Category Archives: Community

The Road to Diamond, Day 283: Sendoffs

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Posted by on in American Legion, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 7,2025- There is much that I will miss about Home Base I, during the next seven weeks.

“It’s raining!”, the lady said, as she passed me on the sidewalk, this morning. It was not raining, so maybe her comment was sparked by my bush hat, which was meant (along with sunscreen) to guard my face and neck from UV rays. Such silliness is rare in Prescott, these days. Most people with whom I am even mildly acquainted have wished me safe travels, on the journey that starts tomorrow and will end the last week of October. There is much to be done, in those seven weeks. There are those who see it as an extended vacation-even though I am no longer working for wages, save a few chosen gigs in the schools. There are others who are confused when I say I will see them in two months, probably because they themselves just returned from a long trip. Most, though, have encouraging comments to offer.

I had a pleasant conversation with several fellow American Legionnaires at our usual breakfast this morning. Some are planning their own trips, across the U.S. and down to Mexico. Most will keep the home fires burning.

Another visit, to a couple who had recently gone on a night photography trip to the Navajo Nation, gave me an opportunity to see just how striking the Milky Way is, relative to the great monadnock ( single monolith rising from a surrounding plain) called Ship Rock. I have observed that sacred place many times, and photographed it from a fair distance. Our galaxy’s stars are most visible at night, from a southwest angle. In order to view it, one must be accompanied by a Dineh (Navajo) guide. This is what my friends did, and they had a great time. They were not among the recent travelers who seemed confused by my farewell. They have been to many of the places on my itinerary and wished me well.

A sizable group came to the last event of the day- a Spiritual Feast, which I was honoured to host, at the home of other friends. We had a lengthy and fruitful consultation about several matters. Then, most of the friends also wished bon voyage. The spiritual feast, a Baha’i institution, is always more special when a large group takes part. It is even more special when the assemblage takes on the nature of changes that are engulfing society, and works at discerning those events and processes that proffer good from those that bring ill. Our mission is to promulgate the good in individuals and in communities.

So, after all that, I have readied my backpack, and will have enough time tomorrow to pack my carry-on, by rising early. There will plenty of time to doze off, on the shuttle to Phoenix.

There is much that I will miss about Home Base I, and much that I will treasure about the places that lie ahead.

The Road to Diamond, Day 282: River of Love

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 6, 2025- “Get up and dance!”, said the guest of honour, at the second of today’s three important events. As I like dancing,I did so, fairly loosely and in rhythm with the music, just not to her liking, so when she turned and walked away, I sat back down. I learned, a long time ago, that life cannot be well-lived on someone else’s terms.

What, exactly, does it mean to flow on the river of love? I have been told, in recent weeks, that if I really loved someone, I’d give them the money I set aside for their well-being. Instead, I gave it to someone who will expend it on the other person’s behalf, in a judicious manner.

I have, conversely, been advised that living according to what is best for my own well-being is an act of love. Certainly, minding my health needs and keeping active is good, by extension, for my little family and for the good of those aspects of the community to which I am of the most help.

I think the the truth is more in balance. Too much emphasis on my own needs and wants can be distracting and take away from the genuine needs of the community. On the other hand, no one can meet the needs of all comers, without oneself becoming a ward of society. I do agree that love comes first, and material matter is no more than a tool, by which love for self and others can be manifested.

On Mondays, when I am here at Home Base I, I help serve a meal to destitute people. This evening, I helped tend to the needs of more well-to-do people, who are patrons of Prescott Farmers Market. My approach to both groups has been the same-just helping others enjoy a meal, in a safe and relaxed atmosphere. That, to me, is traveling on the river of love.

The Road to Diamond, Day 281: Competence

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

September 5,2025- This day was meant for everything, and nothing. There was no agenda, other than an hour or so, listening to the Friday jam group at Gypsy’s, while sipping the first hot apple cider of the season and sharing stories with Hiking Buddy and in the evening, joining Baha’i friends for a Zoom devotional.

After the session ended at Gypsy’s, I walked over to a Verizon store and inquired about new iPhones. Finding out that they could not sell phones without a plan (“Locked” phones), I decided to go later over to Best Buy and see about their offerings. Crab cakes at Uncle Bud’s Cajun & Barbecue boosted my confidence, and I headed back to HB I, to get started on the afternoon.

As it happened, I got a call from the vendor who was supplying the cloth for my soon-to-be reupholstered sofa. The cloth was in, so down to the store I went. While the material was being measured and cut, we swapped stories about previous European travels. He and his wife had made two trips to France, nearly fifty years ago, with minimal language skills, and had gotten on well with the French people, in Haute-Alpes and in the Pyrenees. Long story short, he had skills that were needed in those regions, which made all the difference; plus he and she are congenial.

On the way back, I stopped at Best Buy, settling on a reasonable iPhone 14. After some introductory instructions from the sales guy, I made the purchase, and brought phone, protector and screen cover back to HB, with a plan for getting it up and running later. First came a spaghetti feed and the devotional.

With reassurance from my son, the transfer process from old phone to new got underway, taking about twenty minutes to transfer data, then set up security and decide on a few things like passwords. When it came time to turn the new phone off for the evening, hmmm- I found a different process than just holding the power button in. Power and volume have to be pressed simultaneously, it happens. Then the “slide to turn off” shows up.

Diamond Dog can learn new tricks- and add competence. I’ve heard that each new skill keeps the brain cells from fading out. I will no doubt be picking up several, in what I have set for self, in the weeks ahead.

The Road to Diamond, Day 280: The Lone Deer

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Posted by on in Alternative Careers, animal and plant life, Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 4, 2025- The juvenile doe gingerly approached the front yard of the home on Copper Basin Road, the penultimate southernmost road that is headed east to west, in Prescott. It was not unusual to see a deer, or even a predator, along this road. Deer are very social animals though, so seeing a loner was out of the ordinary. I wondered if she were orphaned, or just cut off from her herd. Maybe they were already in the back yard. Even the most social of animals can have stragglers. I can pretty much surmise, though, that the doe was not alone by conscious choice.

We humans are almost unique, in that we can isolate ourselves by placing excessive demands on our families, friends and associates. I have known people, a few of whom are still on the periphery of my social circle, who follow up a contingent demand with yet another. Most, if not all, of their relationships are conditional upon their being treated with deference-and usually at the expense of someone else-of whom they are jealous, or by whom they feel threatened.

I’ve said it before, though, and still maintain, that life is not a zero sum game. There has been, and remains, enough of me to share with several people about whom I care. So far, holding that stance has caused the more skittish ones to stop and thank me for what has been done on their behalf, at least for a few days. In my earlier years, I often kept to myself, only going to join other neighbourhood kids when they came by the house. So, I know a little of what the loners are feeling.

In middle childhood and in adolescence, being with others became more important, so I went to school dances, joined in games and sports, even if I was terrible at them and hung out with others at friends’ houses or went to their families’ camps. This probably kept me alive and reinforced the social skills that my parents bent over backwards, trying to instill earlier.

It also gave me the sense that, after losing my wife of 29 years, staying active in the community-first in Phoenix and then in Prescott- was what was going to guide me back to health and well-being. Community service then indirectly led me to do Terra supplements and a more healthy diet. It ended my status as lone deer- and brought first a wider social circle here in Prescott, then across Arizona and more widely-nationally and internationally.

I thought of these things even further, after offering similar advice to someone in another state, who recently retired and is looking for ways to build a new life. I hope this person will follow a path of self-discovery and self-realization. Each of us has gifts that are far beyond our understanding. Service and fellowship can bring those out.

The Road to Diamond, Day 279: Heart Letter 1

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

September 3, 2025, Keams Canyon- The hill we used to climb,and lay on blankets under the stars, is still alluring. It seems diminished somehow, though, with the campground having been taken up for house lots and a fenced in playground . The park is a nice idea for the Keams community, though.

I could have bushwhacked a bit and gone up the hill, just to reminisce about those first fleeting days of our acquaintance, which became an enduring, if sometimes harrowing, love story. It wasn’t far from this spot that your trailer sat, and where I camped out in the snow, the first time I visited you. It was all to keep up a sense of propriety, for your Hopi and Mormon neighbours. It was worth the hassle, though, and I felt akin to the small Dineh children who were traditionally thrown out in the snow, to toughen them up.

Tonight, though, there is no snow or cold, just a light rain. I am not sleeping outside, but in the comfort of some new friends’ apartment. We had a lovely dinner of cod fillets, cauliflower over rice and steamed avocado/cucumber salad. I gave them a set of books about the Hopi and one about Dineh. They are resuming the work we did in the ’80s and ’90s, and will take it to the next level.

Hopi will always be special, even if my time here is fleeting, and only occasional. The people have shared their wisdom with the world, and deserve all our support and understanding. You knew that, back then, when you sought to calm my peripatetic self and got me to devote weekends to attending ceremonial dances, instead of going off into mountains and canyons.

That, ironically, is why I am here tonight, absorbing the gentle spiritual energy that lies within these mesa lands, just prior to my embarking on journeys of homage and transition. Soon, our first grandchild will be joining the world. I will not be surprised if she looks up and smiles at a space where no earthly being can be seen. I will know that she is looking at you.

The Road to Diamond, Day 278: Tying Loose Strands

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 2, 2025- Coming up to a ledge, on the trail between White Spar Mountain and Goldwater Lake, Hiking Buddy and I spotted nineteen American flags-the sign of a memorial to the 19 Wildland Firefighters, who died in 2013, at Yarnell Hill.

Other forms of death showed themselves nearby.

Beyond, though, are the many signs of life, for which these sacrifices have been made.

We made this short hike, as part of a run-up to my own seven-week absence from Home Base I, and from Arizona. I have had a good summer here, and now it is time to tie up loose ends. Connecting HB with an aficionado of her type of product was another result of today’s efforts. Finally getting through to a critic of local organic farming, earlier this morning, was another.

The rest of the week will see me on a worldwide prayer call, then up at Hopi for a brief visit with new arrivals in the Health Provider community and a Red Cross meeting here, on Thursday. Friday, I will continue my dry run of packing, as the weekend is full of special events, on which more, in a few days.

I have also carefully spoke my peace about other issues, and so far had little push back. Towards that end, I will not elaborate on my thoughts in this forum. We are all entitled to our own opinions, though not to our own facts.

No matter where I go, the sacrifices of those brave men commemorated above, and of others like them, will still figure large in my consciousness. They tied the loose strands of community, by giving their very lives.

The Road to Diamond, Day 277: The Labour of Love, at Quarter Century

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

September 1, 2025- A friend was clearly shocked, voice breaking, whilst reading the message from a mutual friend, which indicated that here were two people talking past one another, regarding an act of service in which they had spent most of yesterday-and were pondering how to complete the job today.

We “Boomers” are in situations, quite often,in which two or more people get involved in helping a destitute, or infirm, friend-and find selves reaching own physical limits. I am fairly robust, at just shy of 75, but many of my contemporaries are not. I stand up for them, when they have to back off from work they find too onerous, given their physical state. The friend I first mentioned above is one of those who has every right to set limits. So, too, is the second friend, who is, in fairness, selfless to a fault. At some point, very soon, I hope that is realized.

I have to be very transparent, of late, about my own limits, which are more financial (preserving the means to reach my goals and to provide in the event of unforeseen emergencies) and temporal (not being able to spend time with certain folks around Home Base I, as I will be away for a good part of the rest of this year, and next),than physical-for the foreseeable future, anyway.

What my friends and I do is sincerely out of love. Favours, though, cannot be expected. In the past day or so, I have had to let two people, for whom I care deeply, know that they are not entitled to have me at their beck and call. This is as much out of regard for their own dignity and worth as it is for my own. I had to learn this the hard way, several years ago-and am grateful for the lesson, both as giver and as receiver.

We give of ourselves both in gratitude for those who gave to us, back in the day, and out of love for those who are at wit’s end. We offer a hand up, rather than a hand out, as much as our own means allow. Happy Labour Day, all!

The Road to Diamond, Day 276: “Peace One Day”

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

August 31, 2025- A young man set out to break the cycle of gratuitous and retributive violence, especially between nations. His idea was to establish an international day of ceasefire/commitment to peace, on September 21 of each year. The equinox, signifying harvest in the northern hemisphere and planting in the south, was seen as a fine date for getting nations to focus on the well-being of the masses.

It turned out to be a hard sell. One country, whose prior leaders had initiated a proclamation calling for A United Nations Day of Peace, decided to back away from the commitment. The young man continued his mission, visiting dislocated and suffering people in Somalia, Palestine and Burundi. He used his leverage as a British citizen to persuade the government of the United Kingdom to become primary sponsor of the International Day of Ceasefire and Peace. The other nation, which had backed away, agreed to join the U.K. as a co-sponsor of the resolution.

We see that the forces of discord and nationalism can act against this movement. Indeed, minutes before then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was to ring a Peace Bell, at UN Headquarters, al-Qaeda terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, on September 11, 2001. Several documents, and testimony from terrorist sympathizers, indicate that the timing was not coincidental.

The arc of history, however, is aimed towards an eventual peace and unity. Even the most nationalistic of governments are beginning to see that the way of warfare is a dead end. The actual course of resolving conflict is a lingering source of disagreement. As with any matter that seems intractable, however, the secret to resolution lies in not ever giving up. This was the real message of “Peace One Day”.

The Road to Diamond, Day 275: Reading the Road

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

August 30, 2025- Waiting until the row of traffic, in the lane I was about to enter, had cleared, I then pulled onto the road. Lo and behold, I heard a horn blare, from a few cars back and to the left. It was from someone honking and yelling at the pick-up driver who had moved into the “empty” lane and who was now having to brake, because of yours truly. Nothing further happened, we all went on our merry ways, but it goes to show, one never can be too careful.

I have learned to “read the road” quite well, and often will wait until the light up the road turns red, before going onto AZ 69, which many drivers treat as their personal race track. It seems there are many such roads, across the country, and even across the continent. (Canada has its share of oblivious motorists and the lands south of the border are even more chaotic, in many places.) Across the Pacific, I don’t think I’d want to drive in the Philippines, mostly due to the many motorcyclists who dart in and out, everywhere. I have learned to read the road there, too, as in many spots, there are no crosswalks and one must inch forward to cross a road, when traffic slows just a bit.

My father thought I was a bit too cautious, when I first learned to drive. There was a reason: I was more of a menace, with a short attention span and tendency to daydream. It took a few months to learn to focus, and I did manage to go nearly 48 years without an accident. There have been a few rough patches, since 2014, for different reasons- Sabotage, an overzealous driver zipping over a blind hill and a driver on medication who fell asleep. The first two saw me get cited for “partial culpability”, which is more a statutory requirement than actual proof of wrongdoing.

Nonetheless, I am determined to get through the next week or so without any mishaps. For seven weeks thereafter, my mode of transport will be the airplane, the train, the bus and a friend’s vehicle. Reading the road will be more as a pedestrian, in the countries I will find myself. Tonight, though, was a caution-there is never a break from driving defensively.

The Road to Diamond, Day 273: Jump Starts

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 28,2025- A call came at mid-morning: Sportage will get her new oil pan tomorrow, bright and early. Energized to move on other fronts, I went to a cloth wholesaler and picked out new material to cover my badly worn sofa. This is more of an investment in keeping the furniture out of the landfill, when it comes time for me to divest my furnishings, come late December. Of course, when a friend does the re-upholstering, at the end of October, I will be able to enjoy it in the interim. A section of the sofa is my prayer corner.

I have added a few more items to the Fall itinerary, which is looking more like the series of homages to which I am drawn, in between and after visits with friends. There is much to which I feel drawn in humility-more so than out of curiosity. Out of prudence, though, my whereabouts will be posted as they occur.

I am now three months away from #75. I celebrated the 74.9 marker with a case of alkaline water. Finally, the market has caught on here, and I’m finding this may well be a big deterrent to the dehydration that has been setting in this summer. Besides, I could use more alkalinity in my life.

Life is ever a series of jump starts and pauses. It seems, though, that a delay or block in one area opens the way for another thing to happen. I was unable to attend the funeral of a co-worker, in another city, due to the situation with the auto part. That paved the way for assistance to be given to another ailing friend here in town. This has been more the rule than the exception, over the past twenty five years. I have been exactly where I was supposed to be, at the given time-yet not necessarily by my own design.