Category Archives: impediments

The Road to Diamond, Day 69: Being At Ease in Place

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

February 5, 2025, Manila- One of my nest eggs has been put into safe mode, by the investment company, until there is surety as to who has access to the account. This is one reaction to the news out of Washington. My own reaction is to be glad I am here in the Philippines, among friends whose only wish is to see me relax and be happy. To be clear, I would be staying relaxed in place if I were back at Home Base I, or in Grapevine, for that matter. Here, though, I have space to work out what I am going to decide, as to whether to return here for several months, in May or June, getting an extended visa; to settle into a Sheltering Lead with the Red Cross in northwest Arizona; or to hit the road in Europe and Africa, come autumn. These are Plans 1, 2 and 3, ordered by preference.

I am learning to be comfortable in place. Ironically, this is happening because I value the company and presence of someone, who herself is constantly in motion, and not really at ease with indecision. She has been good for me, in that I can let her know that the wheels are turning, whilst being in a situation where I am weighing multiple options. It’s been a while since that has been the case, and of course, there will be people who are disappointed by my choosing one option over the others-also a rarity in my life.

This year is going to be one of those, however. I would not entirely be surprised if my return flight to North America, on February 18, ends up being re-routed to Vancouver-or Monterrey. The Red Cross is likely to be intact, in the event I end up with Plan 2-or is it? A lot of water is going to be passing under several bridges, before we’re done.

I’m glad to have K in my life-and all of you, as well. Hope you can be at ease in place, wherever you might find yourselves.

The Road to Diamond, Day 67: Stay Brave

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

February 3, 2025, Manila- Over the weekend, people without security clearances gained access to sensitive information. So is the news coming our way from North America. People here in Manila have been, understandably, not overwhelmingly feeling bad about the internecine battles in Washington. This was, to them, and to many in struggling countries around the world, the mother of all First World problems-until the USAID closure.

It will take time for the President of the United States to sift through the programs of USAID and figure out which programs, if any, are “corrupt, and worthy of dismantling”. In the meantime, thousands, if not millions, of lives in countries across the world, will be at risk. This is not a simple matter of rooting out “crazy, ultraleft, socialist, wingnut policies”,as someone back in Prescott once characterized USAID. This is rule by swarming, done by individuals with little or not knowledge of the larger effects of their actions. It evokes the scene in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, where Randle McMurphy leads the gang in party night, getting even a hydro-cephalic patient intoxicated. We will see where the present state of affairs leads, in short order. It will not be as easily resolved as the scene in the movie.

To anyone, anywhere, who is being affected by the turmoil in Washington, DC, and elsewhere: Be brave, stay focused and live your truth. Some may lose much, if not all, of their nest eggs, but judging from the slow recoveries that those before us have seen, in crises past, the losses will not be permanent. Be watchful, be vocal and do not let yourselves get distracted by multiple crises seeming to occur at once. Be discerning, and do not let less than savoury actors rule the day. Above all, follow the law, even if it looks like those in the driver’s seat are not.

Justice will prevail.

The Road to Diamond, Day 66: Not The Same Old Stuff

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 2, 2025, Manila- It was hot here today. I am far from the cold hills of western Pennsylvania, so there is no anticipation about what Punxsutawney’s groundhog will “prognosticate” about the course of the winter. Ditto, with respect to the forecasting rattlesnake of the Sonoran Desert. I am in a place of never-winter.

February 2 is, at least for me, a day to wrestle with my own feelings of being “less than”. I don’t know where this subpar self-concept came from or who might have set it in motion. I know that some, on both sides of my family, struggled with their own self-worth. Growing up, and even through the course of my marriage, those closest to me were put off by my self-criticism, to the point where, on a few occasions, I was someone with whom they were “making do”, tolerating.

In time, I have learned that in order to counter such diatribes, I have to do more than tolerate, or make do, with myself. I am up front, with the person I love most now, about my struggles. Though we are far from sure as to which direction our friendship will go, she is far more understanding and supportive than many were in my past. Looking back, they had their own self-doubts and struggles; so, they could not be of much help.

On the bright side, our communication is much better than the channels I had with those I loved, in bygone years. So, despite my lingering misgivings about self, I know that those will not be fed from outside of me. K and I will be friends forever, and as with some others at Home Base I and across the globe, we will always have one another’s back. My self-concept will not get in the way of being here for others. I want what is best for those I love and that also goes way back.

Unlike Bill Murray’s hapless Phil Connors, in the film Groundhog Day (1993), I don’t have any need to loop counterproductive attitudes and behaviours, in order to achieve what I either think I desire or genuinely want. So, today’s sitting in on a group that was mostly speaking Tagalog was actually time well-spent, as hearing a language other than English, for an extended period of time, leads to internalizing the tongue. I found this to be true of Spanish, French, Korean-even Navajo, Hopi and Persian, to some extent. I can at least pronounce words in print, having heard them spoken for a time.

That is just one way in which my time here is proving to be helpful, on a personal level. I look forward to experiencing others.

The Road to Diamond, Day 63: Plan by the Numbers

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

January 30, 2025, Manila- Undersea salvage expert Nico Vincent long ago gave up on “Plan A”, “Plan B”, etc., explaining that such a scheme limited one to “only 26 possibilities”. Even if one used the Greek alphabet afterwards, there would be “only 50”. So, he goes with plans that are numbered. Given his line of work, the allowance for multiple plans makes particular sense. It took several people a fair number of tries, over a century or so, before Dr. Vincent and his team were successful, in finding the ice-sundered ship, Endurance, which Sir Ernest Shackleton, the legendary polar explorer, and his crew were forced to abandon in 1916. Team Vincent probably needed to get to Plan 5, before their electronic devices helped them locate the wreck.

My need for a series of numbered plans is far less consequential, but here we are. There is an offer on the table for a responsible, if voluntary, position with my Red Cross department back at Home Base I and there is everything that is here in the Philippines. I have bought time on the former, yet the clock ticks. Plan 1 is to be present for the person who most has my heart. Plan 2 would be taking no for an answer and moving on, in which case the Red Cross offer would be a good balm. There would be other plans, as always, including a blend of the first two.

We are in uncharted territory, all over the place, in this “year of completion”. All that people have been working on, since 2017, is due to be wrapped up, according to astrology and cosmology. A new cycle, it’s said is to start in 2026. I look back at the 9-year cycles in which I’ve been involved, and can see some sense in that line of thought. The present cycle saw my recovery from the residue, both physical and emotional, of seeing Penny decline and pass on. The period will conclude with my having embarked on a worthwhile endeavour, regardless of how things work out.

We simply are in an age when flexibility is especially mandatory for preserving one’s mental and emotional well-being. Besides the political chaos that is prevalent in several parts of the world, there are too many factors in the lives of those dearest to me, for me to be stuck on a given course of action and only that course of action. Then, there is Mother Nature. Case in point: A group of us were considering going to Palawan, early next week. The sea in the beach areas under consideration is roiling. God willing, our plan will be realized at another time, but it’s best to not hold on too tightly to such things.

Plans unfold, by the numbers.

The Road to Diamond, Day 60: Floating and Weaving

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Posted by on in animal and plant life, Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

January 27, 2025, Hong Kong– When I was a teen, boxers would speak of the technique of bobbing and weaving, as a means of dodging an opponent’s punches and getting in blows of their own. On a long-distance aircraft, the techniques for safely navigating an expanse of ocean, or of continent, or both, require knowing when to move aside an air current and when to “float” through it. The flight crew of our Cathay Pacific craft handled the turbulence over the mid-Pacific very well tonight.

It is the time of Lunar New Year, ringing in the Year of the (Wood) Snake. The holiday in general leads thousands upon thousands of East Asian people to travel to their ancestral homes, and there was quite a multitude in LAX, on our flight and others like it, and in the transit lines at Hong Kong International Airport. We moved, sometimes in flow and at other times haltingly, but there was only a minimal delay in take-offs and in deplaning upon landing. What issues arose were mostly because of scanning issues, with regard to passports and boarding passes, or because people did not understand the concept of facial scanning. It could be construed as a privacy issue, but to me, the government knows what I look like already and I have nothing to hide from any given national authority, so I look straight into the screening device and am waved on my way.

Wedged as I was between two Chinese men, both bigger than I, on the fifteen hour haul from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, it was nonetheless a stress free leg. The three of us had an unspoken agreement that when Window Seat passenger needed to answer nature’s call, we all found our way to the Comfort Room, Aisle Seat passenger going last. There is plenty of leg room and a fairly ergonomic seat construction. Even though we were at the very last row before the galley cabinets, room was still made for us to recline our seats. In fairness to everyone else, who had to bring their seats upright at meal times, we uprighted ours as well. The meals themselves, dinner and breakfast, were fully balanced and appetizing, by airline standards.

I slept for probably 6.4-7 hours, during the flight, availing myself of three films, during the waking portion. “The Wild Robot” explored the notion of adapting Artificial Intelligence to interpreting and communicating with non-human sentient beings. It also considered the adaptation of AI independence from possible future orthodoxy and repression. “Kingdom of Heaven” followed one man’s spiritual progress through the terrifying time of the Second Crusade, and the overarching climate of relative harmony between Christian, Jew and Muslim up until the time that a boorish claque of English and French nobles used the death of the Christian King of Jerusalem and Acre (Akko) as a pretext to seat one of their own on the throne and to wage war against the mighty Saladin. Various documented aspects of the actual Second Crusade, which ended with Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem were incorporated into the film’s narrative, but the story was greatly embellished. “High Noon”, a classic Western of the early 1950s, is a film I had not seen, though I was named for its lead actor, Gary Cooper, and its themes of the nobility of a true hero and the fecklessness of both politicians and the average “get-along” citizen are quite remarkably presented. The film is about 1 hour long,and its plot concerns itself with one hour in the life of a small southern New Mexico town of the 1880s.

So, my time crossing the Pacific was well-spent, and now I ready myself for the final 2-hour flight to Manila. Much will be decided, these next three weeks.

The Road to Diamond, Day 57: Better Power Source

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

January 24, 2025- In the end, I can remember four of the five elements that inspirational rapper Colby Jeffers listed, during the course of his Better World concert this afternoon, at Prescott’s Yavapai College. Better knowledge, principles, creativity, power source, and one element that I have blanked out, were the main focuses of Colby’s message to both college age youth and mostly Boomer adults who gathered to hear his message.

Hip hop concerts, especially during the Friday lunch hour, attract people who can stay for a while, enjoy some of the songs and then have to go on to meetings, athletic practices or Friday seminars. Ten of us stayed for the entire session because, well, we can use the connectivity.

At my age, when I am a bit fatigued, especially at the end of a day, I yearn for a better power source. I don’t feel on the verge of dementia, but it would be nice to have longer recall, without having to take copious notes. Maybe I’ve always been the sort who’s needed to write things down, yet it rankles more now.

Hah! The fourth pillar is better action. That was on the edge of my tongue for a while. The last step of any prayer is action, otherwise one is stuck looking at the bridge that isn’t building itself. So, in order to get a handle on this little “brain blip”, I put on some choral music this evening and stimulated that part of my cerebrum that tends to put a choke hold on certain nuggets of cognition. Music is, for me, a better power source than is “dry” recall.

Better knowledge leads to better principles, creativity, action-and power source. I knew I could get this recapped, sooner or later!

The Road to Diamond, Day 56: The Blessing, or The Curse?

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

January 23, 2025- A meteorologist in Milwaukee was fired by her manager, at a TV station, ostensibly for publicly using profanity to criticize a certain public figure for displaying a Nazi salute. The manager reportedly said it was about the cuss words, not the criticism per se. Fair point, and as the son-in-law of a departed American combat veteran, who was also a Prisoner-of-War during the final months of World War II, and was a Jew, may I ask for grace to be given to the foul-mouthed commentator, and never mind that she was expected only to provide a weather forecast?

The cheapest of all shots made at athletes, musicians, actors, comedians, and others in the entertainment sector is the message that they should play, sing, act,make us laugh-and leave the social commentary to “citizens”. The late Bill Walton had it right, when he urged his coach, the legendary John Wooden, of UCLA, to speak out against the Vietnam War. Coach Wooden had expressed his opinions privately, and Walton was telling his mentor that speaking out was the proper way of the citizen. Entertainers are full-on human beings, and do not deserve to be shut out of the public sphere. Colin Kaeparnick has the right to express his views, in a non-violent way. So do Mel Gibson and James Woods. expressing views that are opposite Kaepernick’s. Marlon Brando and George C. Scott got into it with John Wayne and Charlton Heston, back in the day. Each of them had the right to speak out, as well as to ply their craft.

Freedom is a blessing, even unto those who curse. It is not without cost, and I don’t just mean the sacrifices of military or First Responders. It is a sacrifice unto all, when we must be confronted with habits and mannerisms that we personally find offensive. It is a challenge, when we must stand against those, even in our own ranks, who would take that freedom away from certain people-because they find that freedom rankling. What is taken from one, as my father once said, relative to George Lincoln Rockwell, (whom he loathed) may be taken from anyone else.

Devout people of faith and those of no faith have the same rights under the Creator, no matter their relationship with the Divine.

The Road to Diamond, Day 55: Eggs

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

January 22, 2025- Whilst shopping for other breakfast items yesterday, at Trader Joe’s, I encountered two store employees explaining to another shopper that they were out of eggs. It seems that the wholesale distributors have put grocery stores and some restaurants in a pool. Every establishment gets an allotment, usually on a daily or semi-weekly basis. TJ’s would have received their allotment this morning, and probably again on Friday.

Like toilet paper before it, the egg has become in short supply due to a virus. This time, it’s avian flu that is the villain. As poultry, and, for the most part, not people, are the direct victims, all we can do is wait. https://www.abc15.com/news/national/america-is-in-the-middle-of-an-egg-shortage-causing-prices-to-rise

I am not an eggs for breakfast, every morning, sort of soul. I like a plate of scrambled eggs, meat and home-fried potatoes, once or twice a week. I like an occasional omelet. Otherwise, I am not an egg aficionado. I do, however, feel for those who can’t be without the food. We are, simply put, reaping the benefits of industrialized agriculture. Viruses and bacteria thrive in environments where animals, (including humans), are crammed too close together; where hygiene is second fiddle to moving product; where hormones and chemicals are administered to the “producers” (hens), to increase output. The same disease risk faces cattle, swine and sheep. Farmed fish have their own hygiene risk factor.

The egg crisis will pass, though it may, like the TP crisis before it, force people to look at alternatives, in the event of a worst case scenario. It is not, on its face, the government’s fault, though pulling out of WHO was probably not a good idea. It is not the fault of the distributors, who are at least for now, trying to be as fair as they can to retailers and to the public. It is not the fault of the retailers, who at least for now, are tempering the law of supply and demand with the need to stay on the good side of their customers.

Let’s see what the large producers can do, on their own, to safeguard their animals-and take the long view of the matter. People will still want eggs for breakfast, 10, 20, 50 years from now. Going back to smaller flocks, with more actual free-roaming space, would seem to be one answer. Removing hormones, chemicals and antibiotics from the regimen is definitely another practice worth considering.

The Road to Diamond, Day 53: Widen the Circle

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

January 20, 2025- Over 400 people gathered at the modest United Methodist Church, in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Many marched from Prescott College, around the Courthouse and back to the church. Others gathered at the church, in advance of the celebration. I walked from Home Base I to the College, and caught up with the marchers as they were stopped on the west side of Courthouse Square, then went over to the Church.

The celebration itself had several moments of joy, especially a lengthy spoken word poem and address by Jeff Daverman, a progressive activist. He again stressed the need to maintain action, in pursuit of one’s goals, especially as it pertains to justice. Jeff stressed nonviolence, a key point for people across the spectrum to keep in mind, in this time of social ferment. (Is there ever a time when there isn’t social ferment?) After several songs, by Womansong, Rose-Gibbs Duo,and Prescott Interfaith Choir, another activist, Truth B. Told, took the stage and also called for a concerted effort, day to day, to bring about social justice. He also stressed nonviolence, but did not call for non-confrontation. No Black man growing up hard, in a Michigan factory town-or anywhere, for that matter, can be expected to view the world the way Whites view it.

A little girl was soloist for Prescott Interfaith Choir, on a song whose message called for widening the circle. Jeff, and Chris (aka Truth), both spoke to the dilemma faced by Whites, especially in a town with few African-Americans, itself having the past of a Sundown Town. (Except for the few who settled here, in the 1870s, Black people were not allowed to stay overnight in Prescott, until the 1970s.) The circle, in that respect, is a fair amount looser than it was back then. That was 50 years ago, though, and there is a lot more to be done, in the expansion of our diversity.

The thing is, though, diversity cannot be forced, nor can it be contrived. Each individual has the responsibility for her(his) own personal growth. Gimmicks, like DEI committees, will not, of themselves lead to the widening of the circle. Conversely, canceling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will not make the issues that led to these committees go away. Equity is not a four letter + two word. It means, simply, being impartial and fair. In that respect, it has the same cachet as equality. Inclusion means inviting those who might be marginalized into the decision-making process, especially in matters that pertain to them. Diversity may shake the comfort zones of those whose world has been homogeneous, for a very long time, but it will not shatter that world.

Widening the circle depends on each of us, at least a little, every day.

The Road to Diamond, Day 50: Blessed Cinnamon

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

January 17, 2025- It was bound to happen again. I joined a group for lunch, yesterday, and though I sat away from someone who said he’d been sick for the last few days, the sickness found its way into me. I woke up this morning dragging, even after showering and getting self together. By afternoon, the chills and nausea were cues to huddle under thick blankets and a comforter. I forewent attending a matinee concert, in mid-afternoon,but it became clear that I had to knock this illness out of me, before a fairly busy weekend.

Hot cider with cinnamon came to the rescue, and attending an evening Zoom call was not at all difficult. I have found that herbs and spices, from cinnamon to chili, will knock the daylights out of any bacterial infection, even minimizing viruses, as they run their course. Besides, the herbs and spices tend to taste good. I sit here tonight, and feel nearly new.

Faith and healing keep even the harshest infections at bay. It should be a fine weekend.