Not to be a wanton drain on society, but to contribute just that little bit more than one draws out ensures that everyone else has the opportunity to look after themselves too. I'm alright and the devil take the hindmost' but on the contrary, to lighten the burden one's existence puts on the world. It comes naturally to me to go a little further- to the modest lengths of baking my own bread, brewing my own beer and building my own house. These occupations are quite convivial. Self-build is infectious.
People love joining in each others projects and the tangible achievement is a shared satisfaction.
In our neighbourhood there has grown up a circle of people who share tools, pass on surpluses of material, contribute special skills and are all available to be drawn on for 'barn-raising' occasions when the job wants many hands for a short time. Behind their backs I call them an anarchist group. What I like about this is that we can behave anarchistically in this important sector of our lives without waiting for the revolution. We do not even completely dispense with capitalism as a way of getting buildings - use the ordinary trade channels for those materials we cannot barter, and can even hire in commercial firms for specialist parts of the work that would cause us problems. We do not have to claim parity for our actions, but we can all sense clearly enough that we have put ourselves in control of the operation.