MOST UNLIKELY TO SUCCEED

HE WAS A MISFIT IN HIGH SCHOOL---He looked wierd---and he stuttered---was teased---was the brunt of jokes--was not intellectually gifted.  (how do I know this?  By an incredible stroke of luck, I was able to interview a classmate---and friend) So off he went into the world---short of all the qualities we think desirable.  AAAh but he had three hidden qualities that guided his life to what I consider a spectacular success: 1. He knew what he wanted---a life of leisure, freedom and mobility. 2. He developed an iron WILL to press toward his goal. 3. He conceived a PLAN to get him there.

Meet Jeff----a spectacular success in my opinion---He no longer stutters---carries himself with pride--Is well aware that--like the tortoise---he has won the race with slow and steady steps.  Long ago he won his liberty, leisure, financial security and mobility----YET HE HAS NEVER EARNED MORE THAN A COMMON LABORER'S WAGES---- working only seasonally for  State or National parks---and then only half a year---after which he collected unemployment for a half year before returning to work.  HIS BIG SECRET STRATEGY WAS NEVER TO PAY RENT OR A MORTGAGE.   

For 23 years he has lived in this trailer----always rent-free in the parks or nearby.  He says he saved almost everything he earned---and the money piled up---till now he has enough to coast out the remainder of his life.  His monthly living expenses, he says, are about $200 a month.  Traveling only about 2000 miles a year, he moves from low-warm areas to high cool ones---"hanging out" much of the season at Lake Havasu, Az to wind surf.  I met him in Yuma, AZ.

Note this posture---I immediately flashed on that classic picture of an Australian Aboriginal, totally relaxed, standing on one foot, exuding the quiet pride and satisfaction of being stress free---at home in his universe.  You are looking at a man who has found his groove.  I'm humbled.

And so is his high school friend Tim---who gave me the early years story.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES: What Jeff has in common with the Aboriginal is EFFORTLESS LIVING.  Both look with disdain at the mass of humanity---tripped up by its own traps---seeking to solve " the problem of a livlihood by a formula more complicated than the problem itself." (Thoreau)

Tim--no doubt--as awed as I am of Jeff's effortless living style--comes to camp with his friend
on occasion.