Self-Sufficiency Can Be Our Common Ground to Independence

As the growing desire for simple independence and the increased awareness of the instability of our system, the lack of health in manufactured foods and the freedom in simple self-reliant communities more and more people are beginning to turn to doing more things themselves, insuring their own survival and guarantying themselves more fulfillment in their daily lives. People desiring this type of life are all around us and they are beginning to form little communities, some of these communities are people that literally live close and some of these communities are born on the web bringing like minded people together though they maybe many miles apart. I find it somewhat funny and yet exciting at how people from so many walks of life, that on the surface may have starkly different ideologies and beliefs, can come together on this one subject and share a unified desire to provide a life for themselves and their families. A life that is healthier, more stable that they themselves hold their own responsibility and not some far off company or bureaucracy. 

Everyone from the right-wing prepper to the hippie communes can come together on this one subject and find common ground.

Why is that? Simple, basic survival needs are universal. We all need shelter, food, warmth, water and certain utilities. We all, regardless of our beliefs, want to feel free and many of us have come to realize that the easiest way to experience that freedom is to live more self-reliant and sustainable. We should realize this common bond more often and take advantage of it. It means self-reliant communities could take on a different look than what many have thought before. Our direct or like minded communities, whether geographically local or not may be those that share a closer like mindedness but we can also build relationships with say our neighboring communities that may only share our same desires for living but not necessarily the same beliefs. 

It's great to see like minded communities springing up all over. Most of the time these self-sufficient communities share more than just their desire to live simple. Many times these communities also share other ideologies and that is also fine. What needs more work is when you have these different communities that share similar self-sufficient desires but very different ideologies to still consider each other neighbors. Each can believe as they choose and yet come together with their common bond. Maybe they will come together trade goods or to offer help in times of need. The point is that we can all live this life with others that are like minded and yet still have a community of neighbors of people that may share a different belief system. I have personal seen this happen with great success and what it does is help strengthen the self-sufficient/sustainable movement as a whole. 

So just because you find a group that you don't fully agree with doesn't mean you can't help each other. Let us not form the same divisions are the rest of the world. Regardless of beliefs, most anyone living this life does so for more independence and freedom, even though the definition of those words may be different to each person. We can come together on our common grounds to work together and agree to part company when we come to our differences. 

I believe if we use this as a guide we can all share and learn from each other and build strong communities whether in the center city with a community garden, in the suburbs just trying live a littler simpler or out in the middle of no where depending solely on the land.