Ramblings on life

Now I may be rambling here but it's an obvious statement that we all live our own lives...so the question is why do people care how one chooses to live?

I was witness today to a conversation regarding this topic...a "response" shall we say from one who lived their life along the lines of the societal norm to one who strayed a bit from the beaten path.

I'm not talking about criminals and malcontents but rather those that live their life on their own terms. There is no real definition but we all know the type...the one who is here one day and gone on some adventure the next...maybe they work 4 or 5 jobs at a time so they can then not work later...or maybe it's the guy with a motorcycle shop or a musician just making it or the surfer who chases the waves.
We are surrounded by people who make a choice to live their life on their terms.

My point is the reaction they tend to receive...the recommendations that they look to "secure" their future...or that they "take life serious"...the admonitions that one day they will need to "grow up"...or do something productive. But is this REALLY advice in their best interests or is it a response to the freedom they live with.

We've all been doing something we didn't want to be doing and saw someone who looked as if they were enjoying themselves... and wished we were them. There is an almost instinctual jealousy of those who eschew the risks involved in a life lived without security and make their own paths.
Not everyone is meant for that way of life just as not everyone is meant to be an investment banker, accountant, lawyer etc.

This life lived is, to me, one that should be celebrated. We should celebrate the rebel and the outlaw, the dreamer and philosopher. If we all fell into lockstep how many works of art or scholarly thought would we have missed? Not to mention the countless rights we have gained because someone went against the grain. If those on the "outside" listened to advice and remonstrations of society we would be a world less many wonderful things. The artist who creates, without accolades, may nonetheless be creating beauty that inspires, the writer who is scrambling to finish his work may give us the next great awe inspiring novel, the dreamer who ponders may be the next great philosopher to give us a better understanding of the world we live in...no promises in all of these endeavors...just potential...so why curtail that?

In one way or another some of the best things we have in life are the products of someone going against the grain in their own way...live your life and find your own way.