Category Archives: Personal goals

The Road to 65, Mile 159: Process

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May 6, 2015, Prescott- I took this morning to set up a delivery system for leftover hotel breakfast buffet items to go to a feeding station for the destitute, here in town.  This had been giving me fits for a few days, but it’s all worked out now.  Each end of school year sees projects come up, and get arranged, funds for the summer be put aside, and any advance arrangements that need to be made for a journey get accomplished.

The most critical thing about all this is that, in the past, I have formed grandiose ideas in my head, made long lists of things that will happen, in the course of a project- and then, very little has been accomplished.  I am doing better at finishing what I start, though that would be cold comfort for all who have been disappointed in the duds of yesteryear.

Process is done one step at a time, and now that I am more clear about who I am, in the scheme of things, it’s all easier to follow through, to the end.  Funny, but this may be the first school year, since 1997-98, that I feel a real sense of accomplishment, as the year draws to an end.

The Road to 65, Mile 157: Chasing Away the Night

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May 4, 2015, Prescott-  I made another visit to Miller Valley School today.  Being with rambunctious six- and seven-year-olds, and actually getting them to accomplish a day’s learning, is among the finest of days spent.

Kids carry their inner selves so openly, and this is a superb thing.  Those who love, can draw the pain out, and elevate their loved ones.  It’s said that the child who needs love the most is the one who presents the most unlovable persona.  This, I have taken as an article of faith since my own childhood.

By that, I don’t mean to imply that I was a difficult person, as a child.  Rather, I found that the bullies, the disquiet ones, the recluses, all had a feature that made me want to work harder to understand them, just as I, an autistic, before such a label was in use, wanted to be understood.

We all want someone to chase away our night.  The boys whom I had to list for the regular teacher to make parent contact are very bright and, in many ways, delightful people.  They don’t fit easily with others in a class setting, and a sense of darkness is a good part of their life experience. They clamour for an externally imposed discipline, and mine is a rather gentle, firm approach, directly addressing the underlying.

I felt that, at the end of the day, no one felt demeaned or diminished, but knew the security of limits.

The Road to 65, Mile 156: Failure to Thrive

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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

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Posted by on 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.

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Here is a slippery elm, with its full supply of salad greens.SAM_4879

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

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Here is a mustard plant.SAM_4885

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

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Happy, in front, showed us about a dozen plants that can sustain a person, in the wilds of Granite Dells.SAM_4896

This flowering plant is often called prairie rose.  It tastes fine, flowers and all.SAM_4897

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

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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

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Posted by on 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 153: The Flow

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April 30, 2015, Prescott- We each reach the point,in our grief process, where the events of our present existence take the precedence they deserve, over constant thoughts of the departed loved one. That said, it only takes a small trigger to bring it all back- if only for a short time.

Some regard it their solemn duty to act as “reality checks”, forcibly keeping the bereft person “focused”.  I had family members who did this, in 2011, mainly because they had either no direct experience with grieving a next of kin or because the experience they did have was so extreme in severity, that they had little choice but to carry the poor soul forward.

In my case, I went through  confusion and lack of focus, in the first year of grief; a new appreciation of life, in the second year; misplaced attachments to others, in the third; and, at present, a more concrete concern with reality.  Each stage has had its spiritual component, and each, its learning curve.

I have many well-wishers, a few, scattered, haters and a dedicated cadre of friends and family, on whom I can rely for just about anything.  As others in my circle face their own first, second and third stages of grief, I find myself being ready to wrap my spiritual arms around them and feel the concourse of spirits guarding us all.

The Road to 65, Mile 152: Declaration

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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

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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

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Posted by on 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 146: Inward

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April 23, 2015, Prescott-  Today was a mixed bag.  I had a good day at school, helping several students deal with technophobia and connecting with, encouraging, another autistic person.  I will return to that school again on Monday.

Home was a bit different, coming back and finding my client in the back yard- looking quite at home, which was not part of our agreement.  I left him sitting there and went about my business. As it stands, I am driving him to Kingman, AZ on Sunday, and from there he is to board a bus to Las Vegas and points northwest.  He wants to head to Oregon; at least that was the plan, yesterday.  There are two days intervening, and I sense a pair of heels digging in.  This will be a push- and-pull, to the very end.

Downtown was bustling this evening.  Tomorrow, there will be a Mountain Bike Race.  It’s great for business, but I will be as far away from there as possible.  I find the bikers very arrogant and aggressive, even when they are not in the heat of a race.

My response to pushy, argumentative people is to stand my ground, as long as is prudent, then to turn inward and guard my spirit.  I feel this will be the case tomorrow and on Saturday, just as it had to be on Tuesday evening. On Sunday, the pushy, argumentative person will have little choice but to follow through on his promise- to me and to himself.  There will be peace in the valley, and here on this hillside.