Category Archives: Personal Values

Rewards

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Posted by on in Personal Values, Poetry

May 9, 2016, Prescott-

After twelve years in the trenches,

Man has been given a respite.

His spot in the field may go

To one whose patience is well-tested.

In turn, the sanguine one will be secure.

Until it’s time for him to take a rest.

Love and joy can be the rewards

Of any who, the needs of others, do not ignore.

Maternal

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Posted by on in Family, Personal Values

May 8, 2016, Prescott- Talking with my mother today, I learned she has a new smart phone- which I called her new “hobby”.  It’s great for her, at a certain age, to take up technology.  She wants to study every facet of it, slowly- so as not to get bollixed up. It was raining in the Boston area, as it was here, and was about the same temperature.  Everyone back there seems to be on an even keel, which I hope continues as long as possible.

She thanked me for thinking of her.  I can’t imagine a time when I would not do so.  Mom gave the best of her life for the five of us, for over 40 years .(There was fourteen years’ difference between my youngest brother, now deceased, and me.)  Helping her, when we can, is more than poetic justice.  She remarked that she knows of some mothers, whose children have not spoken to them in years.  What a terrible thing to have happen!  I am something of a loner, but I can’t imagine not keeping in regular touch with my family members- especially my mother, my son and siblings.

I wish for peace to be made, between those who are at odds with their parents, or their children.  There is no greater heartache, I would imagine, short of losing them to death.  Family is the bedrock of any society.  Happy Mother’s Day to all women who have nurtured a child to adulthood!

A Few Tenets

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Posted by on in Personal Values, Striving

May 6, 2016, Phoenix-  This one comes a day late, mostly because I was at three different places today, and had to think about sleeping, instead of writing.  So my time-traveling mind pretends it’s still Friday.

Anyway, I got another clean bill of health, this noon.  Someone who loves me very much has reminded me about keeping my skin moisturized.  The things we overlook are going to be noticed by those who want to keep us around.  (No, I’m not in a relationship.  My minder loves her husband, more than she does anyone else.  He is in excellent hands. I am just honoured to be an elder brother-figure.)

This evening, I was being hectored by a conspiracy theorist, for not taking the chemtrails hoo-ha very seriously.  The whole thing made me think about my own tenets of living.  Here goes:

  1.  Think for yourself.  A mind is a terrible thing to let slumber.
  2.  Listen to those around you, but as Christ said: “Be alert to discern”.
  3.  All segments of society, and all parts of a community, state or nation, deserve to have a say in how the place is governed.
  4. The Internet, Google, Yahoo!, and YouTube are not necessarily sources of Truth.
  5. SnapChat, though, is true, even when one doesn’t want it to be- and it’s indelible.
  6.  A person could hike a different trail, in Arizona alone, every day for 20 years, and cover maybe 25% of all the trails in the state.  I’ll  enjoy the ones I do hike.
  7. Money is a tool.  Tools don’t belong in the hands of fools. (This is one lesson I learned, very well, a while back,)
  8.  This is as good a year as any to stay out of partisan politics.
  9.  I like getting up at the same time every day, including weekends.
  10.  When it rains, read.

 

Irons and Fire

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Posted by on in Community, Personal Values, Striving

April 20, 2016, Flagstaff- En route to this superb university town, in northern Arizona’s Sky Islands, known otherwise as the San Francisco Peaks, I thought of the various “irons” in my collective fire.  Interestingly, each time I consider letting one of these go by the wayside, something occurs to put it back, front and center, again.

My Baha’i beliefs are the core of my being, so they are only becoming more important, as the bedrock for everything else. Working with children and youth is the next level, and as it gives me a livelihood, also is unquestionably important.

I am not the world’s greatest businessman, but sharing and educating on the use of Certified Pure, Therapeutic Grade essential oils is crucial to my commitment to promoting health and wellness.  There are many people and companies claiming to have the “finest” such products.  I can only testify to what works for me.

I am not available as often as the Red Cross might like, but being ready to step in, on the occasion of a local emergency, during the school year, and anytime when I am off work, even when on the road, is also not something I will relinquish.

Then, there are my itchy feet, the icing on the cake.

It’s a good life,  of many pieces.  Have you ever felt like you needed to give up one of your activities?

Love, By The Numbers

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Posted by on in Personal Values, Social, Spiritual

April 18, 2016, Prescott-

My youngest niece turns twenty-five today.  This, alone, makes it a good day, and I hope her nearest and dearest ones honour her in the best manner possible.  Twenty-five is not the marker of a “crisis” (as in “quarter-life crisis”), but is the affirmation of a good running start to full adulthood.

I think of all those I love, in various senses of the word. It has sometimes been a matter of bloodline; other times, it is from sheer association and observation, as with my students and counselees, many of my colleagues and most of my fellows-in-faith.  Then, there is Love 101, the seeing of “a stranger as a loving friend”, as ‘Abdu’l-Baha admonished us to see others.

By age 30, having long since let go of adolescent irritability, I had given up the concept of enmity, at least insofar as it pertained to a flesh-and-blood human being.  Some behaviours, I will always find inimical, but that is a topic for other venues.  People’s hearts can always change, and while we can, and should, be wary of those who have harmed us, or our loved ones, in the past, it is not ours to deny them the right to a change of heart.

At 65, I can hold no grudge, yet, nonetheless, expect those who have hurt others, to make serious amends.  With no apologies to Erich Segal, love DOES mean having to say you’re sorry.  Following that apology, though, love does exact some changes in behaviour, both great and small.  Yes, I hold myself to that same standard, whether forgiven by those I may have hurt, or not.

Love, one step at a time, is the secret to growth.

Meme Chose

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Posted by on in Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Poetry

April 13, 2016, Prescott- 

(The title is in French, and is pronounced ” mem shoze”, meaning “same thing”.  It has nothing to do with Internet memes.)

Walking down the street,

As we all anticipate the return of heat,

I sense a bit of apprehension,

from those behind me,

as approaching young men

draw our attention.

I’ve lived a good life,

so I feel no worry.

They are just people,

so no need to scurry.

It’s said to be good to confront

our prejudices.

Giving them voice,

one’s tolerance actually

nourishes.

 

Friends, Like These

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Posted by on in Community, Inspiration, Personal Values

April 12, 2016, Prescott- I was determined to not let yesterday’s minor irritations be like rocks in my shoe.  Today started out fresh, with the promise of being a full day- work would be followed by a professional workshop, then a meeting of Slow Food Prescott, with its vegetarian dinner.

I got to work, with plenty of time to spare, and a styrofoam box of freshly made pancakes, from Cupper’s Coffee House- hoping for breakfast time.  As it happens, I did enjoy the pancakes, only in the automotive classroom, rather than with my charges in Resource Center.  Well, things went smoothly enough, the auto shop students did their own project, and the three classes focused on the academic aspects of automotives were mostly dawdlers, but hardly difficult to manage.

That is one aspect of my current position- flexibility, that will only enhance my position. Be invaluable, the voice said during my meditation, last night, and so the flow took me to a place of worth.  During the free hours, I found that my new colleagues were glad for what help I could offer them.  It has been a long year for many, and being a voice of reason makes a person welcome, in these parts, by teachers and students alike.

Afterward, a workshop was offered, on the Google calendar, by two imaginative and tech-savvy teachers, one of whom I regard almost as a daughter.  She will have a long and fabulous career as an educator.  I picked up some good points from this workshop, and can organize my overall time, in a far clearer manner, using this tool.

Slow Food’s April meeting transpired in an amazingly lovely Manzanita Village, a cooperative housing scheme, overlooking the city and some intervening valleys.  I didn’t have my camera tonight, but will be sure to go back up there and take a few photos to share, in the not too distant future.  The meal featured some fermented foods:  Kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir and dosa- a crepe, made from fermented lentils and brown rice, soaked for 24 hours, then blended into a batter.  It hails from south India, and was thoroughly delectable.  I was even given some batter to take home.  So guess what breakfast will be tomorrow!

This sort of feeling more connected has generally happened more in Spring, the past several years- and is what keeps me in growth mode.  Friendships like these are worth growing.

Out Like A Lion

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Posted by on in Community, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Striving, Uncategorized

March 30, 2016, Prescott-  I’ve been pretty busy this week, with work, and a brief foray into the “after work” social gathering scene.  I find it still as shallow as it was when I frequented such gatherings, before Penny came along.  People have their closed groups, and no matter that one or two might invite a newcomer, out of courtesy, it doesn’t take long for the body language to stiffen and the eye contact to move to those familiar faces.

My thoughts went today to the places where, and the people with whom, I feel at home.  Not all are my ever-agreeable supporters.  Some are critics, but they are honest critics, and are often quite helpful.  As my beloved always said, “The opposite of love is indifference”.

In this hour of a March that is headed out like a lion, after treating us to icy wind and a dusting of snow, I want to honour the places that are homes to me, in the West, since it’s been a while.

Prescott and vicinity, Flagstaff, Marana, Tubac, Bisbee, Thatcher, the Sunnyslope area of Phoenix,  Holbrook, Hopi land, Pine Springs, Reno and Carson City, San Diego and vicinity, Dana Point, San Clemente, Lomita, Santa Barbara, Ojai, Ashland (OR), Portland, Spokane, Anacortes, Wrangell, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Afton (WY), Cortez, Boulder, Colorado Springs, San Luis (CO), Socorro, Albuquerque, Truth or Consequences. I can go to any of these places, and there will be a welcoming presence.

I will talk further about my homes in the Midwest, the South, the Northeast, and the rest of the world, in subsequent posts.  The point is, I am ever grateful for all who have reached out, kept faith in me, and not abandoned me out of difference of opinion, hurt feelings, or convenience.

Let’s see whether the March Lion gives way, willingly, to the April Lamb.

Trafficking, and Obfuscation

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Posted by on in children, distraction issues, Personal goals, Personal Values

March 24, 2016, Prescott- I watched an episode of a network television show, on my laptop, this evening.  It dealt with the abuse of teenaged girls by a sex-trafficking ring.  The piece was outlandish, on the surface, having, as its antagonists, two powerful members of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy in New York. The piece was fictitious, yet showed how diligent police work, and an appeal to the humanity of a low-level operative in the ring, gave up the culprits.

It was no surprise, though, that during the early stages of the investigation, the ringleaders turned to obfuscation, to role reversal, and smoke-screening, in their attempts to get out from under the encroaching detectives. This is a common modus operandi  of wrongdoers with means.

This stays in my mind, because yesterday I read an article in the Global Post, an online news magazine I have trusted for several years.  The article takes issue with widespread concern over sex trafficking, specifically in the country of Cambodia. The author quotes an “expert”, who has “lived with the sex workers” in that country, as saying that a Cambodian woman who enlisted the aid of U.S. journalist Nicholas Kristoff, in shining a light on the problem of sex trafficking in her country, was exaggerating, had falsified and embellished her reports, and that making human trafficking a cause celebre was, in the case of Cambodia at least, a misrepresentation of the facts.

This is what the powerful do, when their activities, and the income they derive from those, are threatened:  Obfuscate, discredit and go back to business as usual. Maybe there are plenty of women who choose a life of compensated sexual promiscuity, whether out of economic despair or the sense that this is the only way that they will ever know physical intimacy with a man.  They, however despondent their lot, are not the primary focus of those who have taken up the cause of bringing an end to human trafficking.

The shameful attempt by Global Post to becloud this whole matter will never stop those of us who are committed to ending the imprisonment and torture, to which  thousands of women and children are subjected, world-wide, day by excruciating day.  I urge each person reading this to stand up to those beguiled by their own perceived power and authority, and work to free those, in every nation on Earth, who are held in virtual slavery.