A smart man by the name of Ghandi once said "Be the change you wish to see in the world." While I've not always lived by it myself, it's something that's always stuck with me. Everyone has the desire to change the world for the better, it's part of the human experience. But how many of us are really living the change, taking the risks necessary to show everyone the world we speak of? We all discuss what a free society would be like, but how many of us are actually living free?
At the end of the day, I'm a bit disappointed in the anarchist community for the lack of action and for misdirected energy. Obviously, there are good people out there getting things done, but it's sadly not the majority. There was more effort placed on the results of the presidential election (often from people who aren't even living in the country anymore) by many people in the community, than pretty much anything else. It was as if the whole world stopped and paused to see who the next president would be...for a year.
This seems silly considering as anarchists, we've taken the time to look into the reality of the situation with government and it's elections. We all know that the election was a game, a distraction. So why is so much energy and time focused on discussing if Trumps actually going to build that wall, or if Hillary will ever be indicted? At the end of the day, why put so much energy into something that is all a game, meant to distract the masses? What are we trying to distract ourselves from?
I think a lot of it comes down to fear of taking risks. As someone who has been guilty of what I speak, I have a lot of understanding with this one. It's really scary to go against the grain and face at the very least social prosecution. When I told my best friend from high school that I wanted to drop out of college and work on living a self sustaining life, he told me he was worried about me. How would I make money? What would I do with all the time I'm not working a job? What happens if it doesn't work out? This was the end of our friendship and while that saddens me, I understand that doing what's right is often uncomfortable.
The protest didn't just come from my best friend. As I delved into the ideas of liberty and anarchy, literally everyone in my life recoiled at me. I didn't understand it at the time, but they all had the image of me of innocent, clueless Lily. Considering how I was raised and how the adults interacted with me, that clueless Lily was largely manufactured. As I came into the ideas of anarchy, I began to see the lies I was told in my own life by the people that surrounded me. I confronted the people in my life as to why reality didn't seem to line up with the story I was given about my childhood and I faced heavy resistance. One by one the people in my life took offense, "How could clueless Lily have any idea how to change the world for the better?"
It became pretty clear to me pretty early on in my ventures into freedom that I was going to have to live the change I expected to see. Talking to my family about permaculture and earth ships and anarchy wasn't going to do anything but get resistance. I had no true example to show them that I knew what I was talking about. They also had no reason to believe that I had any idea what I was talking about, as I never had before that point. So I started to think about what life without government is really like and I worked on trying to live it.
I continued to get resistance from everyone, as they touted my life was no way to live. They looked at the fact that I lived without utilities and pitied me instead of having respect for me trying to find a different way to do things. Honestly, I can understand the resistance as I was going against just about everything they all told me to do my whole life. I dropped out of college to take some big risks, and none of them were okay with it. I spent my time at first arguing with them all, telling them all what was to come and how they weren't prepared for it. What I was ignoring was the fact that I too was not prepared, as I was spending all my time and effort trying to change everyone else's mind.
As time went on it became clear that I would not change anyone's mind by talking to them. This effect is exaggerated because I'm young. Most people didn't have very much at all figured out at my age, so they expect the same to hold true for me. The only way I could change my world was to live the change I was preaching to everyone else. I didn't want to be the guy who had read all about permaculture, without really trying any of it. I didn't want to be another person preaching anarchy, without a real life example of how anarchy works in real time. While people talking about these topics have done great things in making people think, there needs to be action behind the words. This is something I believe Adam Kokesh has come to with his Freedom Ranch, although I'd have way more respect if he were doing the same thing outside of the empire. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of anarchists out there taking the risks, but it's not the grand majority and that's a shame. We already have the leg up on the rest of the world considering the fact that we understand what is to come, but are we really as prepared as we think we are for the days to come?
The ideas of liberty have been spreading like wildfire, but while we have a whole new group of people talking about these issues, that's all they're doing. Probably paralyzed with the fear of taking true risks, they're stuck talking about all of these things repeatedly until they're blue in the face. We spend hours discussing a solution and not much time at all putting the solutions we come up with into action to determine if they're honestly even viable. It's almost as if these important values have become talking points, not real visions of what life without government means.
I am where I am because of the risks I have taken in the last five years. I risked my personal freedom to grow a plant the government deems bad because I knew it was the right thing to do. I removed luxuries most consider necessities at this point for the comfort of knowing that I was really working towards a life truly off the grid, outside of government. I stopped working conventional jobs for steady pay, to take risks at business ideas with high long term payout. When I was arrested and charged with five felonies, I fought in the best way I could, with my feet to the border.
Had I allowed myself to become paralyzed with fear of the unknown here in Mexico, I would probably be in prison or at the very least on probation. Instead, I took the risk of unknown and used it as motivation, striving towards a new completely different life. While my life isn't perfect by any means, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I took a risk and it worked out in this one huge instance, with the prize being my freedom. I did what most people wouldn't even consider in my situation, I made a decision, took the risk of being apprehended on the way to face more charges for running and I did what I had to do to ensure my freedom.
While I still have trouble taking risks (it's not easy risking everything you know for the unknown, even if the outcome is better than you would have ever hoped) I use the fact that I made it here as motivation. Going on the run to Mexico was one of the biggest risks I've ever taken, and honestly it's had the highest payoff. This reminds me that risks are important, and that I shouldn't stop just at making it here.
Making the decision to leave the country and actually doing so is a big deal. It's opening yourself up to a completely different lifestyle with a completely new set of risks and challenges. But moving here is not enough, what really matters is what you do with your life once you're here. Are you living for yourself or are you still a part of the rat race?
Many seem to be working online to make a living from elsewhere, sometimes even depending on direct government funds to live here. Some even seem to want to bring their American way of life to Mexico, living a much nicer lifestyle here for much cheaper, but that's not what life is truly about. Life is about taking risks for the things you believe in, regardless of the possibility of failure. Many of the anarchists here are concerned with keeping up on their taxes, keeping up with abusive family and other things I would have expected anarchists to handle differently than many are. I understand that everyone is at their own part of the journey, I just would have expected less care for keeping up on taxes from people who identify as anarchists who believe taxation is theft. Everyone has their own cognitive dissonances, myself included, I just wish the best for this community in the long run. I only see true progress coming from taking risks and putting plans into action.
We all have our struggles that keep us from acting. Many just don't have an idea of what to do with themselves once they get here, which generally leaves them paralyzed with fear. I've had many conversations with expats in which they express that they have anxiety over what to do with their lives. Many have spent so long in the rat race that they don't even understand what the alternative looks like. Many are so stuck in their ways, adjusted to the comfort of a regular paycheck to even consider what life would be like without that paycheck. Life is stressful, but immensely rewarding. You get to spend your life doing what you want, when you want it. Your success is measured by how much you put into it, generally speaking.
I've had people tell me they're jealous of me because I know what to do with my life. This is mind boggling to me, as most of them are in drastically better financial situations than I am. I only have any idea of what I want to do with my life because I took risks to learn what was worth dying or losing my personal freedom for. A wise man told me once "You have to know what you're willing to die for, to know what you're willing to live for" and he was right. When you determine what's worth facing persecution for (either from law or family and friends), you determine what you are meant to do with your life. After that it's all down to figuring out what you need to do to make that happen, with the best likelihood of it working out.
Sometimes in life, things go wrong. We take risks and we end up arrested, alone, or broke. These things are incredibly hard to deal with while they're happening, but something to remember is that all of these things are just lessons. The lessons are to teach you that you aren't going about things in the right manner. Our arrest was a kick in the pants, the final push we needed to take the risk of leaving the country. All of the sudden, the risk of the unknown here in Mexico seemed like nothing compared to the risk involved in staying in the US, possibly to be stuck in the prison system for years. We both know the trajectory the United States is on, and we decided it would be better to be homeless here in Mexico that incarcerated in the States during a collapse.
So when you do take a risk and it kicks you in the ass, look where life wants you to go. Don't take it as a sign that what you're doing is wrong, just consider how you maybe could have handled the situation better. Maybe it's telling you that you didn't go about starting that business in the right way, or maybe it's telling you that that business isn't right for the United States. We can't let our fear of failing keep us from taking the risks necessary to truly change this world. Failure is just a reminder that we aren't going about things the right way. From someone who knows the feeling of not acting on something and regretting it, take risks for the things you find important. Your life will NEVER be what you hoped if you don't. Talking is not going to change the mind of the masses, real world example of life without government is the way to make it happen. People can argue with words but they cannot argue with a real life example of the change we expect to see in this world.
So for all of those who are focusing their energies on the new president (or anything else in mainstream news for that matter) , ask yourself what you're hiding from, or what you're avoiding. Why is the figurehead of a fictional concept more important than figuring out how to live more free, right now? Why does Trump building a wall between the States and Mexico take more precedence over how we should go about building real, solid healthy communities? I have faith in this community and the people in it, we're halfway there. Let's build the world we want to live in regardless of our opposers and see what happens. I think we'll ALL be pleasantly surprised.
