Hard to Think

~ This article first appeared in the Leader-Vindicator newspaper. ~

My desk chair has a pressure switch linked directly to Henry’s voice box.  When I sit down in it, he starts talking.  This morning I am writing in the midst of construction.  He’s building me a book case using lumber he hauled in with a Pittsburg & Shawmut switcher engine rescued from the scrap heap.  All of the equipment sound effects are included.  It’s hard to think.

I’m happy the kid has such an imagination.  He’s going to need it.  I’ve spent enough time reading the happenings of the world to conclude that truly free thinking is the only hope for the moment.  It will take people with imagination to maneuver around the absurd influence of “the powers” directing policy, thoughts, finances, and relationships.  Somebody has to ignore them and move on.

We were visited by an Amish man named Jake who reflects this feeling of distrust.  He and his wife Amanda have six boys, three girls, and a farm.  They used to raise contracted veal calves for a vertically integrated outfit in the eastern part of our state.  In other words, Jake’s family did the work, but someone else owned the calves.  He described the situation as being under their thumb: they changed the rules on a whim and he took the blame for the consequences of their adjustments.  The man and wife hated raising a family under a pall of bureaucracy.  After careful and very strenuous consideration, the duo did the unthinkable: They quit.

I want to convey the magnitude of such a decision.  Every bit of farm advice is telling this guy that he just walked away from security.  Placed in a context most people can understand, imagine going to the doctor with an ailment, listening to what she has to say, and then doing exactly the opposite because you know it to be true, even though you cannot prove it through medical examples because all of the medical examples say to do what the doctor says.  What’s worse, because most people automatically trust the medical examples, society is also telling you you’re wrong.  To deliberately think around the professionals and your peers takes strength beyond comprehension.  Jake did this in the agricultural sense, and he’s risking his entire family, not just himself. 

What kind of harassment would cause a smart man to make such a dumb decision?

“Nothing is what it is.  Success is subsidized.  Money is worthless.  You can’t get direction from false examples, and that’s all you get when you follow the system.”  He’s determined to prove that an independent person can still make a living farming.  Hence, he landed at our place to take a look at our efficient, effective, low overhead Holstein feeding operation.  Jake was impressed because we don’t need six tractors and a dealer’s lot of implements to do our job.  Jake doesn’t have tractors.  He’s Amish.  He’s never been told there is an option without tractors; to avoid them isn’t real farming.

I don’t know if something actually shifted in the past few years or if I’m simply more aware of it now because I’m looking, but it’s clear that we’re under dark clouds of bad advice from people and institutions entrusted to leadership positions.  State, national, and international decisions reported in the news read like a hammed-up script from Saturday Night Live, but they are actual events that take place for real.  The awful trajectory continues because nobody is actually thinking differently; people think hard about affiliating with one side or another and not about throwing the affiliations in the trash and doing the work required to change their own circumstances.

I’m reminded of a conversation I had with a parent in Vermont several years ago.  Her child’s school mandated “Creative Time” every day for the students.  It was like art class, but the kids could do anything they wanted.  “Creative Time” helped prepare minds to think freely.  Except the time was mandated by overseers, so it was not free, it was scheduled into a greater plan.  And to allow and reward any sort of behavior is not helpful, it’s disastrous.  “Creative Time” wasn’t teaching the class to think, it was teaching them to expect the rules to allow them to be weird and get a reward for it.  Tragically, that mindset has grown up into a full-blown society, so a lot of people think they can do whatever and still get the Mercedes.  These warped expectations blur reality into a sort of wonderland, and in wonderland it’s hard to think.

Imagination is the ability to find an effective method that works against the orthodox curriculum.  Imagination cannot be mandated or institutionalized, which is why examples are so hard to pin down and predict: they occur spontaneously outside the realm of structure.  And imagination is seldom glamorous; it’s stressful and untidy.  I found it invigorating to share several visits with Jake, because he is one of the true thinkers.   What a wonderful opportunity I have to occasionally meet with humility and, from that low position, make a plan for tomorrow that nobody else can imagine.