Category Archives: collaborating

Destiny

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Personal Values, Striving

November 8, 2016, Prescott-

The watched pot may never boil,

the ignored one, will.

The more people are egged on,

the more ends up on the faces,

of the callous instigators.

The proof of a person’s worth,

is not how much influence is amassed,

but how he/she regards those

of seemingly small stature.

The worst that can befall a soul,

is believing that there are those

with whom it is beneath one’s dignity

to associate.

Then, it becomes one’s destiny

to figure out how.

Tomorrow, America will still be America.

Will you still be you?

Prominence, Entitlement, Insecurity

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Posted by on in collaborating, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Striving

October 18, 2016, Prescott-

In the past week, every prominent male political figure, it seems, has had to endure a fine-toothed comb scrutiny of his record, vis-a-vis behaviour towards women.  It’s only fair, I suppose, for the spotlight to shine across the spectrum.

I can’t say my thinking, over the years, has met the gold standard set by former President Jimmy Carter- but I have indeed long since gotten past lusting in my heart.  It would not have ended well, with all that Penny meant, and means, to me. I could never operate as certain men in the public eye are said to move. The difference is, I am not a man of prominence or entitlement.  I am also secure in my own skin.

Truth be known, having women as friends is, as I have said several times, far more satisfying, in and of itself, than a trail of “conquests” could ever be.  Placing shackles on another being requires endless vigilance.  Helping to liberate and elevate another, frees oneself, in ways that no Lothario could even begin to imagine.

I see a far brighter future for both men and women, as the dust settles on the crash of SS Misogyny.

Last Weekend, and This

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Family, Service Activities, Spiritual, Striving

October 8, 2016, Chula Vista-  It was a weekend of talk about change, and talk about commitments.  On October 1, a Baha’i Unit Convention was held in Flagstaff, and a similar gathering took place the following day, at the Native American Baha’i Institute of Learning, in tiny Burntwater, AZ, about 10 miles north of Sanders, along Interstate 40.

At these gatherings, we choose a person to represent our communities at the U.S. National Convention, in the Chicago area, the following May.  This is an important function, yet what is more important is that we are addressing the spiritual condition of our communities.  It is not a bland spouting of platitudes, and there are sharp opinions voiced, during the consultation.  Yet what we are, regardless of opinions, is respectful of one another’s value.  There is no one, among the gathered friends, who is discounted or seen as lacking value.  The goal, for each of us, is to extend this valuing to the entire community, not just committed members of the Baha’i Faith.

After an intense week at work, in which these principles of unity were put to the test, and which by the grace of God, I largely maintained progress,  I headed out to my son’s place, in this southern suburb of America’s Hometown.   He’s a bit laid up, from a fracture  of one of his left foot’s metatarsals.  So, my entire function, these five days in California is to help with his needs.  My usual meanderings up the coast will need to wait until the week after Christmas.

I set out from Prescott, last night, after a particularly strenuous day and a lengthy, soothing dinner at the American Legion Post.  The route this time took me to a very restful night at an economical motel in Blythe, then a drive through the Colorado Desert, through Brawley, to El Centro and over the Laguna Mountains to the coast.

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A 20th Century cowboy, circa 1992, downtown Brawley, CA

The weekend is off to a fairly restful start, and we can tend to tasks related to Aram’s healing, on Monday and Tuesday.

 

More than Useful

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Family, Poetry, Social, Striving

October 1, 2016, Flagstaff-

A Jill of all trades has been

working tirelessly,

for nearly a decade,

to keep her children on track.

A long-lost friend

surfaced today, to give

a scholarly presentation.

He and I will be

at another location,

tomorrow.

Feast or famine,

with certain friends.

What seemed like

a rivalry between

two institutions

for which I care deeply,

is more a matter

of systemic transition.

These are things I learned, today.

Equinox

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Posted by on in collaborating, Personal Values, Spiritual, Striving

September 22, 2016, Prescott- 

The Moon keeps us on our toes.

Calendar dates change,

based on its phases,

year to year,

for equinoxes and solstices;

for Baha’i Holy Days;

for Ramadan and Eid;

for Lent and Easter;

for the Jewish High Holy Days

and Passover.

The hearts who celebrate

do not change,

with the phases of the Moon,

or even with the climate’s fickleness.

We remain connected,

even across thousands of miles

and hectares of fenced-in fields.

We remain unified,

soul to soul,

in the face of contrived divisions,

of walls which no one really wants.

Walls and fences,

that delude us.

The only real safety

lies in connection.

Blessed be Charlotte,

Tulsa, Milwaukee,

St. Louis, Manhattan,

Elizabeth, Seaside Park.

God, be watchful,

over Pakistan, Syria,

Afghanistan, Iraq,

Yemen, South Sudan.

Stay the hands of the dividers,

wherever they may be.

 

 

 

 

Aloneness at the Top

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Posted by on in collaborating, Social, Striving

August 23, 2016, Prescott- It’s time to take a break from the day-to-day, and think about our leaders, or those who purport to be such.  In a conversation this afternoon, the three of us noted that the school principal has an intense burden, not going out among the staff as often as people seem to want.  When she has shown up, her demeanor is pleasant enough, though the message I get is “Don’t make my work any harder, please.”

I remember having the sense, particularly in my first principalship, of being very much without friends.  My wife was forty miles away, at another school and son was only 10, and trying to juggle going back and forth between two schools, so as not to miss either of us too much.  The staff at my school was cordial, but after work, I went home to the dreariness of DirecTV and a diet of VH1.  The community, egged on by a local racist, was rather on the hostile side.

I reflected on these notions this afternoon, whilst listening to the author of a new book on Donald Trump.  He views his subject as pretty much a loner- a gladhander, yes, but one who tends to prefer his own company- outside of the work day.  Hillary Clinton seems equally a duck out of water, when in the company of strangers, after a certain amount of time.  Barack Obama is engrossed in his family unit, and the company of a small circle of friends.  Indeed, we have to go back to Bill Clinton to see a leader who relishes the crowd, and before him, all the way to John F. Kennedy.

I feel for our leaders, whether local or national.  The late Shah of Iran once remarked, in an interview with the journalist Oriana Fallaci, that, were he to have it all to do over again, he would want to be anything other than a king.  The crush upon a mere mortal has to be both deafening and suffocating.  Most people appreciate, and expect, a leader who will put him/herself aside, as it were, and rush to the side of the suffering.  Many, from George Washington on, wished to do just that- until, in modern times, the combination of security concerns, open calls for harm to be done to said leader, and the seeming ingratitude of some local communities, have led to a pullback by the Comforter-in-Chief, as we have seen in the second Obama term.

Could it be that we, the people, need to reassess our attitudes towards those whom we elect to manage our civic affairs?

 

Ides

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Education, Social, Striving

August 15, 2016, Prescott- Today and tomorrow mark what medieval Europeans would have called the Ides (divides) of August.  Most of us are aware of the concept of dividing months into fortnights (periods of two weeks), from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”. The Ides of March became associated with foreboding, associated with the death of Caesar.

Division, for me, is something we need to work hard at overcoming.  I am in a new work environment.  The three of us who staff the room are working to overcome differences in style, priority, and temperament, both among ourselves and with the 6-7 supervisory staff, who are in and out of the room during the day.  Then, there are differences that arise with, and among, our charges- the students in our self-contained unit. Finally, there are the other staff at the school, who are united in their little groups, but have a ways to go in opening up to those perceived as “others”.

Division, at its most innocent, is a coping strategy for making sense of one’s world.  At its most nefarious, it is a way of maintaining barriers.  This is something we all tend to do, to one extent or another.  My goal is to eliminate as many of “the Ides”, socially, as I can, without falling back into my former patterns of being pushy and insistent.  Those only closed up the circles more quickly.  This time, I will be more prone to careful listening and patience.

 

Tales of the 2016 Road: Bushkill Falls and Busted Pipes

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Posted by on in collaborating, Family, Hiking and Nature, Striving, Travel

July 7, 2016, Middletown, NY-  This is another of those years when I could not be present for my son’s birthday.  He was at sea, anyway.  I rose early, at Glick’s Greenhouse compound, and bid Beth and Dave a fond adieu.  My goal was to reach Saugus in time to visit a bit with a nephew and his family, who were visiting from Indiana.   Some goals don’t get reached.

The day began nicely enough.  I made good time past the Lehigh Valley, and its tough, surviving cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, jumping on Rte. 209, past the Stroudsburgs, to Bushkill Falls, where my in-laws spent their honeymoon, and several subsequent wedding anniversaries.

The privately-owned park retains its magic, and offers a fairly extensive network of hiking trails, some of which are paved.  Families and single wanderers alike were having a fine time, this morning.  Here a few of the scenes I encountered, in this Pride of the Poconos.

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Entrance and concessions complex, Bushkill Falls, PA

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Approach to Main Falls, Bushkill Falls

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Main Falls, Bushkill

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Signs of a rain forest, Bushkill Falls

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Frontal view of Main Falls, Bushkill

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Nice picnic spot, near Bridal Veil Falls, Bushkill

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Bridal Veil Falls, Bushkill

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Cave, at foot of Bridesmaid Falls, Bushkill

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Bridesmaid Falls, Bushkill

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Pennell Falls, Bushkill

Pennsylvania has had copious rain, so far this summer.  Thus, the rain forest ambiance of Bushkill Falls, and other places in the Poconos, make for a lovely vacation stopover.  The sense of peace and tranquility I found there, sustained me through what followed, in the afternoon.

After stopping in Port Jervis, NY, in the Three Corners region of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and enjoying a hearty lunch at Muller’s Diner, I sensed something was awry with Nissan.  Once on I-84, it was worse:  Lack of acceleration reduced my speed to 50.  It was fortunate that I made it up the road apiece, to Middletown, and found a Nissan dealership.  The men took two hours to find and fix what their diagnostics said was the problem:  A clogged front exhaust pipe.  Thanks to them, I was back on the road by 4:30.  It was too late to see nephew and his family, but I made it safely to my mother’s house by 10 PM.   Safety is always first.

People of Value

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

June 30, 2016, Prescott- I will leave here, in a few short minutes, to visit with several friends and family members, scattered as we all are, across the Great Plains, Midwest, Northeast and South.

Earlier today, though, I stopped by the town of Yarnell, so horribly hit, three years ago, by the fire which took the lives of 19 brave souls and upended countless others.  I was not there for the formal ceremony, which will be addressed by an old friend and co-worker, himself grandfather to one of the men who died that day.  My extended spiritual energy will need to suffice, but at 4:42 PM, wherever I am on the road, I will stop and observe silence, at the very time the lives of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots were snuffed out.

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Future site of Yarnell Hill Memorial Park

This brings me to the wider concept of value.  Recent discussions, in various forums, have raised the matter of how much do the lives and livelihoods of men matter, anymore.  I have been in the situation of feeling devalued, and know several men who feel likewise.  It is not hard to find such people.  All one need do is go to a busy street corner, and notice the person holding a plea-ridden sign.

Of course, homelessness is a far more complex issue than I will address in this particular post.  My wife, son and I were homeless, for a few months in 1992.  We worked our way out of it, and managed to keep a roof over our heads- which I still do.  No, I am concerned right at this moment, with placing value on the persons and souls of the human male- every bit as much as I do with our precious, much-loved female companions on this earthly plane.

I will address this topic in more depth, but for now:  Let each human being realize that his/her dreams, and what they have to offer, matter just as much as anyone else’s.  We do nothing to make the Earth a better place, by excluding anyone, of either gender, or of any given category of humanity, from their rightful place in the mix.  Advancing one group, at the expense of another, is short-sighted, and has always contributed to strife, in the long-run.  There is room, to spare, for both men and women to work, contrary to the ongoing myth of scarcity.