David Neilson on Nostr: I fought wildfires for the Forest Service one summer. I knew I was getting paid with ...

I fought wildfires for the Forest Service one summer. I knew I was getting paid with stolen money, but that didn't bother me. The government had stolen more from me than I got paid that summer. I liked fighting fires and I wanted the experience.

I ended up getting more than firefighting experience that summer. I saw how people how depend on misfortune for their income root for misfortune so they can make more money. I only worked for the forest service for a few weeks, but in that time I saw how if affected people's mindsets. By the time my contract ended I knew I couldn't work in that environment any longer without a negative impact on my own mindset.

I even saw this at work in my volunteer fire department where I was the assistant chief. We did't get paid and all of our equipment came from donations and fund raisers. Firefighters like to fight fires and they like cool gear. The chief wanted to ask the county commissioners to impose a tax on the county residents to buy cool new equipment with. I told no one should be forced to pay for protection if they didn't want and that I would quit the department if went through with his plan. He didn't do it as long as I lived there. I don't know what he did after I moved away.

There's nothing wrong with taking money from the government because it not their's and there is no way to return it to its rightful owners. But you need to be careful about the negative effects that come with it.