Aging Hillbilly Hippies Face Reality

[Mortblanc]

One of the problems these artsy hippies face is that they have been "self employed" their whole lives and never paid into the national pension system.

The commune was supposed to take care of them in their old age. Only the commune broke up and scattered to the winds. Even their families fled their irresponsible lifestyle.

Now they have no retirement, no pension, no income and higher expenses than they ever imagined. They purchased land without researching it and ignored the advice in the books they were using as reference. (The foxfire series made many references to the New Salem living history museum 12 miles from their home. It also constantly referenced how difficult the mountain life was as one grew older and all the kids left for better circumstances.)

Living off the land is a fine concept until one is in his 60s with a bad heart, bad back, failing eyesight, creaky painful joints an empty wood bin, empty pantry, and an empty house because all the kids went to town to get a real job because they hated the boring food, hard labor and isolation.

Yes, they avoided the "pressure" of conforming to job standards right up until they were about 50. Now they get to wonder what they are going to do about all their woes and worries every morning as soon as they open their eyes. They did not escape the pressure, they simply displaced it to the years when it was too late to do anything to mitigate it.

Poor prior planning produces a piss poor pensioner.