WHAT IF......you didn't have to work for a living. How would you spend your time?
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
WEDNESDAY "WHAT IF?"
WHAT IF......you didn't have to work for a living. How would you spend your time?
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27 comments:
Good morning! I was up at 3:30, so I've been up a while. Anyway, to answer your question, I would take oil painting classes from some of the really amazing wildlife artists around here. And I would paint. I would also go to writer's workshops to hone my writing skills. And I would wrte my Viking novel. And I would take my family travelling around the world.
What would you do?
I would spend the vast majority of my time flat on my back. I am not really aiming very high, am I?
HPG...that is very ambitious of you (especially compared to SAM's comment below yours! :-) Viking novel? Tell me more!
What would I do? Well, I haven't given it much thought yet. All my thinking power this morning went into thinking of my "What If" question. I'll get back with you later! ;-)
SAM (TL)...I expect a thesis with a creative agenda!! ;-)
It's about an Irish woman in around 880 who is taken hostage by a group of Vikings along the Boyne River. It's about her inner journey through that experience, her inner conflict about these men who 'own' her, and her struggle with her God as a result.
And ultimately it's about how a woman taken as a slave by Vikings would come to the point in their lives where they would choose to be burned in a funeral pyre with their dead 'owner'. Because that happened, women slaves would choose to die with the Viking warrier after he was killed in battle. WHY? I always wanted to know the answer to that.
HPG...you must be a real history buff. I've never even heard about Vikings and women slaves.
Okay, I've given it some thought. Considering I have a reasonable amount of time on my hands already, but not the freedom of a no-job household, I guess the biggest change would be the ability to travel. I would really like to see more of the United States and I would love to travel through Europe. If I could accomplish that, I would move on to other countries.
I wish I could edit my comments because I want to embellish that thought some more. I would like to have a really luxurious RV to be able to travel at our own pace and get to see all the beauty of the U.S. Not just major cities. In fact, except for a couple, I'd probably stay away from cities altogether.
I think your dream sounds like fun!
(For some reason, when I comment on your blog I have to retype stuff because letters go missing. Strange.)
Thank you HPG! Yours is definitely more ambitious.
I just went back to read over the comments and I don't want you to think I'm dumb because I have heard of Vikings!! LOL! I just didn't know about them having slaves.
I didn't think that at all! I've done a lot of research for my book, so I know more than your average person about Vikings. I learned about this practice from the movie 'Thirteenth Warrior'. (Which is what got me interested in the subject to begin with.) It was a bunch of sensationalism mixed in with truth, but the slavery and sacrificial parts were definitely true.
I don't think I would want to not work for very long. I'd love to take a few years to get all the degrees I want and learn woodworking and Spanish. After that I'd want to go back to work and do something worthwhile with my life.
I think they threw themselves on the pyres because Valhalla was such a happening place. ;-)
As to the question at hand. I think I'd be really lazy for a while, but then I'd get bored. As long as money isn't a issue I'd probably take a bunch of college classes just for fun. I like learning new things but I'm generally too lazy to do my homework and studying.
I would slip away to a mountain Cabin with all of our technology of course. I would sit under a tree with a lap top and write. I would sit on my deck with a cup of coffee and reflect. I would visit each of my children often and watch my grandchildren grow. I would share my good fortune with friends and family. I would live the simple life.
I would blogg my self silly as well...oh wait, I already do that.
HPG....my hubby and I had a long discussion last night out on the back deck (the weather was glorious) and discussed the Vikings plus various other things about that time. He, too, is somewhat of a history buff. It was a great conversation. Thanks....it was all because of your dream!! :-)
Geo....you can always do worthwhile things without necessarily having to work. ;-)
VOG...keeping the mind busy is always a good thing even if you don't necessarily pass the courses. ;-)
Italco...that sounds simply marvelous!
I'm glad I sparked an interesting discussion!
VOG, I believe some of these people were actually Christians, but I'm not 100% sure on that. So what would motivate a Christian to do such a thing? Maybe it's something like Stockholm Syndrome?
HPG...my hubby's thought on that was that it probably depended on where the women came from. He said back in those days women were probably slaves in most cultures, so it might have depended on how they were actually treated before hand. This led the discussion to marriage. Did marriage even exist back then, and if so, it probably was much different than our current day idea of marriage. Would there have even been a difference between being a wife or a slave? Very thought-provoking, for sure!
In Irish cultue and in Viking culture, women had more rights than most other cultures, relatively speaking. Viking women had more rights than anyone else, surprisingly. Irish women could not own property, but they had a lot of influence in family business. Viking women had property rights, and they could choose to divorce their husbands over just about any grounds. There were slaves in both cultures, but I'm not certain of the differences in how the two cultures treated their slaves.
I agree with you that our ideas of human rights and equality and marriage are probably vastly different than they were a thousand years ago.
10.00am: Wake up. Start laughing...
12.00pm: Stop laughing to eat nice lunch.
1pm: Lunch finished. Start laughing...
5pm: Pause and reflect that if I had a job I'd just be finishing it for the day. Howl with laughter.
7pm: Dinner and much chuckling...
8pm. A night out on the town. Gales of laughter.
Home whenever: Laugh myself to sleep.
Repeat next morning at 10.00am.
Alan...I think we have something in common!! :-)
;)
...go back to being a DJ. It pays well, but it's hardly work...
Welcome CLT! Glad to meet you....I'll stop by your place to say hi!
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