All Hands In

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 28, 2023 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

August 28, 2023- The pompous driver hollered, at both the city vehicle that was halfway through the unmarked intersection, and thus had the right of way, and the two disabled men who were in a marked crosswalk, with their walkers. (Arizona law states that people in a crosswalk that is not regulated by a traffic signal have the right of way). The driver’s plaint- “This would never be allowed, back home!”-rang a bit hollow to this bystander. I know the two disabled men. They are combat veterans and have earned the respect of the public at large.

It was, however, a genuinely lovely day. The students at the high school where I worked were uniformly focused on their assignment, showing respect for both the regular teacher and me. The six classes were quite large-as high school classes tend to be, yet there was an atmosphere of order-even the cut-ups were rather benign in their antics, and got to work after one warning.

The team at this evening’s dinner at Solid Rock was determined to show the two managers, both out of state, that they can get the job done, on their own. There was a healthy competition to pick up trays from those diners who were finished, with one of the diners himself picking up empties from his mates. A recycling program also started with tonight’s meal-cans, plastic bottles and small cardboard sheets went with the evening’s ad hoc manager. There is a definite pride that the team takes, from all hands being in focus, to give the homeless citizens of our community a balanced, well-prepared meal to start their week.

Everyone does something to help out in our community, and in the world at large. I have learned to not take it on the chin, when someone yammers and squawks if I’m not available to do what they want- often on the spot. I understand that everyone has needs and that frequently those needs are spontaneous. If I can help, so much the better-but there are no apologies forthcoming because I have other acts of service scheduled, some of them in places other than this community. ( I do dislike the overuse of “vacation”, to mean any time away from one’s home area, but I digress.) My friends sigh, or groan, or shrug their shoulders, and when I get back to Home Base, they are still my friends. The users just gripe and move on.

The best case scenario, though, is all hands in-like the classes I covered today, and the dinner at Solid Rock.

The DACA Picnic

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 27, 2023 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

August 27, 2023- Close to fifty people were gathered in Granite Creek Park, early this afternoon, when I went over for an event organized to assist people registering with the government, under the terms of the Dream Act, for another two years of relative safety, as legal residents of the United States.

It was a well-organized, if low key, event-with a few people playing games and practicing Tae Kwon Do, despite the heat. Most of the Boomers in attendance were gathered under the ramada. I got my food and went to sit and watch the kids of various ages, who were engaged in the fun activities. The samosa vendor from Farmers Market was providing her delicious East African filled dumplings, as the protein item in the light lunch that was given to each of us. I took one of the chicken samosas, some Veggie Straws, a navel orange and some sparkling water.,

This brings me to the whole immigration issue. I read a post, this evening, by someone I thought knew better, saying that all the changes taking place in the world right now are organized by some shadowy group that wants to buy up as much land as they can get away with (thus, the wildfires in Hawaii, Canada and around the Mediterranean region), lock everyone down again (thus, the recent outbreaks of ad nauseam subvariants of Covid) and crash the U.S. economy (thus, the BRICS Group’s expansion). Similar fears are being expressed about migration, a phenomenon that far predates our system of nations and borders, and which will far outlast its present iteration- and for one reason: People will go where the work is.

I am personally in favour of a Guest Worker program, which would allow people to enter this country legally, for the purpose of filling those positions which American citizens choose not to occupy. While they ought to be able to drive, again as licensed operators, subject to all laws, including the holding of an adequate insurance policy, and should be able to find housing, their children be educated in U.S schools, etc., I do not favour granting other perquisites, such as welfare or unemployment insurance payments-especially as there are many American citizens who go without such benefits. Homeless citizens should be first in line for affordable housing, which is a human right. Citizens who are ill should be first in line for affordable health care-also a human right. We have the wherewithal to do right by our fellow Americans AND, in an organized manner, help our fellow humans who come to us from other nations.

Jumping back to the BRICS question, the very organization of that group is a direct nconsequence of colonialism. Every member of BRICS, except Russia, is a country which was once administered, and/or had its resources extrmeriacted by, one or more nations of Western Europe. It is NOT a cabal that wants to destroy the United States. If anything, the nations want to copy the better aspects of the American model, and why wouldn’t they? Seeking to level the playing field requires a gradual spread of genuine democratic practices-and even China is going to find that to be to its benefit, if it hasn’t realized that already.

BRICS ties in with DACA, in that the only way to prevent the monstrous cabal, that so many fear, from taking over, is to empower the Global South, and its citizens, in place-so that there is not an accelerating and unwieldy wave upon wave of people overloading the nations of North America and Europe, far beyond anything we are experiencing now. Both development in place, and a well-managed Guest Worker program in the developed nations, are needed, and urgently.

The Giant Rubber Duck

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 26, 2023 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

Style and Substance

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 26, 2023 in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 25, 2023- The little boy greeted me, in late morning, with a warm hug. The angry woman, later in the evening, with much the opposite.

Like so many days, this one began light and airy-and ended with a thud. I woke, sensing that the energy around me was shifting in a positive direction and that, in advance of the journey that begins at the end of next week, my path in what remains to be done here in the meantime would be free of obstacles. The work day reflected that, with the children energetic and cooperative, and my colleagues just happy to see another Friday, though they do enjoy their work. Everyone likes a rest, or change of pace, after a week at a job well done.

I visited Rafter Eleven, and was treated like a king-an extra mocha java was delivered to my table, as a token of appreciation for consistent support of this marvelous enterprise, over the bottom of the past eight years. A little bee was also attracted to my light meal, and to the drink, eventually finding its way to the bottom of the glass. Unfortunately, the poor animal perished from the still icy condition of the vessel-or maybe from the caffeine.

After leaving my friend’s establishment, I chose to join an in-person meeting, instead of going back to Home Base and signing onto Zoom. The hosts and the presenter were congenial, and the information quite illuminating. Not everyone was glad to see me however, and after a fashion, I found it best to excuse myself and head out-easy enough to do, as it had been a long, if lovely, day up to that point-and I needed rest.

There have been, every so often, people in my life who do not take kindly to my manner of speech or style of explanation. I try to learn what I can from such a person, for a time, and if it makes me more well-rounded or expands my knowledge, so much the better. Style, however, tends to reflect the substance of a soul. An angry, wounded soul will be abrupt, castigating and intolerant. I have not done well, in the presence of such people and this evening was no exception.

For my part, I know that I do not think well on my feet at the end of the day-and frequently, I do not engage well in debate, even when rested. This means nothing to the disquiet person, and is often viewed by them as an excuse. The whole trigger this evening was my statement that I like to back up my comments with the words of Baha’u’llah or ‘Abdu’l-Baha, not as a proselytizing mechanism or as a substitute for good deeds, but as the glue that holds my own words and deeds together. That led to an outburst of anger, and I chose to leave, rather than exacerbate the situation.

For a time, once back in the apartment, I pondered whether this is an indication that my time here in this community is getting short, that maybe the bloom is off the rose and I need to move on. The counter to that, I know, is that the part of myself that triggers anger in disquiet people will only spark the same, at the next place, if I move along. It’s better to keep this Home Base for now, get my journeys done in September and October, and resume work here from November through mid-May.

With that, I am headed to sleep, and hope for a peaceful weekend.

On Quality

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 24, 2023 in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

August 24, 2023- While working out on a stationary bicycle, this evening, I caught an episode of “Shark Tank”, a program in which would-be entrepreneurs approach Mark Cuban, and four other judges, and pitch a proposal, which is to garner the proponents a cash advance, for which, in return, the judges each get a percentage of ownership in the start-up.

Watching one of the pitches, in particular, I had to say, with Mark Cuban, who knows a thing or two about start-ups and expansion, that selling the initial unit of the business, for half of what was originally paid, and asking the “Tank” to fund three units of a nationwide expansion of the concept, was a non-starter. I say this, knowing next to nothing about business, yet having this idea in my head that, if I did have a start-up, based on an appealing concept and backed by a solid business model, I would want to have twice what I paid for the first unit, in the bank-before even thinking about a second unit, much less a third or fourth. I would want to have a track record of quality-and I would not sell off my initial unit. Had the entrepreneurs known the process of thinking things through, they’d have not made that mistake.

In a competitive world, quality is king. Not so long ago, if I had been offered a Marvel comic book persona, I would have been The Veneer. While I had, and still have, lots of heart, my understanding of what made for a quality offering was rather stilted. In teaching, and in making group presentations as a counselor, I was big on content-facts and figures. People- students, colleagues and interviewers-wanted depth, hooks, gravitas, a sense of what mattered.

Thank the Divine for the Internet: For Google, Bing, Safari, Siri and Alexa. Not feeling the need to be a walking encyclopedia is a fine thing. My focus, for the past decade or so, has been on encouraging thought, and showing how to ask the right questions. Quality of focus and of what will be important, fifty years from now, is essential in education, in business and in public discourse. Students need to be guided in that area, far more than they need to be passive recipients of things they could find on their own.

Independent investigation of truth is the wave of the future. Having learning be a quality experience mandates that that process be encouraged now.

Humanity Isn’t Minimized

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 23, 2023 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Entertainment, Hiking and Nature, Historical, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 23, 2023- In August, 1974, a family visiting from Montreal had taken a cabin at a resort, in western Maine, where I was working for the summer. A fire was built in the hearth, then thinking that it would be secure and burn itself out-in the hearth, the family went to bed. At 2 a.m., the older daughter, 13, smelled smoke and got her parents and sister up and out of the cabin. I was one of the volunteer firefighters who did the best we could to extinguish the fire-and did keep it from spreading. Many of the other crew members were year-round residents of the village. Their own homes would have been at serious risk, in short order, had the blaze spread.

Tusayan is a small town, of about 6,000 people, most of whom work in service industries connected to Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim. There are also those who serve the servers: The Coconino County Sheriff’s Substation, the Grand Canyon Unified School District and the Town of Tusayan’s government.

Yesterday, much of the town’s populace, and many visitors, were evacuated, due to unusual flash floods. While clean-up will take time, and there is an ongoing threat of more rain, through Friday, the main road-AZ Highway 64, has been re-opened, from the South Rim’s entrance to Williams. The eastern section, from the entrance to Cameron, did not need to be closed, though in taking that road last night, due to a commitment at a school in Prescott, today, I noticed that a severe hail storm had struck the eastern part of South Rim, earlier in the afternoon.

This is yet another in a series of wake-up calls for the tourism industry, and for travelers in general, that the places being visited are inhabited by people who are essentially the same as those who have left their homes to take a rest, be served or to just enjoy a change of pace from home sweet home. Lahaina is the largest, and worst, such tragedy, in a series spanning several years. Gatlinburg, Big Sur, Talkeetna and dozens of small forest encampments all over the continent-and across the globe, have seen fire and flood drive those involved in hospitality lose house and home.

There are many reactions to a tragedy in a vacation-oriented area, as I discussed last week. It has been reported that at least one tourist raged about his dinner reservation being canceled by the Lahaina fire’s burning down the restaurant. We are all on a journey away from self, and towards seeing “all humanity created from the same stock”, as Baha’u’llah wrote in a prayer, 150 years ago. Some of us have, in all sincerity and from a place of generosity, gone to the suffering area and purchased a vacation package, thinking that THIS is the way to help the people in the afflicted community know that the world stands with them. Others have sent large supplies of goods, often without checking as to what is actually needed. These are good-hearted people, who have just not taken the time to hear from the victims themselves, or from their spokespeople. Thus, some want to go to Maui, anyway. Others will go to Tusayan, and expect that business as usual has resumed, because the highway is open. The clean-up will continue, for some time.

Humanity isn’t minimized by where someone lives, or by which economic group they occupy. Yes, paying for a service does mean that one gets a product for one’s money. It is also true, in this age when nearly every place on Earth has something of interest to offer, that we are all both visitors and visited, servers and served.

I find that it is the deep connecting with those who live in a community, that makes visiting the locale worthwhile in the first place.

That Floor Space

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 21, 2023 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

August 21, 2023- A friend told of visiting her aunt’s home as a child, and going into the room where her disabled, nonverbal cousin was sitting on the floor, and joining her, talking with the girl and not expecting any verbal response. The joyful smile and noise that she did get in reply were actually more meaningful than the banal banter that we often pass off as “interest”.

I read, this evening, of one of the few houses still standing, in Lahaina. The metal roof, cleared space around the house and the distance between homes, in that part of Front Street, had a fair amount to do with its survival. Another aspect, that the couple who live there now plan to take in some who are destitute, surely affected its fate. Arrangements, solutions, to even the worst of disasters are in the ethereal realm, waiting to be called forth. Floor space is a temporary fix, but I have been in plenty of situations, both as a host and as a guest, when a spot on the floor, or on a couch, has made the difference between renewed hope and despair.

There are also times when the schedule is crowded, or I am out of town, and a call, a text or an e-mail comes from someone, just needing to be acknowledged or to get a listening ear. I could do better in that regard, but setting aside time, pulling over to the side of the road, clicking the Bluetooth phone icon on my steering wheel or, if in an activity, excusing myself and going outside, to answer the call, are all getting easier. That temporal floor space is often all that an overwhelmed soul needs.

There is definitely floor space, one place or another, for everyone.

One Day, Four Events

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 20, 2023 in collaborating, Community, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 19,2023- I woke this morning, with the intent of primarily being on site at the eleventh annual Hope Fest, where I have helped local Christians, in some of the practical tasks that crop up during the course of their program of ministry to those who are suffering from homelessness, addictions and/or domestic abuse. There were to be two other activities: Helping break down the Farmer’s Market, which was essential, as a new person came on board today, and Spiritual Feast, in the evening.

A last-minute text message added a fourth event, and by 9 a.m., I was online, co-hosting the Worldwide Celebration of Unity. This has been needed of me during the main host’s lengthy illness, which continues in the recovery phase. The program went forward quite well, and by 10:15, I was back on site at Hope Fest-getting caught up with a few tasks, involving communications.

At noon, the Farmer’s Market site saw my shadow, the new person proved to be as energetic and as quick a study as the rest of the crew. We got everything cleaned and put away by 2 p.m., and back to Hope Fest I went. The afternoon proved very smooth, musicians were happy and some patrons with questions were my main concern, along with the woman custodian needing help. I left at 5:30, got ready for Feast and at 6:40, drove to a friend’s house for the devotional, consultation and fellowship that we Baha’is have, once in each nineteen day period. As always, the evening was lovely, made more so by this being at the host’s new home.

After Feast, I went back to Hope Fest, in anticipation of the lengthy process of wrapping things up and making sure that the clean-up, and putting away of borrowed equipment was in order. I found the concert by the event’s headliners (Building 429) was still in full swing, and enjoyed their last few songs-including the “good night” tune: A spirited beginning verse of “Don’t You Forget About Me’, by Simple Minds. Their spiritual tunes were well-crafted, and energized the audience to the very end. Things wound down nicely, a full crew was then engaged in putting chairs up, for the rental agents to collect, trash was collected one last time and unused water given to whoever wanted to take it with them or given to the Solid Rock Church, across the street. By 11:30, I was satisfied that all was in order, and that a late-night crew would take care of the stage breakdown-which did not require these old bones to be present.

Though I might have been annoyed by the last minute request, as recently as six months ago, these days, it just seems like part of the deal. As long as I feel up to helping out, it just seems like what is being asked by the Divine. There will be times, when being in two places the same day will seem unreasonable-and I will have to decline a request, but today, everything dovetailed quite nicely.

Agency Honouring

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 20, 2023 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving, Travel

August 18, 2023- A world famous entrepreneur and television host walked into a Red Cross shelter-with a full camera crew and other members of the entourage. The shelter manager informed one and all that no filming or recording was allowed inside dormitory area of the shelter. This is standard procedure for ARC shelters. The crew and most of the others left, but the famous person stayed and distributed items that she had brought along. The performative element of the visit was foregone, with no real damage to the agency of either the donor or the shelter clients.

Personal agency is, as I have said earlier, a most important thing to honour. So, for that matter, is collective agency, that which acknowledges the integrity of a community of people. I am not threatened by the presence of anyone who identifies as gay, bisexual, questioning. I am not threatened the presence of a transgender person. Conversely, I am not threatened by the presence of a conservative, fundamentalist, traditionalist human being. I know who I am, and not being influenced by someone whose life experiences are different from mine, honouring their agency and their humanity is not at all difficult.

Honouring a community is, likewise, not difficult. Having lived and worked with Dineh, Hopi, Korean and Vietnamese people helped me see things from a wider perspective. Visiting with people in all fifty states and D.C, all ten Canadian provinces and thirteen other countries has only expanded that perspective further. Community involvement, here in my community of residence, is the cement that reinforces respect for individual and collective agency, day to day.

These thoughts come to me, after a short postmortem on the recent “Copper 2 Gold” series of discussions on overcoming one’s lingering prejudices, particularly with regard to relationships with People of Colour. There is a legacy left by colonialism, and by the individual and collective sense of superiority that spurred that colonialism, in the first place. It doesn’t require a system that is identified by a colloquialism from the dialect of enslaved people (“woke”) to correct its excesses, but it certainly needs every single person to examine his/her lingering misconceptions and prejudices, and to do so earnestly.

Dribs and Drabs

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 15, 2023 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving, Travel

August 15, 2023- Back when I was working as a grocery bagger and cart gatherer, in the awkward days of high school, the man who was probably the best boss I have had, to this day, had a by-phrase: “Use your squash!” I had him banging his head on the wall more than once, but after a fashion, that advice stuck, and it has been applied in a variety of situations.

I read of several ongoing events and processes today, and this being a quiet day in the neighbourhood, devote this post to the scattershot responses to two very different ongoing concerns.

The careful search for victims of the Maui fires, especially in Lahaina, continues, with the death toll at 99 and 1300 people counted missing. As this goes on, reports are surfacing that there are efforts being made to snap-up property in the fire zone. This should, at the very least, be shot down by the current property owners. It would be best if the Hawai’i Legislature, or Congress, passes legislation that installs an indefinite moratorium on any such transactions. Snap-up culture, in general, is tawdry and disgusting. In cases like this one, involving what may well become hallowed ground, it is far, far out of line.

The other aspect of the tragedy, the behaviour of tourists, bears mentioning. In 2014, when I was in Europe, I had to learn from mistakes and file the lessons under “Do not repeat”. Later that year, in Honolulu, it came to mind that Hawaiian people have said, repeatedly, that they are getting tired of pushy, inconsiderate people from the mainland-and elsewhere. It was a brief visit to Honolulu, but my manners were intact.

It seems that some visitors, whether out of boredom, convention or sheer ego, have disrespected the people of Maui, in recent days. Perhaps they can reach back to times when they have been in mourning. That is what is going on in Maui, and across the island chain. When one visits a place, even if spending a tidy sum, there is nothing that says basic decency should be cast aside.

Finally, the debate over whether the 19 people who were indicted for interfering with the Georgia vote count, in the 2020 election, is finding those opposed to the indictments are missing one thing: Nineteen people, not just one, are up on charges. That takes extra time, so yes, it is correct for the DA to file the charges now-for what is likely a trial that won’t happen until early 2025. The comparison to the Federal charges against 3 people, in one set, and one person, in the other set, is a matter of apples and oranges. I also remind one and all that no one is seeking a star chamber proceeding. Each person charged has the right to a fair trial-innocent until proven guilty-in a court of law, not a scrum of public opinion.

Decency-it’s what’s on the menu of personal behaviour. Use your squash!