The Road to 65, Mile 156: Failure to Thrive

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on May 5, 2015 in Personal goals, Social

May 3, 2015, Prescott- So much debate has taken place these days, regarding various issues: Black youth, same-sex marriage, helping people in other countries vs. taking care of “our own”. I believe the majority of people, on all points along the spectrum of thought, want to see the best for humanity. Where the matter goes haywire comes when money, power, excessive fear and callous ignorance take the fore.

We are at a turning point in the affairs of mankind. Those who seem to be causing so much of the mayhem and devastation in the civic affairs of the world are often those on the margins of society. We have seen the violence in Baltimore, and last year in Ferguson, MO, stem largely from the PERCEPTION of those on the outskirts of the American Dream that there is no hope of any advancement on their part. The frequent stodginess and inflexibility of those in positions of power in many communities doesn’t help.

We in Prescott have seen a lengthy, and thankfully successful fight by lower middle class people whose heads of household were killed in the firestorm of June 30, 2013, as they battled a wildfire. The powers that be were largely against paying compensation to the survivor families, adhering to an outmoded frontier dictum that “One should know what one is getting into”, and deal independently with whatever life tosses at you. The families have received just compensation.

The major effort, as I see it, has to lie in encouraging and preserving one’s own dignity and sense of value to a community. I’ve worked with thousands of children, teenagers and adults, over the past five decades. To a one, the people causing the most disruption and heartache to those around them, from my first disquiet students, in my hometown, to the recently incarcerated homeless veteran who I was encouraging to re-enter society, have been the emotionally and spiritually dispossessed. Economics sometimes plays a secondary role, as well. With the first two bases covered, however, most economically disadvantaged people can overcome their living circumstances.

Failure to thrive comes from a chronic lack of love. This we have seen in numerous psychological studies of people and animals, and in our daily lives, as abused people of all ages present themselves to the rest of us, as both harbingers of crisis and opportunities for service.

The Road to 65, Mile 155: Oasis Within An Oasis

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on May 4, 2015 in Hiking and Nature, Personal goals, Social

May 2, 2015, Granite Dells- I spent the day immersing myself in better health practices. Around 10:30, I set out to this dazzling blend of rock, water and greenery, to pay a call on a natural healer and anthropologist, who calls herself Happy Oasis. She lives with her husband, John, in a delightful two or three acres of land, known as Heaven on Earth. Happy has been all over the planet, in the course of her twenty-five year career, yet she has chosen, and fought hard for, this sublime paradise.

Thanks to her efforts, there are trails aplenty where there could have been condos too many. So, Happy and her associate, Jack, took thirty of us on a walk of discovery- to meet the wild plants which can be foraged for sustenance, in the ecosystem of the Dells. It rained a bit, as if to bless our jaunt.

Here are some scenes of this unique experience.

The home of our hosts is a work in progress, after a fire took out its predecessor. They are nothing, if not multi-talented.

Here is a slippery elm, with its full supply of salad greens.

I don’t remember what the next several plants are, but they are safe and taste very nice.

Here is a mustard plant.

THIS, however, is loco weed. It is highly hallucinogenic, if ingested.

Happy, in front, showed us about a dozen plants that can sustain a person, in the wilds of Granite Dells.

This flowering plant is often called prairie rose. It tastes fine, flowers and all.

Here are some of my classmates, as we enjoyed the fruits of nature’s labours.

It was one of the loveliest of days, so far this year. In late afternoon and evening, I visited with a friend and essential oils colleague, encouraging her in teaching a class on our oils. The day left me with the knowledge that there is more good in our future than not.

The Road to 65, Mile 154: May Day Meanderings

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on May 2, 2015 in Hiking and Nature, Personal goals, Travel

May 1, 2015, Prescott- Th fifth month of the year always finds me taking stock of my assets, making concrete plans to consolidate my possessions, and downsizing, prior to a summer of journeying and carefully living in balance. This summer will take me to Nevada,Mt. Shasta, the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, southeast Alaska and back down through the Palouse, Idaho and Utah; then to southern California, after a brief July 4 respite here.

For someone who values survival skills, I am a bit wet behind the ears. Tent pitching and foraging for food are my immediate concerns, as is mastering the art of inflating an air mattress. See, I have put up my tent,had it stand for five or six hours, then woke up and found it hugging my face. This needs to stop. I like sleeping under the stars, and still will, whenever prudent. Being that I will share space with Alaskan brown bears, for a few days in June, I think a solidly pitched edifice will better suit my circumstances.

Later this summer, Grand Canyon hikes and jaunts along the Mogollon Rim in AZ and New Mexico, will afford me the company of a master woodsman. These days will prep me for a 2017 thru-hike of the Arizona Trail, as will this Fall’s earnest completion of the Black Canyon Trail, over four stages, from Bumble Bee to Lake Pleasant Road. The Prescott Circle will finally be unbroken, and the Maricopa Trail beckons, in Winter.

All this crossed my mind, after a day of hearing the woes of a teen boy who has a serious crush on a lovely young lady, ten years his senior. It will go nowhere. The woman has a good man in her life, and besides, that’s where crushes are supposed to go. I used to be there, though my crushes, early on, found more contemporary focuses. He will, as well, no doubt.

After making a brief visit to a school whose constituents and staff observed its last “birthday” as an institution, I came home to find that the man I had befriended, and tried to help, over the past seven months, was actually a wanted felon. He was being taken into custody, as I pulled up to my driveway. I pulled in, through the neighbour’s drive, and was informed that he had vandalized my upstairs neighbour’s property, thus the collar. I have no idea what he is accused of doing, previously, but this does explain the hackles I have started to get on the back of my neck, as the day for taking him up towards Las Vegas approached. Now, that is no longer in the works. I have some of his possessions in my back storage, and his vital papers in the house. These will all stay put, and untouched, until the legal process plays itself out.

So, I begin this fascinating month, hopeful, energetic, and chastened about human nature. Tomorrow, I brush up on foraging and go to help a dear friend, one who can be trusted.

The Road to 65, Mile 152: Declaration

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on May 1, 2015 in Personal goals, Social

April 29,2015, Prescott- I took the day off from work again today, this time in honour of the day on which Baha’u’llah declared His Mission to His followers, at a garden just north of Baghdad. Of course, I did go to the VA Hospital and receive a check-up, which was all good news. The main thrust of the day, though, was in attending two gatherings of local Baha’is and a few close friends of our Faith. The widower of our friend, M, was there, and we discussed several matters other than his loss. Easing him back into a routine life seems appropriate right now. I was glad that no one hung the noose of sorrow around my neck, four years ago, and he was glad to engage in more neutral discourse today. The ebb and flow of mourning is something with which I am prepared to help him, though, as time goes on.

Baha’u’llah has outlined many steps by which mankind can attain lasting peace. His Declaration, on or about April 29, 1863, called for a few basic universalities, upon which He later expounded, prior to His Ascension, in 1892. These include a democratically-elected world parliament, a common universal currency and system of weights and measures, a universal auxiliary language and equality between men and women. Many of these have been proposed, in other forms, by people of influence. Some, like the oneness of mankind and male/female parity, are gingerly approached, then avoided, by those whose minds are in a state of flux.

Yet, we see the same crises and issues arise, in a continuous loop, in one part of the world or another. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in Israel/ Palestine, other parts of Southwest Asia and North Africa, and in American cities. The areas where outmoded ways of dealing with problems are most fastidiously gripped by their proponents, are bound to be the areas where the least progress seems to be achieved.

Baha’u’llah’s Revelation is very deep and takes very close, detailed study, as befits a System which will guide the whole of mankind, especially given our enduring free will. I’m glad I get the gist of it, and can move slowly past my own frailties.

The Road to 65, Mile 150: Sagarmatha

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 29, 2015 in Personal goals, Social

April 27, 2015, Chino Valley- Nepal, and the Himalayan region in general, is suffering deeply from the effects of Sunday’s earthquake and the ongoing aftershocks. A great deal of attention is going to the Westerners who are stuck on the slopes of Mount Everest. To be sure, the deaths of climbers are as tragic, in their way, as any other loss. Trekking is a key source of revenue for the Nepalese, as for those in Indian Sikkim, in Pakistani Swat and in Bhutan, which is only recently opening up to the mountaineers.

The immediate concern of most of the international community, though, is the plight of ordinary Nepalese. The one silver lining for them is that the Himalayan winter is drawing to a close, and the monsoons are a ways off. This gives the army of native and international aid workers a chance to accomplish the slow, painstaking work of clearing rubble, burying the dead, healing the injured, replanting fields and initiating long-term reconstruction.

These are orders as tall as Sagarmatha, the Sherpa name for Mount Everest. The process is as delicate as the ice sheets which now present an obstacle to several climbers who are trying to descend the mighty overlord. It will require fortitude as enduring as the great mountain itself.

There remain, though, the vagaries of the News Cycle, and by Wednesday, much ado will again be made of the Clinton Foundation (about which, more later) and due attention will be paid to Baltimore (about which, more tomorrow). The marriage issue will also supplant matters abroad, for a time.

I am neither young, nor financially wealthy. The skills I would bring to the table, were I to go to a disaster area, would be the ability to teach the young, a well of compassion and the willingness to get my hands dirty, doing whatever is needed to rebuild the community. I am unlikely to just jump on a plane, though, and show up with a bright, but determined, face.

These are my scattered thoughts about the shattered and beautiful land and its people. For now, I will finish the academic year, comforting those closer to home, getting a rootless man on his way to a better life in another state and pushing forward with my Spirit Quest to the northwest coast.

The Road to 65, Mile 148: Slingshot Day

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 26, 2015 in bamboo fence, Mountain Oaks Charter School, Personal goals, School Gardens Project, Slow Food Prescott, Social

April 25, 2015, Prescott– I woke this morning, at 2:35, got shaven and dressed, then headed down to Phoenix Zoo, where an Oral Cancer Awareness Run/Walk was being held. My volunteer position was the Raffle Table, where I sold tickets, oversaw the placement of tickets in various jars that were in front of prizes being raffled, and encouraged a couple of high school students who were walking about the grounds and selling tickets, as well. The activity was most enjoyable and our happy mood drew many more people to the table, as they were curious as to the joyful atmosphere. The old saying goes “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and you cry alone.” I have always found that to be a bit harsh, but I will go with the first part of it.

Around 8:20 AM, I left to go back up to Prescott, the reason being that I also planned to help out at the School Garden Project, at Mountain Oaks Charter School, where I have a loose association with the administration. Plus, Slow Food Prescott has made school gardens a priority, and I support that group’s legitimate activities, even if I don’t always like the people it attracts. Anyway, I got back home, napped for an hour, and got over to the school in time to put together a woven bamboo fence, in front of the back vegetable garden. After a quick lunch, the project ended with weeding a section along the front fence, and spreading manure, for the sunflowers, gourds and corn that were planted there. These activities, also, were done in a joyous atmosphere.

That’s what service should be. Contrasted with the sometimes grim and guarded posture that I find myself adopting, when dealing with aggressive homeless veterans, today’s activities were a breath of fresh air. Tomorrow, I will focus more on paying respects to my departed friend, who served others constantly, in her own way.

The Road to 65, Mile 143: The Veil

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 21, 2015 in Personal goals, Social

April 20, 2015, Prescott- Several people with whom I am either close or am at least aware, are approaching the spirit life. One passed this morning, in Missouri. A young lady lost her dog, in a street accident. Several others are very close to passing. A dear young woman in another city was severely beaten, and will be scarred for a long time to come.

This is a very cruel time, between April 15-20. We’ve endured three national tragedies during this time period, in years passed, and today saw the comfort of the peaceful Boston Marathon, five days after the second anniversary of its date with tragedy. We will not know the extent of the casualties in the refugee ship sinking, off Lampedusa, for some time- but it was an enormous loss for mankind.

I have had many communications with beings on “the other side”. I loved them as people, and still feel they are guiding me, day by day. When I get flustered with demanding, or emotionally needy, people on this side of the veil, gentle thought waves encourage me to be patient. I also get guidance regarding my small and big decisions, as I have mentioned before.

This evening began the twelve day Ridvan Festival, during which we mark the Proclamation by Baha’u’llah, of His Mission on Earth. This took place in April, 1863, so it was an auspicious time for Baghdad, where the event took place, and for all the planet, in energy waves which it may well take most people a long time to ascertain. There is much communication back and forth between us and those who are in the Spirit Realm, at this time, just as there is during the Day of the Dead, on November 2. That which we sometimes call the Veil, is then more like a mirror.

The Road to 65, Mile 141: Concerted Effort

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 19, 2015 in Personal goals, Social

April 18, 2015, Prescott Valley- I had the pleasure of helping break down tables and put them, and the chairs away, at a Stand Up for Veterans event, here in this town of 46,000 people, just east of Prescott. I had cleared my calendar for the afternoon, but we were done by 3 PM. I was never so proud of one of my hardest working friends here, as I am today. Her efforts, of over three weeks, paid off handsomely, and the point was made that we, as a community, are caring for all vets. It is a constant, concerted effort, and there has been one common thread throughout all of this: Men and women have worked tirelessly together, with no thought of selves or credit, to get an event started, which will hopefully continue to complement the “Stand Down” event that happens in the Fall, and has been successful for many years, in preparing homeless people for winter.

Of course, much remains to be done in that regard, as we have seen this past winter. Helping those who don’t want shelter, but still want to be acknowledged on a daily basis, is a work in progress. Yavapai County Angels, to which I belong, is a fledgling group that will be able to do more, as time passes. I have enough to do, also, with my Baha’i work, wellness advocacy and teaching, to make the sixteen months after returning from my summer travels a very fruitful time. Speaking of produce, I have some packets of seeds to plant in August, so yard work will be part of the mix.

My client, too, is finally starting to get the picture, and has made great strides of late, in re-establishing his life. He will, very shortly, be back entirely on his own. I know how hard it is to get to that point, and it took my recent accident to fully get me feeling on my own. There is nothing like a concerted effort.