Category Archives: Service Activities

On Quality

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Posted by on 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

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Posted by on 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

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Posted by on 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

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Posted by on 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

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Posted by on 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

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Posted by on 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!

Not Beaten by The Heat

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving, Travel

August 13, 2023– The water shimmered and there were a couple of families overlooking the lake, at Site Six, where there is a replica of Split Rock Lighthouse, which commemorates the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, each November 10. The vessel sank into Lake Superior, in an early gale, on that date, in 1975, and all on board drowned.

This was one of those unexpected tragedies that, in today’s world, might have generated a host of conspiracy theories, but was simply the result of a natural event that occurred out of its “usual” season. This is something to keep in mind, as the tales of state terrorism begin to find their way into the media (and they are already surfacing), with regard to Maui.

Let’s get back to reality, though. It was 109 F outside, as I took ten minutes each, at two locations along Lake Havasu’s eastern shore, to look things over, for the first time since 2011. After taking a photo of a Mexican family, at their request, I got a few shots of the lake, at Site Six. (Each of the boat launches in Lake Havasu State Park are numbered.)

Site Five, from Site Six, Lake Havasu State Park
Jet skier, off Site Six, Lake Havasu State Park
View of Havasu Lake, CA, the seat of the Chemehuevi Nation.
Split Rock Lighthouse replica, Site Six, Lake Havasu State Park

Having kept myself sunscreened and my head & neck covered, it was time to find a parking spot, near London Bridge, walk down to English Village and enjoy a bit of ice cream. The bridge was brought here in sections, by the founder of Lake Havasu City, Robert McCulloch, a power tool executive, between 1968 and 1971. It consists today of the original masonry of the 1830 version of London Bridge, reinforced in concrete.

View of balustrade along London Bridge, Lake Havasu City
London Bridge, Lake Havasu City
Southwestern Arch, London Bridge, Lake Havasu City
Base of southwestern arch, London Bridge, Lake Havasu City

Having spent a total of fifteen minutes in the heat, divided into two segments, I finished the small salted caramel cone and headed back towards Home Base. Traffic was light, and I briefly considered stopping at Seligman, either for a short nap on the side of the road, an early light supper at Westside Lilo’s, or both. Spotting three men carrying a gas can, along the side of the offramp, I opted for neither one. One of the men went with me to a gas station, filled the can, and was transported back to the vehicle with the empty tank. I drove the rest of the way to Prescott, feeling no need for either a snooze or a meal along the way. I got both, once back in the apartment.

Lake Havasu seldom, if ever, gets unruly. Its large and beautiful counterparts in the Upper Midwest and central Canada, though, have a different story to tell.

A Dozen Years

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving, Travel

August 11, 2023- On this date, in 2011, I posted a short, tentative introductory post, inaugurating this site. It was at a difficult time in life. My wife of twenty-nine years had been gone five months. I was feeling isolated from many people, and was feeling pressured by others, to do what they thought was best for me, going forward. I ended up “going dark”, for the most part, until the following January.

A dozen years later, I’m still very much here, and no longer feeling besieged, either by my own demons or by others’ expectations. So, I want to take a look back, at some of the things that I did right, during each of these years.

2011- It was an honour to help my in-laws, providing food for them, over a two-week period, when they were laid up and unable to prepare their own meals. I also re-connected with my father’s older brother, in Colorado.

2012- Some of the places that Penny and I had wanted to visit together, I was able to reach-with her spirit very close at hand: San Francisco’s Baha’i Center; the Redwoods, both coastal and interior; the Oregon Coast; the Portland Rose Gardens; Neah Bay and Cape Flattery, WA; Seattle.

2013- I was able to attend a “Sail Blind” event, in which my second-eldest brother was participating.

2014- Attended the 70th Anniversary of D-Day observance, at Utah Beach, and visited the site of my father-in-law’s World War II imprisonment,in Berga, Germany- both in his memory.

2015- Made it to southeast Alaska, which we had also hoped to visit as a couple.

2016- Overcame a lot of self-doubt and took on a job that involved helping other autistic people. With considerable help, replaced the broken-down vehicle that I had bought on the cheap, two years ago.

2017- Kept at my final full time job; had a smooth drive, to and from New England.

2018- Faced down a very powerful negative force.

2019- Survived a physical attack; made the decision to move into semi-retirement. Went to Korea and attended Aram’s and Yunhee’s wedding.

2020- Worked the floor, twice, during the height of COVID-19, at Red Cross storm shelters, in Louisiana and Texas.

2021- Drove to and from Massachusetts, twice, to assist with Mom’s move and the clearing of our former family home.

2022- Traveled to Newfoundland and Cape Breton, fulfilling another of our couple dreams. Bought a vehicle on my own, this time in a proper manner.

2023- Made a concerted effort to reduce my weight-and succeeded. Visited a few friends,in the Pacific Northwest, who had felt isolated during the long night of COVID-19. There are two long journeys, at least, left in this year. I say “at least”, because there is no telling what will be asked of any of us, by the Red Cross-with regard to Maui.

In any event, my psyche is in so much better a place, after twelve years of self-responsibility.

Vacationland Burning

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

August 10, 2023- Lahaina was a royal city. Kamehameha I established his palace there, in the 1802, seeing its value as a central location among the Hawaiian Islands. It was quieter and less subject to visits from rowdy foreigners than was Honolulu.

Lahaina was a whaling port, after the capital moved back to much larger Honolulu. It then built a fort, to protect itself from those same rowdy whalers and sailors who were nonetheless the source of its income.

Lahaina will now decide when and how to rebuild. Fire came, in the midst of Hawai’i’s Big Dry, stoked by one of the furthest traveling major hurricanes, ever: Dora,which started off the Pacific coast of Mexico, passed well south of Hawai’i- while sending gale force winds north to the islands of Hawai’i and Maui, and is now on track to brush Wake Island, albeit as a tropical storm, by the middle of next week. My concern rises for the low-lying Marshall Islands, lying as far to the south of Wake as Hawai’i lies to the north of Dora’s recent track.

Serving those who come to recreate, relax, “vacate” is often a thankless job- and one which depends, as much as any walk of life, and more than many, on the good graces of Mother Nature. It falls to the character of those being served, as to how much appreciation is shown. In times of tragedy, especially when the tourist, the traveler, the surfer, the diver, the hiker, the casual visitor are joined at the hip to those who have made their home in a place of paradise, there is an awareness of just how connected we all are-and of the fact that there is no one class that really rises above the rest, in terms of privilege and protection. Everyone’s pants go on one leg at a time.

I make my home in a salubrious place, which has seen its share of natural calamity. Prescott’s version of Front Street, Whiskey Row, has burned to the ground, twice, and came close a third time, in 2012. I watched that last one play out. We have had ravaging fires, many times, which have come close to the densely-populated areas of town. The worst, in my lifetime, was Yarnell Hill, which took the lives of 19 wildland fire fighters, just ten years ago.

Lahaina now takes its place among the paradises that have suffered Nature’s wrath: Pompeii, Krakatao, Angeles City, St. Pierre, Montserrat (where Plymouth is still off-limits), Galveston. There are places that were pounded, though not sundered: The entire Indian Ocean basin and much of its Rim, in the great tsunami of 2004; Grand Bahama, in 2019’s Hurricane Dorian, Guam, this past Spring and Haiti, more times than one can count.

Lahaina was a palace town. Lahaina was a whaling town. Lahaina was vacation land. Lahaina now lies in ashes-and has the love and support of every good-hearted soul.

Luck Holds

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

August 7, 2023-

This is a simple verse, marking an ordinary day, in which so many affirmations came.

With the urge to turn off the alarm, before it had a chance to bray : “FIVE A.M!”, the left leg moved off the bed, followed by the right hand reaching over and switching the lever off.

A half hour later, grooming and dressing , done in the mirror’s honouring gaze, was in rear view, followed in short order by devotions-and a check of what transpired overnight.

A mention of the trials impending, in D.C. and Florida; another mention of tribulations, across the Great Plains, and headed towards D.C. Cloud cover, here though, tempering the heat.

Plenty of food on hand, for breakfast and lunch. Plenty to be shared with my colleagues of the next three days-a bit of pound cake here; a box of cookies there. Treats go fast, in that school’s lounge.

Children, vibrant and caring, yet struggling with transition from the days of everything and nothing, to these days of something substantial. I recall these same beings as little more than toddlers, now gingerly entering their second decade of life. There is the pretense of not knowing, a facade covering the real questions: Are we loved? Do we matter?

They always matter; are ever loved, at least in these brightly lit and climate-controlled rooms. I treasure this time spent-today, and will tomorrow, and the next day.

The next stop, almost directly after school, is the serving line. Loaves of bread are contributed, along with a couple of Care Kits. I am the soup ladler, not a hint of the “Nazi”, of television fame, just gladness at being able to help those of scant luck feel positive energy. That luck, scant and fleeting as it may seem to the unhoused, is here each Monday night. They love the onion soup tonight. I love that there is a full crew to do clean-up, and I get to leave early.

Each day brings its blessings, with challenges met and surmounted. My luck is holding, rather nicely.