Keep your overhead low

I just read a Slate article called On the Road Again where friends and scholars talk about Jack Kerouac's contribution to the literary world and American culture.

2 quotes jumped out at me:

• "Keep your overhead low"

I like this because it seems to speak against the conspicuous consumerism of our current culture (really, is there a time-warp? did we go back to the 80's somehow?).
But it can also be interpreted in a broad, almost spiritual way. Keep yourself and your needs simple. Don't over-extend yourself. Its the only way to really be free.

• "You realize that a man can take a train and never reach his destination, that a
  man has no destination at the end of the road, but that he merely has a starting
  point on the road—which is Home."

Again- a thought that expresses an outward and inward reality.
I would add to this that the destination point is also Home. No matter where you go, what you study, who you meet, it always leads back to you. You can only know yourself through others, and through experiences.

At this point I should admit that I never finished On the Road. My older sister loved the book and so I tried to read it, but I think I was too young to understand it. I was probably like 12 when I attempted it and I had a short attention span for what I considered rambling stories.

I think I could appreciate it now, so I will pick up a copy and read it- finally. I know, its really late...

When I read it I will blog my thoughts on it. The way I see it, either I will either be completely disappointed by it after having anticipated it for more than a decade, or I will adore it and berate myself for not having read and re-read it earlier. My main goal is to begin and complete it.