GAINING SELF RELIANCE STARTS WITH GOOD TEACHERS

Self reliance feels like the best goal to aim for, but how do you get there?

We all start from the opposite end, as little babies depending on others to lead the way.

Those common beginnings fade away in the self reliant types we look up to because they do everything so well.

We forget that they too were little tiny babies getting fed and changed. That’s the big secret.

The concept of self reliance makes more problems than it solves.

I asked a Navy officer the difference between Navy men and Navy women.

“If I order a man to do something, they report back that it’s done, whether it’s done or not. If I order a woman to do something, they report back that it’s either done, and if it’s not, they report their progress.”

Self Reliant Man Gets Things Done

Who among us wouldn’t like to stand as the best resource, the most skilled person in any room we’re in?

That usually happens when I’m alone, but check those who embrace the role. They have a name, and it isn’t the guy who yells loudest if you disagree with them.

They’re called teachers. Educators. They are the first adults most of us encounter after family members. The good teachers allow for hero worship. They earn it.

Parents pave the way for teachers who have to explain things when little Johnny raises his hand and says, “That’s not what my Mom and Dad think.” after a third grade math section.

Teachers listen to that same mom and dad complain at the Parent/Teacher conferences.

“We don’t know if we want him in a school with teachers like you.”

“This is Johnny’s work with quadratic equations. He’s doing exceptional work.”

ax2 + bx + c = 0

“That boy can’t even tie his shoes, that’s how exceptional he is,” dad says.

Teachers Take A Higher Route

Part of gaining self reliance is getting a grip on fact, and seeing fiction for the fun it can be.

Facts like: Extreme heat and extreme cold are painful to the touch.

This is an established fact on the forearms of every commercial pizza cook with a big oven and the nose of every salmon-dipper in the flash freeze fishery.

From the near-past we know that breathing coal dust creates black lung disease.

People go to school to learn about disease and cure; other people show up in clinics for a cure.

From today we know about covid-19.

People go to school to learn about disease and cure. Stop me if you’re heard this before.

Everyone who has worked in healthcare, from admission to curing disease, has had good teachers.

From the jolly man directing patients coming off the bank of elevators and asking the covid question, to the diagnostic lady explaining things on a light board, teachers guided their way.

The fact is, the elevator guy is screening visitors, and the lady doctor is fixing you. Polite science says be nice, hard science says ‘this is this.’

In between the low and the high, the rest of us try and fit in. We don’t have to agree where we fit in, just that we do. The only way anyone doesn’t fit is if they are on one extreme or the other.

Extreme Self Reliance

The idea of the individual becomes extreme when they place others at risk.

Rocketman Mad Mike rode his individualism, his dream.

In March last year, Hughes managed an altitude of 1,870ft (570m) before deploying his parachutes and landing with a bump.

Speaking afterwards, Hughes said: “Am I glad I did it? Yeah, I guess. I’ll feel it in the morning. I won’t be able to get out of bed. At least I can go home and have dinner and see my cats tonight.” 

He set a Guinness World Record in 2002 for the longest limousine jump – over 31 metres (103 ft) in a Lincoln Town Car stretched limo.

He died in his new rocket, but no one got hurt.

Even the most devout off-the-grid-living fanatic is reliant. They rely on the built world around them not poisoning the air and water. They need at least that much from the cooperative environment.

If you know people who want to be more self reliant, share what you know. I’ll go first:

I had a water problem near the sidewalk that was draining down my neighbors driveway and into his garage.

The guy I called couldn’t fix it, but billed like he did, as well as pulling permits for more work I didn’t agree on. We went to court and I lost.

I paid with a check and needed him to sign a paper I file with the court to show the case closed and not a problem down the line.

Lying, fraudulent, behavior didn’t promise the winner would sign anything, so I did this:

On the back of the check I wrote, “Cashing this check represents complete and full payment for court case #### in Washington County.”

The jackass didn’t sign the court paper, so I got a copy of the check and filed it to close things out.

How self reliant are you? Leave a comment if you’re still learning.