To thine self be true

Upon first seeing my cabin, many people are surprised by its proximity to the road. Even proximity is too kind a word. It is basically on the road, like old stage coach inns you sometimes pass on county routes. They were built on the road for many reasons, convenient accessibility being chief among them.
And so it is with my abode. I was never interested in owning ten acres of land half a mile down a dirt drive. Too remote. If I want remote I'll put on a backpack and hoof it in. Convenient access in winter as well as in summer is my primary concern. Country living for a city boy is how I think of my cabin in paradise.

I like to know that if I unexpectedly run out of eggs or bread, I can conveniently run to the store. I am not one for making monthly shopping trips into town for my stock of provisions, a haircut and a bath. Plus I love to shop. There I said it. For some reason men always say they hate to shop. No they don't. Men love to buy stuff. They hate to go shopping with their wives is what they really mean. Men seem to think that other men will look down on them if they admit to enjoy shopping for stuff. It's just that the stuff we shop for is different than the stuff women shop for. We buy tools, electronics, sporting and camping gear (including clothing), gas powered lawn equipment, and beer. Women buy clothes, decorative items, jewelry, and interesting ingredients for appetizers.

A husband and wife will be shopping in Target in the drug and sundries section. Suddenly the man will see an end cap display of new and improved Coleman coolers on sale. He wanders over and stands in front of the display thinking that, yes, my cooler doesn't keep the ice frozen long enough. I need the new model with the 15% higher insulation rating. He picks one up and attempts to place it in the cart.
"What's that?" the wife barks. "We do not need another cooler".
"Yes we do" he sheepishly argues back. "For the Labor Day picnic we are having this year. The beer was warm by the end of the day at last years barbecue" (it most likely was not-author).
I have actually witnessed this, and many other similar scenes. Mostly because I am very often in Target shopping.

My point is that people, especially men, are always deluding themselves. In fact, when I think back to most of my blog posts, the common theme is "why do people always delude themselves?" We are conditioned to believe we are something we are not.
"I want a log cabin in the middle of the woods no where near anything."
No you don't, because it's boring, it's a lot of work, and you like to buy stuff.
I guess it would be way too unsettling to actually know ourselves. Natural selection is not kind to self doubters. I have never seen a lion hesitate for even a microsecond before she (yes, the lioness is the hunter in the family) sinks her teeth into the neck of the zebra.

But let us try to rise above our biology. Evolution (or the Intelligent Designer) has given us the gift of reason. Use it to know yourself and you will be more tolerant of others. It hasn't worked for me but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.