[MD] som unplugged - corrected lines

[John Carl]

Hello Dan and all,



Dan:
>
> And your choice is to leave your home and family behind in order to,
> what... make a living? I don't know, John; it doesn't seem like much
> of a choice to me. Of course, I don't know your circumstances, but
> myself, it'd take a team of horses to drag me away. Just saying...
>

John:

Right Dan.  It's difficult to judge another's choices and circumstances.
 For instance, it'd take a team of horses to drag me into the military -
where men are gone for years from their families AND they are being shot at.
 But given dire enough circumstances - a true threat from an enemy invasion
or something, I would go.  This is considerably easier.  For one thing, I
can fly home whenever I want and for another, nobody is shooting at me.

But I'd say my motivation is more than just making a living.  I enjoy my
work.  I enjoy building structure.  It's part of who I am and when I don't
do it for a long time, I sorta lose my way.  Its like an artist bereft of
their canvas or a musician without an instrument.  We humans express
ourselves by what we do.  In California, there just isn't much for me to do.
 Sure, I can survive there - "make a living".  But I can't get meaningful
work there.  Too many guys in the same boat, competing for the few crumbs
that the economic conditions toss their way.  Here its different.  My skills
are in demand.  I am needed.  Furthermore, I find its better to be away from
my family and have them miss me longingly, than to be around all the time
and have them resent me.  So... different circumstances, indeed.

Dan:


>
> My thinking on Marsha's question is this: suffering comes first, while
> the difficulties we face happen after the fact, in how we deal with
> the suffering. And if not for suffering, there would be no need to be
> free.
>
>
John:

Equating suffering and freedom is interesting.  I'll have to think about
that more but that does make a certain sense to me.

Take care,

John