Category Archives: Inspiration

The Road to Diamond, Day 147: What It Takes

7
Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 24, 2025- The girl was unequivocal about not liking the leg stretching exercise that is part of her daily routine. I told her it was better for her than just letting her muscles turn to mush. Somehow, she understood and stopped complaining. To me, her being able to stand is as important as a classmate’s learning the basics of the Periodic Table of the Elements-if not more so. Everyone’s goals matter, regardless of how simple they may seem.

Today was probably my last assignment of the academic year, with next week being full of Baha’i and Red Cross activities, and the following three weeks being Road Trip time. This week has also seen a few time-zone influenced snags-with messages about online meetings giving a start time in either Eastern or Central Daylight Time-in small print, of course. So, I missed a few meetings, that were thankfully not crucial to attend. Still, it is an annoyance and a wale-up call to slow down and pay closer attention to the fine print. It came to a head this evening, when I had to go back and forth several times, to make clear what the time was going to be here for a short, but critical online meeting tomorrow.

Much of my own work seems, on its face, to matter to me alone. It was therefore a pleasant surprise that my staff for the day expressed a wish that I would come back and cover for their boss, a couple of days in May. I told them that was not possible, for the reasons stated above. It was gratifying, nonetheless, that simply doing a job to the best of my ability is viewed as something extraordinary. I can only hope that more people will see fit to do whatever a job takes to be done properly,

The Road to Diamond, Day 144: Divine Will

4
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 21, 2025- The unequivocal patron, at our weekly Soup Kitchen meal, reminded me to not question what he saw as the Will of God, as we talked about last Friday’s freak snow squall. He’s right, whatever happens in the realm of nature has Divine cachet.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, known officially as Pope Francis I, left this world early this morning, having shepherded his flock through one last Easter, even while suffering the ravages of age and long toil. Pope Francis never came across as an egotistical man, nor did he flaunt the riches that surrounded him in the Vatican, a place of storied wealth. He kept at his work until the next-to-last day of his life, boots on the ground. It was the Will of God that His steward of the adherents to Roman Catholicism, a voice for peace and strength of character, should have left our midst at the end of the holiest week on the Christian calendar.

Everyone on Earth serves the Divine Will. Even those who style themselves as the purveyors of mayhem, as the unchallengeable lords and masters of the rest of us, have no power to do anything that is at variance with the Creator’s Master Plan. There is growth to be achieved by the very people who are in the sights of tyrants. There is growth to be achieved by the tyrants themselves-and all their minions. Each of us walks in His path, whether to point out where we are falling short, as a species, or to effect the changes that will bring about a more peaceful world.

In this year of confusion, each of us gets to make the choice of which path to growth is right for us.

The Road to Diamond, Day 143: Resilience

2
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 20, 2025- Some 1,993 years ago, when His tormentors gave Him up for dead, those who rolled back the stone at the designated tomb of Jesus the Christ were astonished to find it empty. He had business to which to attend: His followers were in need of reassurance, encouragement. Only Christ could provide that impetus to resilience, and so He did.

Each of us, given what we are to do in this life, has a need for resilience, on many occasions. The first time most of us experience this is when learning how to walk. Falling doesn’t faze most infants. They instinctively know that falling is part of learning, and so they keep on, until able to take step after step, ideally to the cheers and hugs of loving family members.

As life goes on, either we accept failure as a means to learning, as we did when edging towards toddlerhood, or we take it as a sign of inadequacy. The former is a burnishing of a can-do mindset, a harbinger of future success. The latter may, if not corrected, become the spark of learned helplessness. I have experienced both, over the years. Guess which one felt better, and which one I embrace now.

Communities, and nations, can face the same choice. Debate can see a case made for either option. It is true that collective failure is less easily fixed than is that of individuals, but it is also true that an honest conversation and civil commitment, to what is actually best for the community as a whole, can lead to reconciliation and true social progress-of the kind that doesn’t play favourites or institutionalize scapegoats.

We are at a crossroads, as a nation. Can we be discerning enough to take the best ideas of social progress and the best ideas of social conservatism, and reconcile the differences between the two? National survival has always been dependent on finding a balance.

The Road to Diamond, Day 142: The Long of It

0
Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 19, 2025- Today was the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which are seen by many as the beginning of the American War for Independence from Great Britain. It is also the twelfth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, by which two men and a woman tried to make the claim that the American Experience was ignoring the plight of Muslims in Western and Central Asia, and thus Americans deserved to suffer.

A conservative friend recently pointed out that the basic conflict in our society is between those who believe good actions should be the result of free choice and those who believe that good actions often have to be coerced. I believe that most people start out the socializing portion of their lives (around age 4) wanting to please the people who are most closely in their view (parents, siblings, grandparents and, if they are lucky, extended family like aunts, uncles and cousins). Friends begin to be made around that time, as well. If that love is not reciprocated, for whatever reason, the person will devise other means of obtaining goals. Thus, greed, aggression and devious behaviour (such as lying or fantasizing) take root.

So, until such time as the spiritualization of the entirety of the human race is realized, we need some governmental safeguards, to serve as prompts, in moments of feckless, antisocial or exclusionary activity. We needed government to put a stop to slavery, then to two-tiered education systems and institutionalized racism, then to the same discriminatory practices regarding the treatment of women-and by extension, homosexuals. We needed government to protect workers from the excessive greed of employers. To some extent, we still need these laws, to guard against backsliding.

Freedom is never going to be free, so if we as a species want to be able to function without coercion, there is only one long term answer, the development and maintenance of self-discipline. My life has only become freer since I made a disciplined lifestyle my reality. I am quite certain that the same is true of anyone else who truly feels personal freedom.

The Road to Diamond, Day 141: Good Friday

0
Posted by on in Education, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 18, 2025- The day was marked here by rain, throughout the day, and snow in the early evening. As I sat with friends at American Legion Post 6, enjoying a fish fry, the snow continued to fall, adding a rather surreal touch to what is, for many, a solemn day.

When I was a child, in a Roman Catholic home, the day marking the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus the Christ was the saddest day of the year. I didn’t feel like there was any reason for mirth or celebration, of anything, on Good Friday. As a teenager and young adult, I would invariably turn down invitations to join my friends, in whatever routine Friday night celebration they had planned. Even Catholic friends viewed my stance as sanctimonious, but I felt it deep in my heart.

As a Baha’i, I still view the Sufferings and Death of Christ as a tragic rejection by humanity, of His Message of peace and spiritual reconciliation. The day was spent in service, albeit in the covering of a Band class at a local intermediate school. Despite the odd weather and the approach of Easter weekend, students maintained a certain focus and kept on with their tasks. It did help, though, that it was a shorter day.

In the scheme of things, I continue to wonder: “How might our world be different, if the powers of the day had heeded Christ’s Message, and followed Him, at the time of His pronouncements?”

The Road to Diamond, Day 136: Little Bridges

4
Posted by on in American Legion, Assistance, collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 13, 2025- Three new people joined our breakfast group this morning, After introducing ourselves, the conversation went, as it usually does, to our places of origin. The gentleman next to me said he was from Iowa, so I called over another Post member who is from that state, and after a bit, he called yet another Iowan, who turned out to be the new guy’s classmate, graduated 1959! The two old chums conversed and a bridge was built.

A second newcomer, hearing I was from New England, and with a French-Canadian surname, said that he, too, was of French-Canadian descent, but that his ancestors headed west-to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My ancestors were roofers and farmers. His were lumberjacks. Another bridge was built.

After breakfast, I went to take care of an administrative matter, which entailed going to visit another Baha’i couple at their home. The simple five minute task relaxed into a two-hour visit, with our conversation running the gamut from a large man’s service as a security guard at the Baha’i World Center to mutual friends’ experiences in New Mexico and Montana. Of course, medical stuff was part of the discourse, as it always is for people of a certain age. The bridge was strengthened.

Back at Home Base I, I found trash strewn on the side of the street, at the home of a neighbour who was away for the weekend. Grabbing my push broom and uprighting the trash bin, I began the process of separating recyclable material from items that could be donated to a thrift store and putting the unusable stuff back in the bin. I was joined by my landlord, and the task was finished in five minutes. The bridge was cleaned.

As the sun rises and sets each day, so are there opportunities to connect one to the other. All it takes is awareness, real awareness, of one’s surroundings.

The Road to Diamond, Day 134: Twin Greetings and A Little Victory

2
Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Entertainment, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 11, 2025- Macy’s European Coffee Shop, a cornerstone of Flagstaff’s Near South Side, was quieter than usual, in late morning. I was pleased that the shop’s owner, Tim Macy, was present and able to meet Bobot and Thelma. They enjoyed-we enjoyed-a light breakfast and fine coffee. Under ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s watchful gaze, a spiritual bond between America and the Philippines extended to Flagstaff.

Eyes of the Master
Bobot, Thelma and the Master
Macy's European Coffee House 2
Bobot and Thelma in front of Macy’s

The next stop was a persistent and generous pool: Montezuma Well remains the repository of a spring-fed stream, holding its own, despite an infusion of algae, along its rim. A limestone sinkhole that receives 1,500,000 gallons of water a day from the spring, it was a source of sustenance for the Southern Sinagua people, in the first millennium A.D./C.E., and is a source of inspiration for the people of the Upper Verde Valley today.

Montezuma's Well
Rim of Montezuma’s Well

What was sweetest about this visit is that, for the second day in a row, Thelma overcame her acrophobia and approached the rim, then walked down a flight of stone steps to the closest approach still available to the source spring. The counselor in me still celebrates people overcoming their fears.

MZW 2
Thelma and Bobot near the source of Montezuma Well

Our small celebration of this step forward came at another of my favourite spots: Rafter Eleven. I have been going there, pretty much since Dawn Wasowicz opened the establishment. Dawn has developed the restaurant and tasting room, as a venue for local artists and a community gathering place, over the past eleven years. She was also pleased to meet my two friends and they found the ambiance-and their scones, quite pleasing as well.

A brief shopping trip (for Bobot) ended their last full day in northern Arizona. Tomorrow, we will stop at Farmers Market and Zeke’s, then head south, to Desert Rose Baha’i Institute, and back up to Phoenix, where I will bid my friends farewell, and they will enjoy some extended family time, before leaving for other parts of the U.S.

:

The Road to Diamond, Day 133: Mather Point

2
Posted by on in animal and plant life, collaborating, Education, Entertainment, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 10, 2025, Williams, AZ- There is no one way to see the Grand Canyon. I have walked much of the Rim Trail, stood at high points with sheer drop-offs of 3,000 feet, hiked to the Colorado River and back,on the same day and in summer heat and visited ancillary spots, like the Confluence with the Little Colorado River or Havasupai Falls. I have taken meals in El Tovar Hotel’s dining room (with Penny and my parents) and eaten a grab and go sandwich at Hermit’s Rest snack bar. It is all what makes this place so indelible in the mind of anyone who has ever stood in The House of Stone and Light.

My visiting friends had never seen anything quite like the Grand Canyon. When we stood at Mather Point, in the noon transition, the sun was high overhead and they had to position themselves carefully, so as not to be photographed in shadow, as happened yesterday in Sedona’s Tlaquepaque. They were awestruck, for several minutes. Then they looked right and left,, and decided that walking in the relative heat would not reveal anything different from what they were already seeing. They asked to head back to the car.

This is what they saw.

Mather Point 1
First view of the Grand Canyon
Mather Point 2
Staying close, at Canyon’s edge

There is a unique collection of sandstone rocks, arranged at the approach to Mather. One of these is a menhir, evocative of Carnac or Stonehenge.

Mather's menhir
Bobot and Thelma meet a Standing Stone

It was lunch time, and being frugal sorts, my friends vetoed any meals in the Park itself. We opted for the simply-titled We Cook Pizza and Pasta, in nearby Tusayan, and shared a Classic Cheese pizza. It’s been a long time since I have actually enjoyed pizza with nothing more than cheese and tomato sauce. Simple was exquisite.

The day was not spent, so I took Bobot and Thelma to Bearizona, a park that lets people view wildlife, including apex predators, from their cars. The wolves and bears did not disappoint. There were also herbivores aplenty-mountain goats, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, reindeer and bison. None of these are prey for their neighbours, who are fed meat provided by the staff. Here are some that we saw, carside.

Bearizona 1
Bearizona’s reindeer

The wolves were curious, but laid back.

Bearizona 2
Curious Lobo
Bearizona 3
Tundra wolf trio

Next, it was the black bears’ turn.

Bearizona 4
Black bears at rest
Bearizona 5
Bathing bruin

The Grizzlies have their own place, well-removed from the road.

Bearizona 6
Grizzly bears at dinner time

Our dinner time came later, as I had a business matter in the interim. No worries-Goldie’s Diner was open until 9, so we ate lightly but well. This week, like most weeks, has been a whirlwind, and time well spent.

The Road to Diamond, Day 132: Red Rock Road

0
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Entertainment, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 9, 2025, Williams, AZ- The perfect spot, where my friends have stayed for the past two nights, is going to be perfect for another couple this weekend. I have found another Friday night room for Bobot and Thelma, so all is still well.

We headed east and north, this afternoon, after a hearty lunch at Pangaea Bakery. The first stop would have been Jerome, but parking was not available, so Tuzigoot became our spot to try out my camera’s record feature-and my video skills. They need work, to say the least, but here are a couple of fairly post-worthy clips.

Friends enjoying their first visit to Tuzigoot.
This shows the living situation of First Nations people in the Verde River Valley of Arizona, in the Eleventh Century, AD.
The Sinagua people built these units, as part of a settled community.

After exploring Tuzigoot, we headed to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, high in Sedona’s red rocks, at the edge of Schnebly Hill. Here are my friends, at the Peace Marker and in front of the chapel.

Red Rock day trip
Bobot and Thelma at Peace Marker
Front of Chapel of the Holy Cross
Bobot and Thelma in front of Chapel

We made a brief visit to the Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park, near Sugarloaf Mountain, on Sedona’s north side. My videography was not suitable for sharing, but the friends seemed to enjoy it.

We capped our Sedona visit with a stop at Tlaquepaque, a crafts and restaurant market, modeled after the open air market of the same name, that graces Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The entry arch at Tlaquepaque
Bobot and Thelma in front of entry arch

As we walked in, a little girl had latched onto a sandal, and was doing her 16-month-old best to show Mom and Grandma that she had mastered the One Shoe Strut. Since it was a display item at a shoe vendor, Mom took it off and put it back on the rack. Oh, the indignity of it all!

We met up with an amalgam of other Filipinos, in front of a coffee and ice cream shop, where I got an Arnold Palmer and the friends, some Gator Aid. We next visited a couple of fountains, and stopped in front of Bell Rock, after which it was time to head out of Sedona, and up the mountain, by way of I-17.

Fountain shot
Bobot and Thelma at a fountain in Tlaquepaque
Bell Rock
Bobot and Thelma at Courthouse Rock, with Bell Rock as backdrop

After a satisfying dinner at My Pita Wrap, in one of South Milton Road’s plethora of mini-malls, we headed here, to the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, and El Rancho Motel-our roost for these two nights. Tomorrow, another couple will be introduced to the South Rim!

The Road to Diamond, Day 131: Camaraderie

2
Posted by on in Assistance, Community, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 8, 2025- I had figured on twelve people attending the Feast of Jalal, this afternoon. Thirteen were present. My Filipino Baha’i friends made ten more spiritual siblings, as we enjoyed a primarily musical devotional. The consultation afterward was equally rich, and we all had a joyful social period afterward.

Later this evening, my hiking buddy joined the three of us for dinner at the superb WZ Asian Buffet. Many such restaurants are touch and go, health-wise, but this one is well-managed and keeps both hygiene and variety of fare in mind. We each had a great meal and another bond was established between my Arizona and Philippines families.

Here are some scenes from other points in the day. (Photos from the Baha’i gathering and the dinner were taken by others, so I will post them as they are shared with me.)

At Air Bnb in Prescott
At Courthouse Square, Prescott (above and below)
At a seriously diminished Lynx Lake

I’m always looking for ways to connect people with one another, across both real and imagined divides.