Category Archives: Service Activities

Discretion and Honour

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 9, 2024- I received one of the last pieces of my personal health and security tools, in the mail, yesterday. It is a system that will bring me back to the U.S., and to my Home Base, if I am injured or become ill, whilst in any other country. It will help in finding medical or dental providers in that other country, should they become necessary. It also connects with Intelligence services, to let me know if conditions in a given nation warrant staying away from that country. These are in addition to the advisories issued by the U.S. Department of State.

I was, for a time, considering a visit to the capital of a country, which I have found intriguing for many years. The latest intelligence shared is that the capital is the only place in that country that is relatively safe. In other words, the place is not exactly stable, and I wouldn’t be doing anyone a favour, by showing up there. Having promised my loved ones that I will not go pell mell into harm’s way, I have crossed that country off my itinerary, for a journey this coming autumn.

Today was the Day of Valor, a national day of remembrance, in The Philippines, and also called Araw ng Kagitingan (Bataan Day). It honours the Filipino and American soldiers who fought in the Battle of Bataan. This was one of the first battles in the Pacific, during World War II, that I learned about as a child-even before I knew much about the Filipino people. My uncle and cousin told the narrative about Bataan, and the Death March that those captured by the Japanese were forced to endure. Many were killed, and a relative few made the 65 mile force march to Camp O’Donnell, in the central part of Luzon, unscathed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March The importance of this event today is to underscore the value of resilience and fortitude, which lead to unity, to the thriving of The Philippines, or for the success of any nation.

So, the concepts of discretion and honour were much on my mind today.

Totally Covered

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 8, 2024- The Navajo practice a reverence for the solar eclipse. Dineh people stay indoors, as much as possible, cover their windows, fast on the day of the eclipse, and neither work nor play, but pray in the traditional way, with corn pollen. On Dineh lands, schools, businesses and mines are closed.

Even in more cosmopolitan communities, Dineh parents ask their children’s teachers to see that the children do not look at the eclipsed orb, even with “eclipse viewing glasses. So, today, part of my duty was to remind the three or four First Nations students that their parents wanted them in school, while also avoiding even inadvertent contact with the sun, while it was behind the moon. I went further, and minimized even the “well-prepared” children’s observance of the phenomenon. No one had to be sent home for adverse optical reaction to the eclipse, but some became physically ill, from anxiety about the total eclipse, were sent to the Nurse and eventually calmed down.

This is a generation that already has keen knowledge-of astronomical events, of space science and of the old Classical myths. Video gaming has provided a fair amount of information about myths and legends-and about physics. The Alphas are taking the great cosmic events pretty much in stride; they seem to be taking quite a bit in stride, in fact. Given that their formative years haven’t seen much, in the way of peace, I venture that this sanguinity is the Universe’s way of making sure they are up to the challenges that will no doubt face them, when adulthood comes around.

I feel at home, talking with both Generation Z and Gen Alpha. I do not feel the anxiety that came with being a parent, during the Millennial ascendancy. My role is more avuncular, or of a grandparent, or just an older, wiser friend. So, my admonitions about the eclipse were quietly heeded, and I suspect a good many were prepped by their parents, or they prepped themselves, as to what the right approach to this rare occurrence (next up, in 2044) should be. They will be 30-1, by then, and I, if God wills, will be 93.

By mid-afternoon, winter had thrown in its two cents. Cold air and thick clouds ruled the end of the school day, as if to add Mother Nature’s assent to the admonitions of the First Nations people. Nothing really happens in a vacuum, or without cause.

Vested

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 7, 2024- One of my occasional naysayers was online, this morning, leveling a mild gripe about a conflict between one of my scheduled activities and what she wanted me to do, on that day. In fairness, I had offered to help with her activity, about a month ago, and then the less popular event was scheduled. So, I went with the latter, knowing that there will be plenty of people to help with the first activity.

That is the downside of volunteering. Although no money changes hands and it is strictly a discretionary activity, there are egos and potential hard feelings involved. Some organizations even make a show of “firing” their volunteer staff, because not enough deference is shown to the higher-ups. There is at least one such supervisor, in an organization with which I offer my time and energy, who would love to send me packing. She is reduced to the silent treatment, as all hands are needed on deck-and my hands are still strong.

Truth be known, we who offer our services, gratis, are vested in the success of the endeavour. As I mentioned yesterday, every volunteer activity in which I do at least some good is a happy place. So, if my naysayers and critics find fault with what I do, or don’t do, that is on them.

Happy Places

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 6, 2024- As I drove into the parking lot of Mayer Fire Department’s central station, a day-glo sign on a house above the road proclaimed “This is My Happy Place”. A similar notice, “Welcome to Our Happy Place”, greets visitors to the Wildflower Bakery, on the edge of Prescott’s Pine Ridge Marketplace. This led me to once more reflect on my own happy places.

The list starts with Home Base I, the cozy one-bedroom apartment where I’ve lived for the past ten years, and by extension includes Prescott as a whole. Within its confines, the city offers other happy places: Raven Cafe, Peregrine Book Store, Yavapai College’s Sculpture Garden, Wild Iris Coffee House, County Seat Restaurant, Prescott College,Lazy G Brewhouse (I stick to their Non-alcoholic IPA), Lifeways Book Store, any one of four Mom and Pop pizzerias, which I visit sparingly, these days and any one of several Baha’i and other friends’ homes. In the periphery are Zeke’s Eatin’ Place, Highlands Nature Center, Thumb Butte, Watson Lake and the Granite Dells, Willow and Goldwater Lakes, Dharma Farm and Granite Mountain.

Once outside HB I, there are the Happy Places on the road-and over the ocean: Samesun Hostel and Ocean Beach; Copper Sands Motel and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; Macy’s European Coffee House and Bakery-and the San Francisco Peaks; Brewed Awakenings Coffee House and Grand Canyon’s South Rim; Jacob Lake Inn (coming back in June, my friends) and the North Rim; every last one of the First Nations Pueblos; any number of Orange County beach towns; Santa Fe, with The Pantry and Henry & The Fish; Taos; Cuba (NM) and Ghost Ranch; Manitou Springs; Monument Valley; Tucson’s Old Town; High Desert Bakery and Coronado National Monument.

There are the Baha’i House of Worship and Wilmette Village’s center; Mishawaka and the Crisenberry Family Farm, in nearby Goshen; all of Massachusetts’ North Shore-and downtown Boston; Boothbay Harbor, Green Acre Baha’i School- and the entire coast of Maine; Cape Breton Island; Newfoundland; Vancouver Island; Amarillo, with the Fun Zone and Palo Duro Canyon; Gram’s Place-and all of Tampa Bay; Tonopah and Beans & Brew; Carson City and the Tahoe Region; Portlandia; the Olympic Peninsula; Crossville and the Cumberland Plateau; Aiken and Full Moon Coffee House; Osceola Tiger and Big Cypress; Philly’s Old City, and the Museum of Art in Wood; the ‘burbs west of Philadelphia and Glick’s Greenhouse.

There are Vannes and Daily Gourmand, in Bretagne; Makati, and Manila’s Rizal Park; Daet’s Bagasbas Beach; Luxembourg’s Old City; Frankfurt-am-Main’s Dom; anywhere on Jeju-do; Busan’s Gold King Coffee House.

Happiness, though, is in the mind and heart. The people in the above-mentioned places are what make each of them special. A few would call themselves acquaintances, most would count me as a friend and one has my heart, as no other person save my late wife, Penny, had it. Each of them, and their surroundings, bring me solace. Their list will, no doubt, grow.

Each substitute teaching job that did at least one child or teen some good, each volunteer shift that produced some good, each errand of mercy to needful friends accomplished, each hike done safely and each trip that was not a waste of time is also a happy place.

I salute everyone who offers their home or business in like manner.

Continuous Flow

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

April 4, 2024- My cousin, John, came by this morning, just before I woke up. He and I were walking, along a rough, rocky path, which had a drop off into the ether, to the left, and a series of other rocky paths, to the right-each of those being separated by drop offs into the ether. He asked if I wanted to stay over there. I told him I had many things to do, before I went there to stay. That was when I awoke.

John and I were quite close, as boys, and into our young adulthood. He visited me, when we were both in VietNam, in 1971. He and his wife, Mary, helped me when I was unceremoniously evicted from my apartment, in February, 1977. We kept in touch, though I last saw him at my brother, Brian’s, funeral, in 1994. John passed away three years ago, this June.

I was not at all jarred by this dream. It just affirmed for me that I have many things for which to remain in this life, from a wealth of good friends-one in particular-to several goals, over the next six years and beyond. About an hour after I got myself together for the day, two friends were asking for assistance, and I was able to help both, in small ways. From there, I retrieved items left behind at yesterday’s job site, then took part in a shelter simulation with the area Red Cross team. This evening, there was a session for healing and assistance prayers, at the home of some Baha’i friends.

I also got some input into cosmic energy trends for the rest of the year, which will help in planning activities, both here at Home Base and further afield, including international travel. There will be some small adjustments made, with regard to dates of overseas journeys, and close consultation with friends in each country is crucial. That should be the case, anyway, but the energy trends amplify that need.

Things are bound to be fast-paced, in certain months, and like cold molasses, in others. Energy will be continuous in flow, though, regardless.

“I have promises to keep, and miles to go, before I sleep.”-Robert Frost

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening

Me, and THAT army

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 3, 2024- Taking my place on lunchroom duty, this afternoon, I was greeted by two young men who I hadn’t seen since the Fall of 2015. Although my work with their class lasted only three months or so, before the charter school hired a community member who was in need, the kids remember that time as being one of security and helpful instruction. I was still just getting back on my feet, emotionally, at that time, so it felt good to know that my work was beneficial.

Several people, from Grades 5 on up, have said they are glad when I am in their classroom. I share that sentiment, so maybe that’s why. It is equally a matter of sound financial practice, and the satisfaction that I get from helping children and teens build a strong future for themselves, that leads me to continue working in the area schools.

People have been wonderful to me for many years now, by and large, so any difficulties tend to get resolved and put in the rear view mirror, in rather short order. This smoothness in my personal life makes for more time to devote to the considerable tests and difficulties faced by so many other people. These range from something as simple as a lack of transportation, locally, to helping with Baha’i or Red Cross activities in areas farther afield.

Today was mostly spent giving six repetitions of a slide-based lecture, about the history and legacy of colonialism in Africa. It surprised me, as much as it did the students, as to how much I remember of that subject, from my own high school World History class (Thank you, Mr. Musgrave, for your attention to detail, back then) and subsequent independent reading. It was all good. They mostly took good notes, though, so maybe 40 years from now, someone will share this with scholars of the future.

“From whom much is given, much is expected.” My “army” of friends and benefactors makes those expectations easier to meet.

No Day for Folderol

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Posted by on in Community, Education, impediments, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 1, 2024- “A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men”-Roald Dahl, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”.

All Fools Day is said to have originated in the Achaemenid Empire (First Persian Empire), around 580 B.C. It’s said to have been a day when levity and pranking were given official sanction, after a long winter. So it has been, primarily in Western countries, ever since. Those nations which have adopted many European practices have, of course, taken this day of silliness into their cultural repertoire.

Anymore, I see the first of April as a day when I might carefully both give and receive pranks. This morning, though, I opened my cell phone to see a message that a fire had consumed an apartment complex that was still under construction. There was no follow-up “April Fool!”, and the person who sent the message is not one given to tomfoolery.

As I was headed to that community, anyway, for a coffee klatsch, the fact of the actual fire quickly became evident. It had started during the early morning hours and moved with intensity-possibly due to it having been set. I have learned, over the years, to not speculate too intensely on such matters. If it is arson, that will be determined soon enough. A disturbed person has been going about, throwing glass shards in athletic practice areas, and committing acts of vandalism at a nearby high school, so this terrible event may well be part of a wider campaign of mayhem.

In any case, the rest of my day was spent pleasantly enough, but I was in no mood to indulge in prank-based levity. Doing errands, serving food at the soup kitchen and taking part in a spiritual dance gathering on Zoom made for a more satisfying day.

May April be beneficial to all, and not be the cruelest month, as T.S.Eliot would have had people believe.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land

Resurgent

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

March 31, 2024- There were a lot of plastic eggs, in baskets on the breakfast tables, at Post 6, this morning. When I picked one up and shook it, gently, to see if there was anything inside, the event’s organizer got a bit huffy and said “You’re all lucky we even decorated the tables!” Fair point, I guess, and in the scheme of things, jelly beans or chocolate bites inside a decorative Easter egg merit a .005 in importance, on a scale of 1-10-especially in the days of mass homelessness in Gaza and considerable destitution right here in the U.S.

What matters is faith. As a Baha’i, I hold firmly to the notion that spiritual truth is revealed progressively. The earliest books of the Bible deal with individual recognition of the Divine, as do the Teachings of Krishna. Moses stressed the need for family and tribe to be reverent. Zoroaster taught recognition of the power of Good, of Light. Buddha was all about detachment, even through suffering. Christ taught, and modeled, forgiveness based on love. Mohammad called for the spiritually-governed nation. Baha’u’llah calls for the spiritually-governed planet. None of them have taught that it is laudatory to slaughter one’s enemies. Moses and Mohammad make allowances for self-defense, but that is as far as actual scripture goes-at least as far as I can determine.

Christ, through His Resurrection, taught that no one is beyond hope. Each of us can be resurgent, and can transcend our limitations, even when appearing spiritually dead. None of us can really know and judge another soul, and so it is always best, on an individual basis, to offer love and support to those who are errant. Justice is best left to those in government, so long as it is applied in an even-handed manner. Any one of us can change for the better-and be resurgent.

That’s my “lay sermon” for this Easter, and I’m sticking to it.

No True Veils

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

March 28, 2024- The divers found two bodies, yesterday, in the chill of the Patapsco River. Men who had gone to work, on the overnight shift, Monday night, found themselves trapped in a car, as the chain reaction of errant cargo ship goes out of control, hits bridge supports,bridge buckles and collapses, men die-plays out. A miracle can save four others, but the clock ticks on. Families, yet again, are shattered. A young woman hugs her husband, who escaped death by the narrowest of margins, all the more striking, as he cannot swim. They mourn the loss of his crew mates, and join in the sorrow of those families. A city, a state, and five nations are in shock.

Across the globe, 143 people died in an attack on a Moscow nightclub. Moscow, Nova, Orlando, Manchester, Las Vegas, Bali, What is it about entertainment venues that incenses political extremists? Is it a matter of “How dare they have a good time, when I and mine are going through horror?” Is it a matter of “God hates those who relax”? We see the aftermath. Other extremists have killed over 30,000 people, most of them innocent of wrongdoing, in the name of retribution. A world is sliding into shock.

There is no barrier, really, between me and any given counterpart in Gaza, in Moscow, in any one of the nations that lie south of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. We all have our legitimate work to do, trying to make the world a better place.

There is no veil between any of us and those who left their bodies behind, either willingly or because their presence is inconvenient to the aims of a certain relative few. The departed still have work to do, in their spirit forms. They may assist those they love or they may exact retribution on those who tormented them. Some probably do a little of both.

There are no real veils or barriers between us. It just makes a convenient dodge, to pretend otherwise.

Tonalea

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

March 27, 2024- “You don’t need to leave a tip. We didn’t really DO anything.” The cashier thus made her appeal to the dignity of one and all, as I paid for a couple bags of freshly ground coffee. I thought how refreshingly decent this woman is, and how sentiments like hers give the lie to the notion that Gen Z is collectively self-centered and always has its generational hand out. (The Greatest Generation, once upon a time, expressed similar sentiments about us then-youthful Boomers, but I digress.)

One of the bags was going to the old friend I was en route to visit, and to his family. C lost his wife of 40 + years, a few months back, and so I was heading up to Tonalea, to offer condolences and emotional support. The community’s name in the Dineh (Navajo) language, means, essentially, Red Lake. There is, in years of heavy winter and spring precipitation, an actual lake, off U.S. Hwy/160, on the community’s north side. This year, I saw no lake.

It was a smooth ride from Prescott to Flagstaff, where I bought the coffee from Macy’s European Coffee House and Bakery, owned by another old friend. Traffic in and around Northern Arizona University reminds me a bit of Manila-everyone is doing their own thing, and gridlock is not altogether a rarity. My upbringing helps me transcend that, as a motorist here and as a pedestrian in my second favourite big city (after San Diego). Looking out for others makes for a longer journey, but for better self-esteem, at day’s end.

Driving from Flagstaff to Tonalea was even smoother. Dineh and Hopi people are quite orderly and civil, in their driving habits, and the area is sparsely polulated, to boot. As the two Elephant’s Feet (grey sandstone rock formations) looked on, from across the highway, I turned on the graded dirt road that winds around, towards Black Mesa, and reached C’s homestead, five miles inward. There he stood, as I arrived, at about the same time as planned.

C reminisced about his wedded life and what had led to his wife’s passing. Her suffering, it seemed, was mercifully short. We then talked of the connection between those of us in the flesh and our departed loved ones. Years ago, as Penny and I lay together, she told me she had seen my Penobscot ancestors standing over me, as I slept. I was not surprised by that. The ties that departed souls have to this world are very, very strong. Everything that has happened to me, both the serendipitous events that have transpired and my protection from malevolent forces, over the past thirteen years, or even before, has been due to those who have gone before me, and who make up a bulwark of energy that lets me do the bidding of the Divine.

After a two-hour visit, and my reassuring him that all will be well, even with the swirling changes that seem to bother him so, it was time for C to get back to tending to his family, working on his fences, and keeping livestock from eating his trees. It was also time for me to head back to Prescott, with a “halfway stop” at My Pita Wrap, a small Mediterranean restaurant on Flagstaff’s main drag. Going back up to Dinehtah, with its otherworldly rocks, grounded people and mystical energy, is always a reset for my own personal energy.