Category Archives: impediments

Pounded

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

November 16, 2024- No doubt, the wind and water were practically freezing people in their tracks, as the monster called Man-yi, the sixth (or seventh) of its kind to hit the Philippines, in little over a month, wrought floodwaters, mud and collapsing buildings, from Samar, in the central region known as Visayas to Aurora, in northeast Luzon. People who I helped, after the earlier Typhoon Kristine, will not be able to tell me if that aid survived Man-yi (“Pepito”), for several days. They appear to be safe, in either government shelters or with family, elsewhere. Those in Metro Manila, including K, have full plates, I’m sure, keeping track of those close to them who live in Bicol, Catanduanes and Samar. Metro itself does not appear to have suffered.

Here at Home Base, the talk is more about who will serve in what position. What will they do, to cut the national debt? Whose jobs will they cut? Will there be attention paid to what the new “masters” regard as frivolous programs? Will they have frivolous programs of their own? In any adjustment of budgets and spending that involves large numbers of people, there needs to be attention paid to the households, and communities, that will be disrupted if there are mass layoffs and job cuts. This process can not be a frivolity in its own right. It can’t be managed by AI, by people acting like AI or by someone several degrees of separation from those impacted on the ground. (That last has been a sore point with those who, ironically, identify with the populist movement which seems to have prevailed, worldwide.) It stands to reason that meaningful work needs to be generated, at local and state levels, or in the private sector, before the proverbial swamp gets drained.

Nature, in this time of global change, can be brutal and unforgiving. It has consequences, both anticipated and unknown. Government, in this time of rearrangement and a degree of revanchism, does not have to be blinkered, in its pursuit of economy and justice for the small tax payer. Planning ahead and layering of cutbacks can prevent wholesale collapse of local economies from immediate mass cuts in government spending. It is not impossible for jobs to transferred to the private sector or to lower tiers of government, if enough advance planning is exercised.

We don’t need to leave one another feeling pounded. Nature does that well enough, on its own.

Little Bubbles Burst

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

November 15, 2024- The young boy was at the end of his rope, sitting with an otherwise all-adult crowd, listening to songs not intended for his ears, because his mother had no choice other than to bring him along. Chairs were strung together, he laid down on them and managed to sleep for 30 minutes or so. The singer of ribald tunes noticed and sheepishly apologized, after his collaborator in the artists’ nook gave him The Look. The fare was noticeably more family friendly afterward. One little bubble got burst.

Not long ago, a woman frantically berated her co-worker for having stated that she voted a conservative slate, up and down ballot, almost two weeks ago. “You’re Mexican! Don’t you care that these guys are going to throw us all in private prison!!” The chastised one looked up and said, “Remember Vicente Fox? Adolfo Lopez Mateos? Besides, you and I are native born U.S. citizens. We need to be safe from the sicarios. The tough guys will do that for us.” Neither bubble was burst, by this conversation, but at least it happened.

The doctors, in a small urban hospital, on an island far to the northeast, routinely dismissed women who came to them with chronic pain. The issues presented seemed too “intractable”. Problems are supposed to just go away, when one is overburdened by being part of a short staff. That all stopped, when one of the “frequent flyers” up and died-from the cancer that was missed. The bubble of preconceived notions was burst, and loudly.

Our mental bubbles seem to keep us safe; until they don’t.

Charting Own Course

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

November 9, 2024- Everyone deserves to chart their own course.

It turns out that the recent messages I received have little to do with me, at all. At some point in the not too distant future, the woman I love most in this world will be looking to find a position in a very sacred place. It is her long cherished dream to do this, so the last thing I ever want to do is be an impediment.

At this point in my life, the joy that would come from holding her or just being close to her is as nothing, when compared to the satisfaction of seeing my beloved K achieve this goal. Too often, even now, the dreams of one person, usually a woman, are subordinated to those of one, usually a man, who assumes a dominant role.

The thing I’d like to see more men, more people, embrace and foster the dreams of those they claim to love. Kathy will do so much good in any position she may take, at this most sublimely holy of spots, in service at a material level. Seeing her do this is dearer to my heart than any conventional relationship, as exhilarating as that would be. Seeing her reach any of her goals means the world to me.

My own course, at this point, will be determined largely by the needs of my little family and of this most cherished woman. I have lived a full and satisfying life, thus far, and accomplished many of my goals. Now, it is time to cheer on my loved ones, whether at their side or from afar.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=bridge+over+troubled+water#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c096a59c,vid:nNq3c0NVhzA,st:0

Things That Need to Be Over and Stay Gone

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

November 7, 2024- This is just a list, of those social constructs and practices that I think should be relegated to the scrap heap, and stay gone.

Slavery; sex trafficking; spouse beating; child beating (not mild spanking, beating); beating of animals; coerced sex; drug trafficking; less-than-living wages; intentional spewing of heavy motor vehicle exhaust; intentional littering and illegal dumping; nuisance litigation,especially by the wealthy against the poor; intentional poisoning of soil and water; individual possession of military-grade weapons and ordnance; denigration of any country, ethnic group or organized community; parentally-induced sexual transition of anyone under the age of 18; persecution of any bona fide community of faith in the Divine.

A few of these are bound to rankle some and irritate others. So be it. Some of these are bound to remain within the scope of individual choice. So be it. I just think that, all in all, we will have a much better world without these examples of inhumanity, or of people living through others.

Tomorrow in America……

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

November 5, 2024- Tomorrow in America, there will still be country music, R &B and all manner of pop and rock. The Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras will still tune up and play. Basketball and hockey games will proceed, in their scheduled venues. Pro Football players will be practicing, anticipating the next games. Stores and restaurants will open, as usual.

Tomorrow in America, Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Ariana Grande will still be singing. So will Lee Greenwood, Travis Tritt and John Rich. The stock markets will be open, going up or down as they see fit. People will gather in coffee houses, and will talk with friends, or work their laptops or put their thoughts down on paper.

Tomorrow in America, Tim Walz will go back to governing Minnesota. JD Vance will return to representing Ohio in the U.S. Senate. Kamala Harris will resume her Vice Presidential duties, while Donald Trump may go out and play 9 holes, or maybe 12. Their supporters will ponder what to do with all that signage, and those who sported political t-shirts and sweat shirts will put them in storage. Candidates for lesser posts will either head back to their day jobs, or go to their attorneys’ offices, to draw up litigation. Elon Musk will go back to making cars and space shuttles.

Tomorrow in America, we ordinary citizens will focus on our loved ones, and on what is right in front of us. I will rise between 5-6, get myself together and communicate with my Lord, then with my beloved (before she has to go to sleep, on the other side of the Pacific). I will head up to the top of Mingus Mountain and down a bit, to Jerome. There, I will spend time pondering gems and minerals, symbols of the beauty that will outlast most of the living things on Earth. I will reflect on the greatness of this nation, which has not gone away. I will reflect on the wonders of this planet, which will not go away for another billion years or so, if then.

Tomorrow in America, life will go on.

A Level Field

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Posted by on in Community, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Spiritual, Striving

November 4, 2024- I went down to the Solid Rock Fellowship’s Monday night Soup Kitchen, and took my place on the serving line, dispensing green salad. Next to me, dispensing Cole slaw, was the Superintendent of Prescott Unified School District. I’ve known him for about twelve years, when he was an Assistant Principal, then a Principal, then a member of the District’s Governing Board, before stepping down to take the Superintendency.

A few tongues wagged: “What’s he running for?” My take: Clark is Clark, a genuinely nice man and he’s not running for anything. He wanted to help and so he showed up, the same as me. I would not be surprised if, schedule permitting, he becomes a regular.

This is the town in which I have thrived, for fourteen years. I will likely be giving up my residence, next year, to be with a very special woman, in another special place. That will not diminish the importance in my life, of this city with a level playing field. Self-important people, by and large, do not fare well here, at the local level. A state office seeker, or two, may prevail, by dint of their party affiliation, and it’s likely that a prominent self-important figure will carry the day, here, in a national race, but for the most part, self-promotion does not impress the Prescottonian.

We tend to be there for one another-be it in feeding and sheltering the destitute, working across all manner of ideological lines to look out for our neighbours and turning out at city and town council meetings, to make our voices heard. More often than one thinks, the clamouring of the citizenry has led grifters and gougers to give up on their plans, and even to leave town.

It has been a genuine comfort to feel ever welcome here. The community in the Philippines, where I recently spent six weeks, seems similar-The friends there are rallying around a mentally ill person, tying family members together with appropriate resources. No one deserves to fall through the cracks.

Emergencies Ascending

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

November 2, 2024- The appeal came, as I was preparing to help break down the Farmers Market operation, just after noon. There was an urgent need for someone to supervise a shelter in Roswell, twelve hours away by car and about six hours away, by a combination of air and road vehicles. I had a week, no more, to assist, and even that involved reneging on prior commitments closer to Home Base. After a fair amount of discussion, back and forth, between the decision makers, someone else stepped up, and offered two weeks of volunteering. I am grateful to that person, as I’m sure the people of Roswell will be.

Across the Pacific, in the Bicol region of eastern Luzon, thousands suffered from the wrath of Typhoon Kristine, late last month. I was in Manila, at that time, and maintained contact with a friend who had been helpful to me, when I was navigating between Naga and Daet, in October, 2023. She lost everything in the typhoon’s wake, so I will help with two essential aspects of her recovery. For the bulk of the regeneration, though, the community must rise up and help one another.

That is the way it will need to be, worldwide, over the next many decades-both for the rest of my earthly life and well beyond (like 2050, or 2060 to 2100.) Each of us, no matter how young or old, has a role to play in facing emergencies. My dearest wrote me, this morning, about an emergency she is helping to mitigate. These can be large or small, but will be faced by a heart connection and judicious pooling of resources-financial, material, physical and social. Backing all of that is spiritual energy. When things seemed direst, with regard to the disaster in Roswell (flooding and its aftermath), spiritual pleas went up and the volunteer was found, who could serve as needed. Collective prayer can alleviate the effects of pending disaster, and help gather forces to deal with turmoil that is unanticipated.

Let us work together, unceasingly, to tame the whirlwind.

Saintly

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

November 1, 2024- I am the last person on Earth who should be called “saint”, and that is not a statement of false modesty. I’ve done a fair amount of good, especially in the past twenty years, but have also made some world class faux pas.

Today, in many Roman Catholic countries, people are observing All Saints Day, in honour of the canonized icons of the Church. Other countries honour their moral titans at different points during the year, and this is all a good thing, overall. The thing about the canonized, though, is that they are also mortal beings, subject to human frailty, and therefore fallible.

Everyone deserves to be held to account, but also to be assessed on the balance of what they do. The former helps us grow and the latter keeps us honest. There is, essentially, no one living today who is perfect. The Messengers of God were perfect, and ‘Abdu’l-Baha was a perfect Exemplar of thought and behaviour. A few people, like Mohandas Gandhi and Coretta Scott King, have served as long-suffering, but stalwart, proponents of social justice, who were also willing to take themselves to task and work to resolve personal failings. Others have been promoted by the media as near perfect human beings, only to have independent researchers find out differently, after the individual’s death.

As Americans decide tho will be our next President, it seems a good idea to not place too much stock in the perfection of one’s choice or to place too little, in the ability of the other side to also do some good. I’ve known many conservatives and progressives who are exemplary human beings. I’ve also known less than savory characters, at both ends of the political spectrum.

Intensity

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

October 30, 2024-I dreamed of Manila, and of Kathy, most of the night. Maybe those are just residuals from the visit just ended, or maybe they’re a harbinger. When I got up, it was time to focus on getting back into the swing of things here at Home Base, so I walked, happily, downtown and sat for a while in Wild Iris, then came back and briefly discussed a few matters with my landlord. I have told him my time here is getting shorter, and he thinks I need to follow my heart. At dinner this evening, with another long-time friend, I got the same message.

I’ve been in Prescott for 13.5 years, continuously, and 15 years all told, more than any place other than Saugus (20 years, all told). I could easily call this Home Base for the rest of my life; the Southwest is a place of endless beauty and opportunities. There are two other factors, however-My little family, now in Texas, who will be the prime foci of my time in the U.S., should they bring forth children of their own and the second great love of my life, who, as I keep saying lately, is the prime focus of my time and energy, overall.

I’ve sometimes been told that I am far too intense for my own good-and perhaps that is true. I love deeply, which won’t change, for the simple reason is that I don’t see enough love in the world. My friends and family understand this. Kathy is coming to understand it more, just as I am coming to understand her need to show her love in subtle, sometimes opaque, ways. Intense love, however, is needed to deflect and counteract intense hate. Subtlety, on the other hand, is a soothing balm for those times when intensity rubs things raw-and a healing period of rest is needed. It also helps ward off dementia-(just an aside).

On a greater scale, we will need intensity-of thought, of energy, of commitment and of meaningful action. I will say more on what I think is needed for the country to thrive, over the next few days.

Running on Empty

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

October 28, 2024- The van driver called out what was music to my ears: “Who’s getting off at Yavapai College?” I had designated a stop at Hassayampa Inn, downtown, as my debarkation point,but YC is so much closer, so when the student got off there, so did I. It was a seven-minute walk to Home Base, instead of ten-fifteen.

Between the long wait on the tarmac, leaving Manila and a shorter, but still nettlesome wait on the tarmac in Seattle (One, a ‘technical issue’ on our plane; the second, a ‘technical issue’ on a plane that was sitting in our plane’s designated gate), and having to wander a bit at Sea Tac, to find an escalator that worked (All elevators and one escalator were down, this morning) and the general effects of jet lag, I was beat.

I did push myself, once back at Home Base, to plow through the two boxes of mail that greeted me. I managed to fill out my ballot and prepare it for placement in the drop box tomorrow. Landlord came by and lit the pilot on my furnace. I noticed a new ceiling fan had been installed in the living room and a nice hand-made wooden bench now sits in front of HB.

It was, overall, an enjoyable visit to the Philippines and a change in Home Base, around May of next year, is still a strong possibility. For now, I am focused on getting back on track, with several matters that need attention here, and in Carson City and Grapevine (TX), later in November.

I will be back to full, in a few days.