Category Archives: Personal Values

A Healthy Spine

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Posted by on in Assistance, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 4, 2024- The kids guessed as to my age, early this afternoon: Base was 52 and top was 87. (One guessed closely-72.) These were ten-year-olds, so there we are. When I was ten, anyone older than my Dad (33) was over the hill. These children cut me a lot of slack.

More authoritative was my chiropractic exam-the spine and nerves are in solid state, from top to bottom. This is the last physical exam until next year, save a dental check in December, so with continuance of the current regimen, I will be just fine-as 74 approaches.

Also gratifying, on this short and sweet work day, were having my Home Base minders to dinner this evening, at a quality Italian restaurant; getting in a solid workout at Planet Fitness and learning how to edit a sent e-mail, and send the revision out to all parties, without starting from scratch. Son is back from his annual Reserve training, so there is one less item of concern.

The number of boxes left to check on the trip preparation list is down to three or four: Last day of work is tomorrow, Sportage pre-storage maintenance is on Friday and I will get a fresh haircut in the next day or so. There will be several social and semi-business gatherings, between now and Monday noon; then I will head to Phoenix and beyond.

Loyalty

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

September 3, 2024- The old reminiscing intelligence officer, in the currently-playing film “Reagan”, speaks at one point of the reason people give their lives: “Not for the nation, nor for the Party, the State, or even for God-but for one another. ” It rings true: Behind every sacrifice, there is loyalty to a loved one, or maybe several- Parents for children, and vice versa; siblings for one another; friends, likewise and, occasionally, a few noble souls for their compatriots as a group.

After a recent non-verbal dust-up between me and someone with a more elitist view of life, several friends have asked if there is anything they might do to help. There isn’t, really, and the best thing for me to do is to let the other person alone, and let time do its thing. Personality differences rarely get resolved through intervention, shaming or castigation. People are the sum total of their experiences, plus all that DNA. Only internal processing and heart transformation can lead to a turn-around. Only that turn-around can make someone loyal to others beside self. Besides, I have to fall back on the message of one of Sportage’s bumper stickers: “Love your enemies and you won’t have any”.

My own loyalty to anyone besides myself and my immediate family came late, and came hard. Only giving up alcohol really changed my temperament, and even then, it was Penny’s love, and the Baha’i teachings, that brought my heart more into awareness of a larger circle of humanity. Beforehand, my concern for the human race was present in the background, surfacing on occasion-and therefore coming across as contrived, mainly because internally it was an abstraction.

Now my layered loyalty is what sustains me, both emotionally and physically.

Labour and Love

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 2, 2024- My friend across the waters affirmed that I would be cheerfully greeted, when I arrive next week. There is much with which she hopes I can assist, and with that I’ll have no hesitation. As with anything else, it’ll be a day by day process, each day bringing its joys, some plateaus, and a few periods of stop and weigh the best course of action.

Today saw my last time helping with the Soup Kitchen, until I get back. Some of the clients and the chief of volunteers told me I’d be missed, and there will be times that I will be thinking of them all and hoping things are going smoothly. I will take what I’ve learned here and do what I can to apply the skills to tasks that find me, whilst in the Philippines.

My friend and I talked of our departed spouses, and that though they are missed, they send energy to us, that we may continue in labours of love, designed to help the suffering and the destitute. We both trust that the departed are ever with us, unseen yet seeing; intermittently heard, yet always listening; somewhat felt, and ever deeply feeling. After all, it was not that long ago that Penny let me know that “we” (the spirits) had brought my friend and I together.

The remaining tasks here at Home Base I include two short substituting jobs, getting Sportage serviced-even though it will sit idly, in a safe place, for 5-7 weeks, and tending to details relative to the administrative duties I acquired last week. Each is a labour of love and each, properly carried out, will both keep my mind at lease, as to this homefront, whilst I am abroad and make things easier to resume upon my return.

Some, on both sides of the ocean, have expressed their views as to how events should transpire during the next month or so. To them, I say “Live your own life. Friend and I know what our primary tasks are, and those will take precedence. Anything else will happen naturally, or not at all.”

Red and Blue

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

September 1, 2024- No, this is not about partisan politics, per se. It is about the concept, first advanced by Laurence Fishburne’s character, Morpheus, in The Matrix, of the effects of a red pill (leading one to question authority and research for oneself) and of a blue pill (acceptance of what one is told and not looking very deeply into even the most vital aspects of life).

Partisanship can enter into this, but there are those on both sides who blindly repeat what has been said by their favoured candidates and blindly castigate whatever has been said or done by whoever is representing the “other side”. Kids, the Divine put all of us here, and not we can blindly do anything. There are also those on both sides who question what is being put out there in the marketplace of ideas.

Personally, I want proof of what someone tells me or what is being bruited about on the Internet or on Talk Radio. I want to know their original sources, just as I expect someone to ask me-“Where’s the proof?” I recall when conservatives were primarily business people, whose livelihoods depended on a culture based on facts and figures. I recall when liberals were heart people, whose lives were based on the Golden Rule. There are large numbers of each who still adhere to those timeless values, and who do well when they respect each other’s place in a culture of balance, based on truth, not fantasy. These will straighten the mess out, if there is a mess, after the electoral process has played out.

People in “Blue” areas can take a red pill and those in “Red” states, a blue pill-and many do one or the other. My make-up makes the red pill a natural. You may choose otherwise, as befits your temperament. Remember, though, there are consequences for either choice.

Staying Centered

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 31, 2024- After running into a couple of Prescott’s elite, this evening, and being greeted with a nod and a sneer, I used Next Door.com to speak to those who would promote Progressive values, many of which are laudable. The progressive elite in this community tend to speak from their heads, not their hearts. After absorbing this, and “sucking it up”, for thirteen years, I finally had enough and let them know. Anyone who wants to foster the community has to first love the people. Having intellectual knowledge of what would be useful does nothing to help, unless the heart is in sync. We have seen the effects of a purely intellectual approach to social discourse and common issues, time and again: Soviet Communism, Kampuchea (Cambodia), North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela-none a bit better than Hitler’s Germany, apartheid-era South Africa, or the enslavement culture of the Antebellum United States, in my book. The heart and head have to be in synchronicity, or the best ideas will die on the vine.

I will shortly be headed to the Philippines, and will spend 5-7 weeks in heart-focused work, all the while keeping a clear head. Some days, I will be in modern accommodations; other days, in small huts, or maybe sometimes in a lean-to. At all times, though, my heart is looking to my mind for direction-and vice versa. In a time of rapid change,which will only accelerate in the final months of this year, such centeredness is the only guarantee of real sanity. One of my well-wishers here in Prescott told me, this afternoon, that there is nothing I have done, in the past three or four years, that is “ordinary or uninteresting”. That may be an overstatement, but it is comforting. It also underscores my need for staying centered.

So does a long month come to an end, and my preparation for a time of lightning-fast change begin. May all be in harmony.

Inside Track

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Posted by on in children, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Striving

August 30, 2024- Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau decided to spend the eve of their sister’s wedding bicycling near their family home in southern New Jersey. Not far away, someone else decided to spend the evening getting drunk. In a matter of an hour or so, the twain met.

Driving home, the drunken man became annoyed by the driver in front of him, who was going the speed limit, and then “inexplicably”slowed down. The careful driver eased to the left, so the impatient one decided he’d show who was boss, and passed on the inside-in Driver A’s blind spot-and…..hit the two bicyclists, killing both of them. Thus were the lives of six families- Johnny’s wife and children; Matthew’s wife and unborn child; the greater family Gaudreau; their prospective brother-in-law’s; the family of Driver A and that of the drunkard himself ( a decorated military veteran, and father of two) , irreparably upended and altered.

It is time to make passing a vehicle on the inside an illegal act, especially in areas where cycling is active. The practice used to be actively discouraged-at least in my home state of Massachusetts, when I was learning to drive. Back then, roads were seemingly half as crowded as now, and there was a lot more civility-and accountability. Errant drivers were more likely to be cited by the police, and called out by their fellow drivers, not by road rage or a raised middle finger, but face to face, in an admonishing manner. End of digression.

There is much about the culture of driving that makes no sense anymore-and it all derives from tunnel vision, a lack of awareness that there are in fact others around, whose lives matter as much as one’s own. We go about, almost on auto pilot, many “burned out” by life, or distracted by what’s next on the agenda and absolutely convinced that there is nothing more important than that next big, or little, thing.

Now, three children will grow up without their fathers and two others will probably see theirs only fleetingly. A loving couple will wed, in time, and two widows will raise their children, with a vow to “make their Daddy proud of them.” The horror of August 29, 2024 will ebb, but never completely go away-as such horrors are wont to never do.

Impatience, impaired judgment and insolence will continue to claim innocent victims, until the day comes when we look the beast in the eye and say “No more”. Such is the legacy of the Inside Track.

No Scrap Heap

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 29, 2024- “What of us, who are also your friends?”, the voice from 7,500 miles away came, through the medium of the printed Message. This was in reply to my statement that I surely must consult with my dear friend and with Faith community sponsors, before setting an itinerary for service work and other visits, a scant fourteen days from now.

That, however, does not inherently leave anyone out of my life. The Universe has a way of bringing people together when they are supposed to connect. My activities, both here at Home Base I and across North America, especially this year, have fallen into place at precisely the right time for all concerned. I have no reason to believe it will be any different during the upcoming sojourn in the Philippines. The only thing for certain is that, as always anymore, I am determined to not be a burden to anyone. Consultation will help obviate such a state of affairs.

The bottom line is, no one need feel consigned to the scrap heap. We need one another, more than ever, in this time of rapid change, which is likely to only accelerate over the next sixteen months, or longer. Lack of consultation and dearth of appreciation, breed conjecture, false narratives, conspiracy theories and outright mistrust. I will most likely have time to visit with the querulous friend. The visit will fall into the place that it is meant to occupy.

Focus and Count

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Posted by on in Community, Education, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Technical stuff

August 28,2024- Her head spinning, the excitable teen threw up her hands and announced she was too stupid to figure how to do Scientific Notation. Looking at the arcane samples written on the white board, I could see where she, and several others, had come to that conclusion.

It’s not them; it’s the system of instruction. Focusing on maintaining order, I vowed to look up the matter in the quiet of my Home Base. So, should one want to write the number 168,275,000 in Scientific Notation, it would be necessary to move the decimal point (presently after the right-most zero) far enough to the left that the whole number,1, is followed by .68275000. Then, count the digits to the right of the decimal point. There are eight of them. This translates to 1.68275000 x 10 to the eighth power, or ten with an exponent of 8 . This laptop will not write it properly, but anyone who has had Algebra I knows what I mean. I will write it on the white board for all to see, tomorrow.

Focus and count is also necessary, when trying to make a rational, evidence-based decision that balances a heart conviction. Many men in their late teens and twenties have spoken of wanting to see a decisive, “macho” leader, who will, essentially, make the trains run on time-and shove all obstacles aside. That was tried, nearly a hundred years ago, in several countries of Europe. It’s been tried in several other countries since, with limited results, actually.

Historical evidence shows that human nature gets in the way of a machine-like system that knocks all obstacles to the side. The “macho” leader is still a human being and is subject to whims, fancies, and other emotions, which can and do make him/her go overboard. The leader, for example, may misjudge the nature of a an event or a phenomenon, convincing self and supporters that their way is the only way to get through the morass. The problem itself being complex, there are disappointments, setbacks and unrest that come before its resolution, and thinking outside the box, something often anathema to the authoritarian, to the hidebound elders and the unseasoned youth who support his/her efforts, is exactly what is needed to resolve the issue.

The same thing can happen with a top-heavy bureaucracy, which will, in its turn, bring another call for an authoritarian system. Red-tape vendors don’t like divergence of opinion, either. The fact remains, though, that the universe of problems can only be soothed by exactly such diversity. There are matters that can only be resolved by a trusted executive; others that require limited, but vigourous, debate and consensus and others that demand universal participation.

Many matters require that those involved focus, and count.

Sour Into Sweet

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Posted by on in distraction issues, Personal Values, Social, Striving

August 27, 2024- It was probably the overripe cucumber. I felt out of sorts, even had a tinge of self-pity, through the morning, after drinking a shake that had the cucumber and a few remaining blueberries, mixed with chocolate protein powder. The day had to go on, though, so I walked downtown and had half of a nice reuben sandwich and green salad for lunch. With the right, professionally cordial, but neutral, baristas, a meal at County Seat is always delightful.

That seemed to even things up a bit, and after a power nap, I took a bunch of things that I will never use again, and donated them to the DAV thrift store. Then I finally went over to Best Buy and picked up a CD player that actually works. That obviates getting rid of compact discs, many of which I have not heard since both computers and vehicles ditched their CD slots.

After a workout at Planet Fitness and a take-out taco meal, (I can eat one per serving this way), the day has ended sweetly. It must have been the overripe cucumber.

Whose Mess?

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

August 26, 2024- A clumsy man tipped over a full rubbish barrel and lots of stuff came tumbling out. He uttered a mild oath, then stepped aside, and watched as several volunteers cleaned up the spilled items. Appeals from a church elder, for him to pitch in and help, were spaced out and he went outside. Such is dealing with the mentally ill.

I was raised to clean up after myself; most people, I suspect, were, as well. That some will be unable to comprehend that simple social grace is a feature of a society in which “bubbles” are celebrated and “you do you” is seen by many as a virtuous mindset. Avoidance of responsibility is seen as a necessity, a means to guarantee survival “to fight another day”.


Today marked the third anniversary of the explosion at Abbey Gate, at Kabul Airport, resulting in the deaths of thirteen U.S. service people. There was a wreath laying, at Arlington National Cemetery and there was a taking of ownership for the tragedy-two acknowledgements of the pain inflicted on thirteen families, by two radically divergent public figures.

I have a history of assuming responsibility for the messes I’ve either made, or appear to have made-lapses of taking responsibility in my teen years, and in the 2000s, aside. Nobody’s perfect. In the long run, I have had to account for those lapses, too-just as any public servant has to do what the sitting Vice President did today, eventually.

In a world of dodgers, one who does take responsibility for gaffes and tragedies is going to be excoriated, often by the same people who themselves bend into pretzel shapes, in avoiding flack for their misdeeds. It doesn’t make the error in judgement any less severe, but it does detract from the healing process, for those directly hurt and for the public at large.

Healing requires taking responsibility, letting out of pain and reconciliation. It doesn’t allow for hiding and dodging. My earnest respect goes to those who died at Abbey Gate.