"Riding an e-bike and charging it from solar cells... renders the entire product you're protesting against irrelevant, thereby taking the power of what you dislike away... true change comes when a viable alternative becomes more attractive than that we have grown tired and disgruntled with."

This is a profound reality those awaiting change to come are unaware of. Change cannot come to you. You must go to change.

Today this fact alarms me, because I am anticipating having to change in ways I do not find desirable to surmount the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that have been set upon me, as on all of us, this year.

I have been outspoken here, on the blockchain, but not so much in my community. I do small things IRL, socially or professionally (mostly just making things for folks they didn't think they could have), and my experiences have driven me from public affairs to the degree possible.

On the Fourth of July, I and a friend patronized a local pub after hours of watching the decentralized fireworks display our neighbors were putting on down at the beach, and I nearly was unable to be served there because I would not wear a mask. My safe comfort has been challenged by irrational institutional demands today, and not only on this matter. Riots, spindly-armed, strong-kneed cops, maybe RWDS's or Commie Cadres before too long. Forced UBI and economic dependence. The world has changed much between New Year's Day and the Fourth of July.

While I am old now, and the fire in my belly subsides to lambent coals, when I was young that fire burned bright, and in truth I am lucky to have survived my youth.

I am more fortunate yet that my sons have survived, honestly, as there were times when my involvement in public affairs produced credible threats to their lives and safety. This is largely why I rock the boat in person but little and have limited my forthright speech to pseudonymous accounts online.

But that has become a bad habit, no longer justifiable today. My sons are grown men, and competent to handle their affairs should someone seek to compel me by threatening them. My community is hemorrhaging reason around me, and society is being surgically altered by pathological cutters rather than competent medical professionals.

I am going to have to change. The question is how will I undertake to change. Begrudgingly, when forced by blowhards and bullies, or bringing the opportunity to change to them who seek to profit from confrontation? Were I young, the question would not even occur. I took the fight to them.

Today, though, as I gnaw some dozen pills daily to keep my battered heart pumping my sludgy blood in my dotage, it is tempting to leave drawing lines in sand to the young, and to simply step out of range of the impositions of bullies and profiteers. It is the young, after all, that have the most at stake, if only in years, from the unreasonable social impositions that are being pushed.

Innawoods, the stag and hind remain steadfast. The grouse still dance to thrill their maidens this time of year. All is well with the world there, almost unchanging. Few make rules for those living innawoods, other than to make rules against it, and enforcing any rules is impossible until you find someone to force them on.

It is tempting to accept such a retirement from the madding world, rather than to enter the fray again, old, shriveled, and perhaps irrelevant to all concerned.

Then again, perhaps the change necessary can speak profoundly if I do as you suggest. Plandemic and the economic dependence that has sprouted from it can be mitigated without being harangued by barmaids as my exasperated date's cheeks redden if I simply adapt an old motorcycle helmet with a face shield with a bit of modern tech. Tinting, so no one can see in. Filter canisters attached. Some bluetooth gadgetry and cameras. Riot ready. Facial recognition proof. N95 respirator included. USB ports =p. Be super cool to have an exoskeleton too. Maybe I could recharge the batteries at the electric car charging stations, or print up some inflatable solar panels like party balloons.

It would prove a point, and silence the desperate compliers, who, after all, just want to keep their jobs, keep their businesses open, not become dependents. However, I'd need appropriate attire to complete the look properly. Bullet proof vest and battle harness. Stout combat boots, kneepads, and batman utility belt. Scary half gloves with the fingers cut off.

I'm thinking a Hello Kitty theme, with a Darth Vader voice modulator. What do you think?

Thanks!