but again, I never do.
"The answer to your question is just keep going on."
Dr. Winston: "Could you give me more specifics on that - have any details to clue me in?"
Me: "I've got my artwork to do, I have my family to support - and that means a farm to run. My ecommerce has to be pushed along and made to make me money in reality. I've got to make a living after all.
"The weather changes, but stays the same from year to year - never the same (unless you live in San Diego, where everything is plastic). So I'll be cutting wood this winter while I work on my ecommerce in the afternoons and work the seasonal warehouse job as long as it lasts - jumping ship in the Spring, more than likely, in order to do a tour of county fairs and art shows.
"In the spring, I'll plant, expanding what I am growing in order to work up some sort of sales I can do which there is an existing market or can simply be created. The calves will get sold about July, with another two taken to the butcher later in the year to make the annual freezer restock. Summer will have sweet corn for sale at the Farmers' Market, as well as fresh-cut sunflowers.
"Still need some degrees in order to earn some retirement, though my heart isn't really in it anymore. Why would it be when I can simply get far more money directly selling art to people? Have to pay my own benefits, but isn't this exactly what life is all about? We aren't guaranteed a place on this world to survive on, but we certainly are reminded that we are here.
"'Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,' as the Bard wrote it. Is this so untrue even today, when terrorism has major cities and financial structures in their cross-hairs. People who elect politicians based on the heart they wear on their sleeve or the feeling in their gut - that is probably just as scary - but not as much as the judicial legacy these politicians leave behind, which continue to to not interpret, but rewrite laws and constitutions years after those politicians have gone.
"But I'm not one for politics. I came back here to sort myself out and find my place, to build up reserves and live the rest of my life in relative happiness. I'll do my voting, but I can do more with my art and writing than I could ever by petitions or government action or anything else.
"The farm is my roots and my base. This is where I get my art from, where I get my peace of mind as well as my inspirations. Yet such requires work and participation.
"But that is life as well. You get out what you put in.
"If people find my art and writing worth something to them, then I'm happier just that much. It was good to search within myself and give these searches daylight and air to show their worth to the world. After all, those are two common ingrediants to all healing: fresh air and sunshine."
# # # #
© 2004 by robertworstell
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