Monthly Archives: February 2025

The Road to Diamond, Day 92: Plotting Course

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Education, impediments, Inner Struggles, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

February 28, 2025- Just before waking, this morning, I dreamed that I was climbing up a ladder made of tree branches. At a certain point, a key rung in the ladder snapped off. Unable to safely continue up the ladder, I got off and followed a dirt path, that wound around towards my home. I was walking contentedly along the path and came upon two groups of youths who were tussling and wrestling, in front of a primitive lean-to, thatched roofed house. I felt composed and detached from what was going on, and kept walking-at which point I woke up.

I now feel somewhat composed and detached, regarding the current back and forth between liberals and conservatives in our nation. I know that I am not willing to kowtow to anyone who seeks to impose their will, in an ad hoc or ex-oficio manner. I have noticed people on both sides, “yelling” online-typing responses in capital letters and cursing at people they deem to be not meeting their expectations. That is the mark of a desperate soul, expressing fear of the “other side”. I have also seen people on both sides expressing their opinions in a calm, but firm, tone of voice, not yelling-but not giving way, either.

I covered a few small classes today, with little to do other than take roll and remind one or two people to not use their cell phones during class. While the students were working on their Chrome Book lessons, I read some initial chapters of a book on the German Army, 1933-45. It was instructive to find that Adolf Hitler did not, initially, take the full reins of control over the Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) and that he initially trusted the commanders to build up their own fighting force, even pushing aside his paramilitary force, the SS. He seized control, of course, around 1938, and the result was the horror that the world experienced, until 1945.

Technology,and the pace of events, has quickened in the past 80 years, so it is unlikely that we will see any leader bide time and leave matters to chance. The course of human events, moreover, will proceed at a rapid clip, in some ways, and whipsaw back and forth, in other areas. This is why it is best to keep an open mind on many issues, and not assume that those expressing points of view other than one’s own are somehow to be taken sharply to task and fiercely set straight. We do ourselves an injustice by plotting our own courses using a route of fear and trepidation.

The Road to Diamond, Day 91: The Way Home

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 27,2025- I spent part of this morning talking with a community member who is looking to head back to her previous place of residence. Grandchildren are the impetus, making it feel like home. They are certainly a powerful draw and I would have to strongly consider being close to any grandbabies who might bless my life.

A few online friends have somehow gotten fed up with my meanderings and have cut ties, after saying they hope I find what I’m seeking. That is somewhat reasonable, since “seeker” is part of my site name. To the extent that search is my primary motivator, though, home is not the object. Truth is certainly an object, and it may be found anywhere-whether one wanders or not. Friends are a motivator for search, whether meeting with those who are online chums or re-visiting long real-time friends. Whatever the reason for a journey, there is always something to be learned.

The thing about the word “home”, for me, is that it is a place of mind, as well as heart. I am not searching for home, since it’s everywhere. The “way” home is as simple as relaxation and as intense as focus on what is right in front. It is also a matter of realizing where one is most needed, and wanting to be there, more than anywhere else.

Those facets of my being have determined where I’ve been, on any given day, pretty much since 2011. There have been a few brain burps and hiccups, where I haven’t quite gotten the location, or the mission, right. Those have been corrected in relatively short order, and with as little damage to self and others as possible. That is what I aim to continue, no matter the challenges that lie ahead.

The Road to Diamond, Day 90: Water is Preferred

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Historical, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 26, 2025- Back in 1978, over 900 people died at the Jonestown Compound, Guyana, many after drinking a cyanide-laced punch. It was administered at the instruction of cult leader Jim Jones, who himself committed suicide, after watching his followers die en masse. This horror gave rise to the expression “drinking the Kool-aid”, in reference to a sizable group of people accepting a leader’s propaganda, without question. It has been directed at Leftists by Rightists, and vice versa. It is itself reflective of unquestioning loyalty-to an opposing leader.

Every household needs deep cleaning, at least once or twice a year. The larger the house, the deeper the cleaning that would seem to be in order. In the case of large operations, it means review of procedures and of staff performance. It cannot, however, be done in a willy-nilly manner.

No concerted governmental action that is done, within the bounds of law, is ever totally off-base. To wit: Over 100 employees of our national intelligence services have been dismissed, after having been found to have engaged in illicit messaging. That this behaviour puts our nation’s security at risk is quite obvious to the average citizen-and thus justifies a reasonable and systematic review of agency and department staff performance. That review is being directed by a seasoned military commander, who is now a civilian. So far, the review looks to be quite fair and unbiased. As a law-abiding citizen, I trust that this review and the resulting corrective actions, will be emulated by all those department heads who claim to be interested in rooting out corruption.

Just so we’re clear, I prefer water and nothing stronger than coffee, in any case. Be discerning.

The Road to Diamond, Day 89: Gift Bags

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 25, 2025- We ran out of razors and toothpaste first. Toothbrushes and shampoo were the last things left. Even so, 50 bags of toiletries were assembled by seven people, this afternoon. It’ll be a small contribution towards lessening the want and uncertainty that faces the homeless/unhoused community, each day of the week, in a great many cities and towns, across the nation and the globe.

Prescott and vicinity have a fair share of people with no permanent residence. There are various meal programs in several churches, in both Prescott and Prescott Valley. Shelters are available in both towns. Food banks tend to those who are worst off among the populace.

The situation may get worse, before righting itself, as the national governmental focus is on giving support to an entrepreneurial class, believing that this will ensure investment in the well-being of the less fortunate. There could be some of that, but if the last such effort (2017) is any indication, most of the money sent back to the wealthiest citizens by Congress will be invested in the things that make those citizens’ lives ever more comfortable.

So, we gather items for gift bags, support thrift stores and staff serving lines at soup kitchens and other feeding stations, around the planet. We alternately discourage people from begging, while imposing means testing as a way to separate the “worthy” from the grifter. The ranks of the unemployed may rise, due to the shake-out now going on at the Federal level. Will entrepreneurship rise to the challenge, and set a private enterprise hiring boom in motion?

It will take far more than gift bags and food pantries to get through this current set of challenges. Stay tuned.

The Road to Diamond, Day 88: Our Elk Are Still Bugling

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Posted by on in animal and plant life, collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 24, 2025- My friend at Zeke’s mentioned having seen a young bull elk, on the hill across from the shopping plaza where the trusty diner is located. Despite the work on creating a “much-needed” travel center, on some of the roadside property on the north side of AZ Highway 69, there is a considerable wildland that is presently off-limits to development, especially the hill above the travel center site. That hill is where the elk, and other wildlife, reside.

The male elk are still bugling. So, too, are the citizenry who don’t wish to have their lives dictated by a small elite-either of the Right or of the Left. We are keeping watch on the present headlong rush towards cutting staff, “in the name of efficiency”. My take: If two people are indeed doing the same job, and it can be effectively done by one person-then make the cut, in as humane a way as possible. Finding an alternative job for the one who is being let go would be the best of all possible options. Slashing costs for the sake of cutting taxes for the uber-wealthy, on the other hand, is NOT a relatable choice. Most people I know bring in $250,000 a year or less. Is there anything in this for us? So far, I haven’t seen it.

It’s been said that man has an infinite capacity to rationalize. This capacity has been put to full use by partisans of every President, since I’ve been reading and watching the news (that is, since 1956). It has been used to excuse everything from Project Wetback, in the 1950s, to the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. The upshot is “If our guys did it, it’s being blown out of proportion by the other side.” I heard this, tonight, and from someone who is living on the streets, but worships the ground our current President treads.

My siblings and I were raised with a conscience. When we did something wrong, Mom and Dad accepted no excuses and certainly didn’t offer any on our behalf. They defended us against legitimate threats, but otherwise expected us to behave responsibly. Now that we are on our own, we hold each other, and our children, to the same standard, and on it goes.

I can recall, when the Watergate scandal was brewing, in 1973-74, raising the issue of misfeasance at my godparents’ kitchen table. They were Republicans, and while my aunt kept her opinion to herself, uncle was furious that I would criticize the President of the United States. I was cordially invited to leave. That was in October, 1973.

In August of the following year, uncle remarked to my father that I had been right all along. He felt betrayed by Nixon-and Agnew, as well. He was not sympathetic when President Ford pardoned his predecessor. We had long since made our peace, mind you, but it was quite a revelation.

We the People will continue to speak out, as we see fit-and that goes for all along the political spectrum. Those who see no problem with what is going on across the country have a right to their viewpoint, but should the decisions being made affect them adversely, there is a safe space waiting for them-across the way. The bugling will go on, in the meantime.

The Road to Diamond, Day 87: Home Stretch

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Family, Hiking and Nature, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Slow Food Prescott, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

February 23, 2025- “Are you having fun yet?”, asked the random man standing at a corner, as if on guard. “All night long!”, I replied, “Have a nice night”, and kept walking, as someone striking up a conversation in the dark usually wants one of two things-neither of which is good. “Good answer”, he called from behind me. Hearing no footfalls afterward, I continued on to Home Base I, at an unhurried pace.

Days and nights, in general, around here offer a consistency. One accomplishes as much as one wants, with as much, or as little, help from others as is welcomed. That is the measure of a proper Home Base. It is a village that raises children. It is a safe place for those whose only wish is to grow old in peace. It is a forum for Right and Left alike. It is the recipient of my attention, for much of the next six months, as we anticipate a particularly challenging fire season, followed by a monsoon period, the strength of which has yet to be determined.

I will have journeys during this time: Southern California (March 10-13); Nevada (March 25-30), part of which will most likely be spent with Filipino friends who plan on visiting; eastward (May 5-23), to visit with family and friends, in the Midwest, Northeast and South. The rest of the time will be spent with my teammates in Red Cross, Farmers Market, Slow Food-Prescott and my faith community. I will get in more hikes and, given the cutbacks in National Forest personnel, be more given to taking drives to monitor abandoned campsites- shovel and jerry can on hand, to put out any lingering smolders. I will be at Coffee Klatsch most Monday mornings and Soup Kitchen most Monday evenings.

Our national government is, by default, summoning more of us to focus on the well-being of our local communities, and it may be quite surprised at just how many people care deeply-and how much they care. The last time I was this focused on Home Base was in 2020, during the midst of COVID, and I had a lot of company, between here in Prescott and in Alexandria, Louisiana, (the latter due to hurricanes that didn’t care there was a pandemic afoot.)

September will bring the seal to this Home Stretch: Farm-to-Table Dinner is returning on September 6. I will be there as a volunteer, before (world conditions permitting) heading to Europe, and possibly East Africa, for the rest of September and most of October. In the meantime, my focus is as described above.

The Road to Diamond,Day 86: Weaponized

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Posted by on in Community, distraction issues, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 22, 2025- “YOU are at fault for HIM making a mess of things”, yelled the distraught woman at the well-dressed, composed vendor, who had simply said she wanted to make the best of the next four years. The ranter was furious about the wholesale cutbacks in Federal agencies’ staffs and was seemingly looking for the low hanging fruit to target . The word weaponize was thrown at the hapless vendor.

“Weaponize” is yet another word that has become thoroughly worn out. Right and Left toss the word at one another with fair abandon. So, it seems relevant to look at what the word actually means. From Oxford, we learn that: weaponized /ˈwepəˌnīzd/ is an adjective: weaponized; adjective: weaponised exploited for the purpose of attacking a person or group, or for spreading discord.”our courts have been used as a tool for weaponized litigation” ; adapted for use as a weapon.”a weaponized robot”.

There being seemingly nothing that can’t be put to use for hurting one’s perceived enemies, it’s a wonder anything is left standing! The reality is that such hyperbole is intended, like so much else in the land of over-the-top, for shock value. We, the people, are no longer shocked. Nothing comes to pass that is so unexpected as to leave very many folks speechless. Even Elon Musk’s announcement that the entire Federal work force must prove to him that they are worthy of continued employment is drawing yawns from a good many. Any would-be dictator in this country will likely experience being ignored by the masses, after about a month in power.

The reason is simple: Overuse of any word, phrase or practice leads to it being part of the woodwork. This is not just true of the United States. The Caesars found they had run out of useful threats, shortly after the death of Christ. Killing a Messenger of God having failed to instill as much fear in those subjects living in Spain or Britain as it did, momentarily, in Judea and Samaria, the tyrants needed to employ ever more outlandish ruses-until they ran out of ideas. Then, the Germanic tribes took over, and actually imposed rule of law-of sorts. The common folk just went about their business, as common folk are wont to do.

“Weaponize” conjures a two-edged sword, and so often, the edge that is pointed at the masses is the one that gets dull first.

The Road to Diamond, Day 85: Worn Out Phrases

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 21, 2025- “Woke” is worn out. So are “MAGA”,”DOGE”; and “Long live the king”. For that matter, “DEI” could use a vacation-as a slogan. Abraham Lincoln said “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. A country is like a house and for that matter, so is the human race.

Let’s look at the above-mentioned words and acronyms. Woke is the past tense of To Wake. It is also a term, taken from the Ebonics spoken by enslaved African-Americans and their descendants, to mean “aware of surroundings”,”paying attention”, and so on. That’s all it means and being “woke” does not, in and of itself, make one superior to all others. It just means that one is not easily fooled.

MAGA-“Make America Great Again”-catchy phrase, this-if one has been fooled into thinking that the change which this and other countries have been undergoing, in a time of global ferment, is somehow foreign to the human experience and thus should be resisted and counteracted. The United States of America has achieved several measures of greatness, precisely because of our diversity. White, male capital has needed the polyglot work force to bring its dreams into fruition. An educated work force is far more productive than a conglomerate of human oxen. This is one reason why Andrew Carnegie, no egalitarian by any means, nonetheless saw fit to relegate a hefty part of his fortune to a system of free public libraries, which became a model for such institutions the world over. The United States of America has never stopped being great. There is no “again”.

DOGE-“Department of Government Efficiency”: Here, we have taken our penchant for compartmentalizing aspects of our collective being to the next level. Efficiency, the good stewardship of what we are given, is somehow to be viewed as separate from every other element of our being. My parents, grandparents, parents-in-law- in short, everyone who survived the Depression, and before that, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Gilded Age, World War I, Influenza of 1918-must be spinning about, underground, to the extent that a 9.0 may be in the offing!

Every day of my formative years, I was told to count my dollars and cents, to know how much I earned per newspaper I delivered and to look about for further opportunities. I was taught to plan my day, each morning and to take stock of what had transpired, at day’s end. Efficiency has never been separate from any other aspect, of any enterprise that I have ever seen be successful. It falls to every entity to practice efficiency, in and of itself. We compartmentalize at our peril.

“Long live the king!”- That’s fine for Charles III or for Sultan, of Saudi Arabia. Kingship is their job. In a constitutional republic, kingship is a ludicrous proposition-even if the term is tossed out half in jest. No one man, or woman, can carry on alone. The above-mentioned monarchs know this-and thus, each has his Cabinet, his Prime Minister/Crown Prince, Parliament/Council of Elders. Only a lunatic actually believes in his own omnipotence. Shakespeare wrote King Lear, in reflecting on the reign of Henry VIII, for this very reason. No one of good will wishes death upon another person, but long life does not need to feature untrammeled obedience from one’s fellows.

DEI: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. When I was 17, I was taken aback, momentarily, by the sight of a person of colour in a small rural community in Massachusetts. Looking back, it is obvious how silly my reaction was. This planet has been a diverse community since Day One of living things. Sameness doesn’t exist in nature. It does exist in monoculture, to an extent, and we can see that monoculture ends up choking itself out of existence, in fairly short order.

Why, then, should we pursue either a forced uniformity or a contrived, artificial diversity? The former brought about the latter, true-but it is time to relegate both to the scrap heap, and let mature humans pursue their natural inclination towards diversity. This means allowing all who seek to join in a given activity or enterprise, the chance to take part. Inclusion is a natural process, not a feature of statute, to be enforced by fiat.

Equity? When my parents were raising us, my youngest brother needed things that the rest of us did not He was given what he needed, to the best of our parents’ ability to provide. I did not begrudge him this. He, in turn, was not given driving lessons, or expected to get a part-time job, in his teen years. Opening the way for a human being to meet individual or small group needs is not discrimination against all others. Helping People of Colour to overcome, in specific ways, the effects of institutionalized bias is not a travesty. It is true that none of us alive today are responsible for establishing elements of bias. Why, then, do we act like we have such vested interest in them?

DEI, as doctrine, should not even be necessary. Nor should MAGA, or DOGE, or rule by fiat. In this day, each of us is responsible for living an integrated, well-balanced life. Why, then, do we choose to compartmentalize?

The Road to Diamond, Day 84: Mixed Messages

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Posted by on in collaborating, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 20, 2025- On the one hand, Doc says that I have the constitution of a 45-year-old. I’ll take that for as long as I can keep it. On the other hand, my skin needs a few tweaks. I will go through the process of getting those treated, though thankfully, I don’t have anywhere near the horror blotches of the 2010s. Just a few small bumps is all.

We all go through the day and get some mixed messages. I got a few during my recent time in the Philippines. Now, though, I am getting much more clarity from my friend. We are still messaging back and forth-and the messages are straightforward, both ways. As with friends here in North America, our communication is honest, caring-and yes, loving. I feel blessed that everyone on my radar screen has my best interests at heart, and I, theirs.

Mixed messages come about when the messenger is not sure of self, let alone about feelings towards the recipient. There is, more essentially therefore, a primary duty to not send mixed messages to oneself. I have had to face this as often as anyone-wanting things that aren’t there, in an imperfect, phenomenal world. The solution to the latter is to get to work, and so I have.

Coming full circle, maybe this is the reason for my clean bill of general health. Proactivity reflects one’s work ethic.

The Road to Diamond, Day 83: True Friends

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Travel

February 19, 2025- The ride back to Prescott had a nice twist of an ending. I was let off of the shuttle closer to Home Base I, as the driver was “running late” and my normal rendezvous point was out of the way. It helped that the driver was a former co-worker, who remembered me from one of the schools.

The person who was my prime reason for having gone to the Philippines, these past two visits, is the biggest fan of my work with Red Cross-and that is what matters most. She stands with me, the way so many in this town stand with me. She is keeping track of my experiences during these next six months.

I was welcomed back, by two friends in Phoenix, who have invited me to their home, early in March. These are people I have known for thirty-five years. One of them is Javanese, related to Filipino, and wants to hear more of what I experienced this past visit.

These are but three of the countless true friends who have stood by me, some for decades, others for the past fourteen years and still others of more recent vintage. True friends are not transactional or conditional with their loyalty. They are not sycophantic with their devotion. For me, thankfully, they are my source of heart wealth. They are found all over the globe.