Ayn Rand for Preschoolers

At the end of the day, I want to know that I've left it all out on the field. I need to use every ounce of my ability or else I've failed. If I can go to sleep with my muscles sore and my mind exhausted, I will be happy.

Moving Up and Out
With head held high, I left my job at HSN for better opportunities. In truth, I'm at the wonderful 'striving' stage in my career when I'm always looking for something that will get me closer to the ultimate goal. What, may you ask is that? Well read the last few months of post and you'll have a clue. Independence. Homeschooling, Minimalism, Vegabonding; they all share a common theme, loose those bonds and claim your life. So here I sit, one month into my new job and one step closer to the big "I". Of course, if you sit around waiting for your life to start, you'll find yourself waiting indefinitely.

Independence doesn't begin when all physical encumbrances are gone, rather when you free your mind and will. With that in mind, we here in Bat Country do so declare our Independence from:

• Slavery: Financial debt is something we walk into and forget that there is ever a way out. 
• Tyranny: We are all individuals and have the responsibility to think and act as such.
• Pressure to conform: Free speech is a right, so is the ability not to listen.
• Stress: I know my best, and will give it freely as I see fit.

Who is John Galt?
I am. I had heard of Atlas Shrugged since high school, but only in the context of an essay contest for a scholarship. Out of the thousands of books declared "classics" it just never made my reading list. Until a few months ago, I only knew The Fountainhead  as an old Gary Cooper movie. Then, I was encouraged to see the new Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 the day it came out. With my ice cream cone and free afternoon, I sat in a movie theater, the youngest by 20+ years out of the whole audience. What I saw was something I had been struggling with for years. Self-reliance and true accountability were things spoken of but never seem to jive with what was being done. The movie ends with Wyatt's Torch for those of you who know the story and a voice-over ending in "I'm on strike". The audience erupted in applause and I with it.

I'm on strike
After the movie, I had to read the book. Read it? I devoured it! And then another and another until I was beginning my own home-schooling on political philosophy. During that time, Lorelei began peaking over my shoulder and reading aloud. To hear the words, "I am the man who loves his life" come from a four-year old, it is difficult not to be moved. This is not merely a philosophy, this is our life. And as Rand said, "I swear by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man nor ask another man to live for mine."

Toodles from Bat Country