The case for hermitism

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Mad World Jasmine Thompson 

Do you remember an old poster that read, "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits"?  I first saw it on the library wall at Patrick Henry Jr. High.  I was in 7th grade.  I liked it then and have remembered it ever since. 

When I get insightful, I spend a lot of time looking out the window.  I have always, always done this, no matter where we've lived.  In many of our houses, I would admire the handiwork of Gary and my labor to make the perfect backyard(s).  Other homes had beautiful horizons to look to beyond our rural land.  I can only guess that Gary did not do this much staring out the window, so I have no other observations to tell me that I am unusual doing this.

When I stare from my patio door into my yard now, I mostly like what I see because I have done it all myself.  What I don't like is what the 'Dog Months of Summer' do to my view.  I spend countless hours a week meticulously bending over picking up, one by one, the thousands of pods that fall from the Palo Verde tree which shades over 1/3 of the backyard and was my inspiration piece in deciding to go with an Asian theme to how I landscaped the yard.  But the shade my misshaped tree gives me is priceless, so I labor to make the 'ocean' beneath the tree branches pod free.

Today I was disappointed that the wind is blowing again, meaning thousands more pods will now be waiting for me to pick up tomorrow morning when it is cool enough to be outside working. Anything worth having is worth working for. My peaceful backyard is my refuge from everyone else.

As I stared out the window thinking, I came up with the realization that I seem to move in extremes. If I'm not being introspective, I am being superficial.  I suspect that there are a LOT of people who do this.  Its impossible to be in the clouds all the time yet be a part of the world.  I personally can't stand to be a part of the world, ie; society all the time.  I can see the reasons that some people become hermits.  Did you know that hermitism is a movement even?  I thought I was making up the word until I googled it.  Sure enough, hermatism even has its own facebook page.

Many many factors go into becoming a hermit.  For me right now, lack of money and a desire to be a solitary person for the most part are the top two.  I can't be 'on' all the time like I used to be.  I had 3 great reasons before: two young boys to raise and one big boy to mold into the best husband possible.

Now, with those reasons gone, it takes true grit on my part to get up and out to meet up with people. Its not that I stay in my pajamas all day- who can do that when your roommate is a dog that begs to go out twice a day?  Thank goodness for Robbie.

Still, the idea of setting out to go where no man has gone before and just live in a treehouse is tempting. The world is a maddening place. There are nasty, greedy people and companies who want to do harm to us and will destroy good things in their goals to possess more than the other guy or the competition.  As a hermit, I could finally grow my beard and nails as l-o-n-g as I've always wanted.

I am lucky that I have a 'treehouse' that is mine where I can be alone with my thoughts.  I don't have to come up with small talk with Robbie.  I don't have to feign interest in anyone else's ideas or their grandkids or their love life.  And as a bonus, I don't have to bore anyone with my no bread diet, or my obsession with finances and politics.  That's my superficial stuff and mine alone.

Yo! Robbie! Its a mad, mad world out there, isn't it?      >sound of snoring<