Hostages or... A Prison to Call My Own

Being a hostage is really kind of dull and most of the time there's no one to bail you out so don't hold your breath waiting for Bruce.
We're all hostage to something; the thing is to remember that most of us here in the States can choose the thing that imprisons us.
McMansions: Hostage to taxes, maintenance, heating/cooling--the lawn.
Your Job: Hostage to the administration--who consider you a liability and can't wait to outsource you and your petty needs(see post of 9/30 or thereabouts).
Your Retirement: Hostage to all those companies and the gov't who are paying your retirement and who (mostly) are running out of money themselves--and all the while STILL hostage to the house and the lawn and the big-ass RV.
Your Health: Nobody needs to smoke or drink or eat pizza and Twinkies so if you're afraid that your health is going to take a header maybe you'd better open a can of spinach instead. However, your health is going to take a header anyway--sooner or later you're going to blow an appendix or get hit by a car (or by cancer) or run your Harley into a tree and failing that you're going to get old. Don't try so hard to stay alive that you don't LIVE. Don't give thousands of dollars every year to insurance companies who also consider you a liability--they take your money and hope that you'll drop dead. Really. Pretty soon they'll be hiring snipers.
OK, I understand if you have kids--we're all hostage to our kids and want to keep them healthy but after you're not a kid anymore and the kids aren't kids anymore why don't you light out on your own? You'll probably eat a lot fewer pizzas if you have to ante up for the by-pass yourself. Screw the insurance companies. If you're just going to die anyway why enrich those bastards in the process? Of course think of all the people who would lose their jobs if we weren't paying insurance premiums...(nurses. oh my god!)
There are others of us who are slaves to our passions, addictions, hatreds, resentments... Take a good look at your self and make a decision about the thing you're willing to give your time and attention and--your life to.
So what I'm saying here is name your poison--pick your prison and then live with it--if you want a six bedroom house well then, pay those taxes with a smile and close off the rooms you don't need.
If you love your job then you'd better just deal with the people who'd love nothing better than to fire your ass and save that salary. Just grin and pocket the cash, honey-pie.
If you're a slave to that thing you resent--go ahead and resent the hell out of it for the rest of your life and good luck to you!