Category Archives: distraction issues

All Steamed Up and On A Rampage

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

October 8, 2020-

No, not me. I have actually not been as calm and clear-headed as I am today, for quite some time. Feeling part of a group that accomplished a sizeable amount of work, in two weeks’ time, has a lot to do with my own composure.

The news that at least thirteen men, one of whom doesn’t even live in Michigan, have been arrested in connection with a plot to kidnap that state’s governor, is a prime example of the frame of reference for the title of this post.

Riots and mayhem have been the province of both Far Right and Far Left groups, at various points in our nation’s history. Tulsa, Chicago and Hayneville, AL saw the former group exercise its muscle, in the mid-Twentieth Century. Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC-among several other cities, saw upheavals from the latter group, in the 1960’s. It is a fair argument that the White attacks on Black Wall Street and the loud demands for continuance of racial segregation had much to do with setting the stage for the urban riots of the 1960s, ’70s and 1992. The earlier White rampages reinforced attitudes of intolerance and separation that, left alone, would have started to fade and gradually be replaced by more fair-minded attitudes, across racial lines.

Spending two weeks serving a primarily African-American populace certainly strengthened my own feelings of love and equanimity towards a woefully misunderstood community. I saw mostly a high level of patience and love coming from our clientele. When anger was expressed, I daresay it was justified. In every case, we were able to address and resolve the issue, not once sweeping it aside.

End of digression. I see a lot of people of European descent, and more than a few from other demographics, fulminating at what they perceive as a combination of the social order’s collapse and a witchhunt against the current president. He has been microanalyzed, as his last six precessors were, by the Mainstream Media, AND he is partially hoist of his own petard-as several of his predecessors also were.

None of the above facts will stop people, who are highly frustrated and feeling discounted, from acting out in an even more extreme manner. It may well not be just homegrown anarchists and paid foreign actors committing mayhem in the streets, come later in the Fall and through January.

This is why it is vital to take Joe Biden at his word, that he will be the President of supporter and opponent alike, should he win the election, next month. It is even more vital to insist that Donald Trump-and his potential replacement, Mike Pence, follow the same ethic. They could very well still be re-elected.It is vital that all life is honoured, by all four candidates.

It is also imperative that corporate interests, including medical research enterprises, refrain from manipulating women who seek empowerment (This means YOU, Planned Parenthood), stop lobbying against legitimate scientific research and start putting the needs of the people over reckless seeking of profits.

It is essential, also, that people see each other as one family-even if that means occasional squabbles and smoothing one another’s rough edges. I am from two large families and there are plenty of progressives, conservatives- and moderates, like me, in the mix. We have, for the most part, come to a consensus of love trumping ideology. If we can do this, so can many, if not most, other people.

It’s time to stop the rumble.

The Hotel Project, Day 11

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Personal Values, Service Activities, Striving

October 5, 2020, Dallas-

I get that the president wants to get back to his work. I am also one to be looking at finishing what I start. One of our coworkers is sidelined by illness, which may or may not be COVID19. None of the rest of us are showing symptoms, though, so it could be something entirely different. The same thing happened in Alexandria, and the one person was quarantined-with the rest of us not becoming infected.

We resolved the missing clothing problem, from last week and a very happy, relieved client was reunited with her wardrobe. Several others began to take ownership of their short-term futures, though the human aversion to change was evident, among many of the people.

There is, on balance, an appreciation for what Red Cross has done for the communities in southern Louisiana, with none of the agitation by the Far Right that followed Hurricane Harvey, in 2017. The organization is committed to continuing to work WITH the people and communities of the region, as they face both return to the area and yet another hurricane, this coming weekend. Many have said, flat-out, that they will relocate to Texas, permanently. I’m sure many more will choose to move elsewhere, once the fullness of the hurricane season is through.

Tomorrow is the last full day of deployment and Wednesday will be a transit day. Both will be full of activity and change.

The Hotel Project, Day 8

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, distraction issues, Entertainment, impediments, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

October 2, 2020, Dallas-

Today was a reminder of how well something can be accomplished, on short notice, and how badly something can be done, when the interest just isn’t there.

Our team put on a wonderful movie night, attended by 24 children and 7 adults. The activity involved building mini-cars, out of cardboard boxes, which the children could then decorate, whilst watching the film, in a simulated drive-in. Each child was allowed to keep their car. Being a diverse group of people, there were those who watched the film from start to finish, those who went to their rooms in the middle and those who engaged in non-disruptive activities, on the sidelines-much as takes place at a real drive-in theater.

Contrast this, and the well-conducted routine activities of the shelter, with a haphazard laundry “service”, which managed to either mix, or mislabel, at least three of the fifteen bags sent them-with a thinly-veiled disinterest in the outcome. The “service” was curtailed, after only three days, with some cases still outstanding. One way or another, it will be resolved- even if our supervisor has to go to the location, tomorrow, or one of us has to go there on Sunday or Monday. I can’t imagine a situation more degrading to a human being than to be deprived of one’s clothing, through someone else’s negligence.

For now, my attention goes to my little family, tomorrow, then back to business on Sunday.

The Hotel Project, Day 7

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

October 1, 2020, Dallas-

This is a time when I am taking a hard line against distractions. I am not concerned with politics or who thinks what about whom. By focusing on what I have promised my charges and co-workers, I am doing far more of what matters to me.

Today, people who were waiting for clothing items for several weeks, got them. Others ran a couple of bingo games, and we began to prepare for more people to come to our shelter, as the number of hotels being used as shelters diminishes. Having been trained in registering people, in my previous deployment, I was able to help in that area, as well.

It was an exhausting day. Tomorrow may be more intense, but we will make it happen.

Jargon and Cross-Purposes

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

September 24, 2020, Dallas-

I came here, this afternoon, to begin two weeks of deployment with the Red Cross, this time mainly helping clients who were displaced by three storms: Laura, Sally and Beta. They are staying in hotels, so our efforts are in the lobbie sof some of Dallas’s larger chain hotels. The Hilton, Hyatt, Wyndham and Marriott chains are earning their stripes, these past few weeks and for the near future.

I have spent a good part of the afternoon, at Dallas-Fort Worth Inetrnational Airport, bickering back and forth with Uber’s IT department and finance office. When IT finally cleared me, Finance stuck its foot out and, with the use of jargon and God-knows-what payment model, determined that my bank accounts were insufficient to meet a $ 26 tab. (They were not insufficient and aren’t now, either.)

Such are the vagaries of communicating only by smart phone. Tabs that are easy to locate on a PC do not exist on a phone. Looping is also more prevalent on a cell phone than on a PC or I-Pad. This is not the phone maker’s fault, but that of the website designers who choose not to add the same buttons to the phone that are on their PC applications. I know this, because my banks and this Social Medium,as well as others, have the smae buttons on their phone apps as on their computer apps.

It is a challenge, when businesses that depend on the consumer act at cross purposes with themselves, as well as with their prospective customers.

The good news is that a proactive taxi driver benefitted from Uber’s foolishness and I enjoyed a fine meal of Hawaiian Poke at a nice little establishment called Lemon Shark, not far from my abode of the next two weeks.

Fortnight of Transition, Day 14: Equinox, 2020

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Education, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 22, 2020-

The day of equal amounts of light and darkness has come just a tad later, this year. It’s just as well-too many things have been dumped on us, without warning, the first three seasons of this earthshaking year.

For me, autumn has ever been my favourite season, being the time of my birth. Gradual cooling and the vividness of colours have energized my being, after the increasingly extreme heat of summer, as much fun as the season just past brings with it. Bracing for the season of earth’s rest, that is winter, and the eventual promise of spring, makes “Fall” a most purposeful time, as well.

A few sprinkles fell, in our area, yesterday afternoon, as I was returning from a dental appointment, in Phoenix. My time in the Salt River Valley is limited, by choice, especially when temperatures remain in triple digits. Here in Prescott, we may expect temps in the 80s, until about mid-October. It may or may not rain, on any given day, though the National Weather Service rather lazily just pushes the button that says Sunny, as a default, most days. I imagine budget cuts and executive fiat may have something to do with that-as with the Post Office and FDA.

We all make choices, and as Penny would say-“You get all that comes with those choices.” She always made her own decisions, though asked what I thought, matter-of-factly, before doing so. Conversely, she expected me to do the same, and, after a previous life of bullheadedness and unilateral decisions, many not very well-made, I learned the wisdom of consultation.

I think of the above, as the inevitable debate about the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and HER choices, ensues, this still being America. I disagreed, vehemently, with her take on abortion-though the role of men in that matter is largely one that ought to be performed LONG BEFORE any plug is pulled. Those men who raise their daughters, support their sisters and value their mothers, in the girls and women making their own INFORMED choices, are doing their jobs well. Those who downplay the intelligence and capabilities of the females among them, and pretend this is merely a man’s world, should not be surprised by anything at all that happens, as a result. Many, if not most, of the fetuses that have ended up aborted, (and whose souls no doubt greet those who aborted them, in the hereafter), would likely have either not been conceived in the first place, or would have been given an alternate path to life, had their mothers been raised in a place of love, empowerment and security.

The other real sticking point I had with RBG was her, take on “In God we trust”, which she saw as antiquated. I respectfully decline that observation. The Eternal cannot be so lightly dismissed, even in the name of free expression. In the end, though, “God hath no need of His creatures”; it’s very much the other way around.

Autumn plans? Well, I am spending today working with a Special Needs child. My Red Cross on-call status renews, tomorrow. During Fall Break, 10/12-16, I may go off on a sojourn, somewhere else in the West-and ditto for Veterans’ Day and Thanksgiving/ 70th birthday weekend. In any case, days and nights will remain productive and largely other-centered. (More on that topic, tomorrow).

Fortnight of Transition, Day 12: Holding My Own

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

September 20,2020-

Three twenties in a row brought a few challenges with them. Someone who has enjoyed calling me out, on my perceived flaws, over the past few months, finally took my patience over the edge and has been banned from these sites. I’m sure the individual will show up, anonymously, just to prove that I have poor Internet security, but no matter.

Simply put, it is more imortant to me that the vast majority of people of good will may access these posts, than that I have airtight computer security, with a passphrase that has 100 characters, and is changed every five days. I have taken steps to minimize, if not eliminate, hacking- without taking on cybersecurity as a second job.

It was, otherwise, a very nice penultimate day of Summer, 2020. Two lovely Zoom-based devotionals-one honouring the late Helen Hamilton, about whom I wrote a memorial post, two weeks ago and the other honouring Race Unity, graced the morning and early afternoon.

It looks like a street fair that was to have taken place across the street from me was COVID canceled. I also had a rain check given me for a visit with friends north of here, as food canning took precedence for them.

This week brings what will pass for the start of Autumn, a dental check-up, anda possible second Red Cross deployment. September is not what is known as a “power month”, but it has called on me to sharpen a few skills of discernment and forebearance.

Fortnight of Transition, Day 4: Legalese

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Family, Fiction, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 12, 2020-

Good things happened today. My middle brother turned 65, surrounded by the Georgia branch of his family. It was good to speak with him and to hear the vibrant voices of nephew, SIL and the little ones.

I am reaching an understanding with someone who thought I could be the brains behind his operation. There are legal points, like “Conflict of Interest” and Federal tax laws that would present problems for my being the Great White Hope. I think he gets it now.

“Cuties”, the well-intentioned, but misguided, film has run into a buzz-saw of valid criticism, for its reported perseverating on the physiques of pre-adolescent girls. I haven’t seen the film, nor will I-since Creeper Status is not something with which I identify, as well as the fact that my primary role with young people, male or female, is to encourage them to avoid being objectified and to follow dreams of their own choosing. Hopefully, there will arise a sense of propriety and like misguided projects before it, “Cuties” will disappear from the media.

Our Baha’i group had its tri-monthly consultative meeting and planned out the overall course of activities, over the next three months.

That brings me to the Red Cross-and that I was already asked when I could resume Disaster Response activities. A look at the map shows why-Fire to the left of us, Storms to the right-and I will be stuck in the middle, for at least another week, as I have personal business on the last day of summer and will focus on other matters here at Home Base, in the interim.

The Farmers Market is a bustling place, with a new venue. I was happy to visit there this morning, seeing some of my better friends, locally. Next weekend will bring me to Dharma Farm, in advance of Equinox, and the Weekend of Peace will see some events, both on Zoom and in the park across the street from me.

With that, let’s all take a deep breath, to the extent possible, in a climate of widespread smoke.

The Summer of the Rising Tides, Day 100: Water, Water, “Neverywhere”

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Posted by on in distraction issues, impediments, Personal Values

September 8, 2020-

I have been back from a very wet area, for three days. I have back in a very dry area, for the same amount of time. I hear a voice saying- “No rain until at least October, and if La Nina like it here, not until November.

La Nina refers to the weather pattern that keeps moisture stuck off the southern third of the North American west coast, thus guaranteeing that California, Arizona, and everywhere due to their north, will remain dry as the Sahara.

It usually breaks up around the first part of Autumn. This is, however, a year which regards “usually” as an extended four-letter word. La Nina may well like it here enough to wait around until people start following the pronghorn and the deer, to see where they are getting moisture. She may then dry that up, as well.

There is no value in dryness, unless one is trying to kill mold or get a respite from life in the swamp. I was in the Bayou Country for two weeks, so the aridity has not quite gotten to me, yet. It has long since gotten to my friends here-and doubly gotten to people who live between Vancouver, BC and Ensenada, BCN.

It did cool way down today, as we caught the lower end of the storm that is leaving snow in the Rockies. Not to worry, though, it’ll be close to 90 here, by Sunday, as the remnants of summer hang on, into October.

In the meantime, summer ends-for this series of posts, while people all down the West Coast wish it would end for real.

The Summer of the Rising Tides, Day 97: Cramped, but Not Squished

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Posted by on in Assistance, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

September 5, 2020, Phoenix-

America’s hottest (temperature-wise) metropolitan area welcomed me back, this evening-with an air temperature of 113F-at 8 p.m. This is just another reminder of why I left this city, nine years ago. It could, of course, be worse- I could always find myself, at some point, on the plains of northern India, in the Arabian Desert or in Baghdad. I will wait, though, and not be in any hurry along those lines. Thankfully, it was a short walk from the air-conditioned terminal to the air-conditioned van that will bring me back to Prescott (Air temperature, a balmy 81F).

The day started in Baton Rouge, with a relaxing morning and a lunch of left-over jambalaya and crawfish pie, from the delightful Rice & Roux. The business manager of Spring Hill Suites drove me over to the airport, as she has NO desk or transport staff, at the moment. Such is life, in the sneering face of COVID-19.

Baton Rouge Regional Airport is a small enterprise, and was rather languid, even somnolent in places. TSA, though, was alert, and I found that I had not been thorough enough, in sorting stuff out of my carry-on. A nearly-full bottle of water and some plastic cutlery bit the dust.

The puddle-jumper to Dallas-Fort Worth left on-time. With the two seats in front of us remaining empty, my young row mate got his own row-giving both of us some sorely-needed space. The other good thing was that the tiny plane was in the air for barely an hour.

A snack and a vitamin water, at DFW, sufficed before I boarded the somewhat larger plane to Phoenix. We were told that the plane would be “quite full”, leading a different young row mate to take her seat in the middle of the row, with me in the window seat. Fortunately, she was able to take the aisle seat. Given that there was a large backlog of planes waiting to take off, and the seat space is much smaller than I even remember from two years ago, I can’t imagine how it would have gone, had a third row mate shown up.

Two hours later, the still restless and anxious young lady, facing God-knows-what, in the hours and days ahead, was off the plane and out the terminal door like a shot. She said nothing, only glancing at my copy of “The New Jim Crow” and taking note of the title and author, then going back to availing herself of what little comfort the seat allowed. I felt nothing but empathy.

Another friend had suggested ditching the plane in Dallas, taking a train to OKC and from there, going to Flagstaff, via Amtrak. Two things- I flew on the Red Cross’s dime and there is no direct transport from Flagstaff to Prescott. The train is always an option for the future, but I do like the freedom offered by driving.

So, off we go, up to Prescott, and at least two weeks of respite from disaster response.