April 3, 2018, Prescott-
My trusty laptop
is in the shop,
until Saturday.
I’m hoping it can be
cleaned up and
stay up to snuff .
In the meantime,
I will check WP
when I can.
Day by Day
April 3, 2018, Prescott-
A friend referred to things being too crazy.
Yes, we can see it all around.
The President supports this bill.
No, wait, he’s against it.
There will be negotiations with a foe.
“Are you kidding? We can’t possibly do THAT!”
The stock market is headed for an epic crash!
Oh, well, that was yesterday.
Maybe again tomorrow, though.
“The Constitution says that mentally ill people
are entitled to possess a firearm,
for their protection.”
So much for a well-regulated militia.
Day by day,
it’s enough for me to love,
educate
and safeguard
our four charges.
It’s enough for me to serve
the Lord of the Age,
and work to unite
the human race
against the Forces of Darkness.
It’s enough for me to tend
to my own healing
and that of my community.
The craziness will run its course,
and our Sun will continue to shine.
Are You Aboard?
April 2, 2018, Prescott-
We are entering a Spring,
when our institutions
seem ready to let us down,
big time.
Are you aboard the train
of friendship?
Are you riding in the car
of community?
We, the people
stand a chance
of surviving anything
the powers that be
throw at us,
if we ride together,
if we stand together.
Are you aboard?
Questions Answered
April 1, 2018, Prescott-
I rarely post twice, in the same day and do not, as a rule go in for the online awards activities. I have, however, promised the lovely Syllabic Symphonies that I would answer her questions. So, here goes.
1.What is your blog about and what made you to decide to share your work?
My blog is about my life, primarily: My Faith, my work, my travels and my take on things, large and small.
2. What is your dream ?
My dream is to explore my world, near and far. More broadly, I dream of a world where everyone feels included and is productive, based on their interests and skills.
3. What is love to you?
Love is seeing God in all things.
4. What do you think should be a very crucial change in today’s society?
People of all ages and walks of life need to actually be included, in the overall planning and execution of civic affairs.
5. What is poetry to you?
Poetry is a versified means of expressing one’s thoughts and feelings.
6. What is your view on reincarnation?
I do not believe we continuously re-inhabit a physical form, after death. I do believe our consciousness enters the Greater Field of Consciousness, and keeps in contact with those souls to whom one is close or to whom one is drawn.
7. Who is your inspiration?
Children and teens, because of their energy and because these generations will have a unique role in replenishing our planet.
8. What will you do if you’ve got only a week to live? ( Assuming everybody and everything remains exactly the same, I mean alive)
I would walk in the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff.
9. What was the most depressing incident in your life?
My late wife’s second head trauma, which set in motion her decline and eventual death.
10. If you are to choose between, living an eternity and spending a year with a person who can never be yours, what would you choose?
I believe my soul is eternal, but I would not want to live in this body forever. If THAT was the choice, I’d spend a year with someone who can never be “mine”.
11. In one word, how would you describe yourselves?
Loving
And So On
April 1, 2018, Prescott-
Happy Easter, and Passover, one and all. I have spent much of today, fighting with my WP feed, trying to go back to those posts I missed, last flipping weekend and onward. I have hit upon keeping one window open for my Reader- and one for this side of my site.
This laptop will need to go in for repair soon. To do that, I will finally re-open my account with Geek Squad, the Best Buy Technical Support arm. This will do one of two things: Either my 7-year-old laptop will continue to support my photo posts, or it will need to be replaced. Either way, it’ll be a week before I post any photos on these pieces, as Windows File Explorer is constantly in buffering mode, which tells me my old friend is very sick.
I haven’t done much today, but then again, yesterday found me in Phoenix, walking with three other people around a neighbourhood called Sunnyslope, which is an important place in the annals of Penny’s and my last ten years together. I am glad to have helped install 13 smoke detectors, in 7 of the 25 houses we visited. 6 went in one house, alone. The most important were those placed in the bedrooms of youths.
Visiting a friend in Superior, and finding her working alone, on a Saturday afternoon, was bothersome. I stayed long enough to enjoy a nice lunch and to help her just a bit, with tidying up and offering moral support. This person is going through something similar to what I endured, with a spouse suffering debilitation. I hope her co-workers will get a grip and start pitching in more.
Today, though, I am thinking of someone, very far away, whom I have never met face to face. Something about her, though, has drawn me in. Like anything else of this nature, we’ll see.
I watched a short video about the Sumerians. It challenges conventional wisdom about our origins as a species. I have one question, though: If there are some beings that are responsible for our intelligence, and they “civilized” us, then left, why aren’t they back? Perhaps, they know better. I think I will stick with my God, and the God of us all.
My Memorial Day to Independence Day travel schedule is mapped out- Nevada, Colorado, eastward through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario, Montreal, New England, Pennsylvania, down the Delmarva, Hampton Roads, across Virginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, before an I-40 zip, back to Home Base and Prescott’s fireworks. Most of this route is to see friends and family-some of whom I have not seen in a very long time. Good Sam Parks and hostels will be well-researched and penciled in, beforehand. There will be a birthday party or two, a family wedding and a Xanga/Facebook gathering. If this sounds like a lot, it’s because it is.
In the meantime, we have a month of standardized testing at our high school, which means unusual schedules. Then, there is Graduation Month. In both April and May, I will also be occupied with Baha’i activities, to boot. I would not miss any of this, or rush through it, for all the world.
“Be Bigger Than Your Small”
March 31, 2018, Phoenix-
I just completed “Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant”, by Robert T. Kiyosaki, also well known for his previous book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. He reviews his own struggles with finances and concludes that the world of finance is comprised of four quadrants: E (Employee); S (Self-employed); B (Business owner) and I(Investor). The upshot is that the path to ending financial struggle ultimately lies in investing- using other people’s money to create wealth for oneself.
Mr. Kiyosaki goes far beyond dabbling in the stock market, though he does give several pointers on how to be successful in that aspect of finance. He is not as big on diversifying, as I would have expected. His emphasis is on intensive financial education, especially reading financial journals-and The Wall Street Journal.
What I’ve taken from this first reading of a powerful book is that I need to continue on the course I have set, though part-time work (which he says to make as temporary as possible, whilst saving and, bit by bit, investing) is likely for the academic year to come. He says to learn from mistakes, not to try to bury them. “Be bigger than your small!”, meaning to not let mistakes define oneself.
This is perhaps the greatest lesson that I have learned from the past seventeen years. It’s reassuring to see a “high marker” corroborate it.
Harold, Maude and What Makes Friends
March 29, 2018, Prescott-
Bud Cort turns 70, today. He is best known for his role as the death-obsessed young suitor of a spry elderly woman, in the 1971 May-December black comedy, “Harold and Maude”.
After I moved to Prescott, following Penny’s passing, I provided transportation to out of town activities, for a long-time friend of ours, a woman my mother’s age. This led to another local acquaintance snarkily referring to us as “Harold and Maude”. There was no similarity, except in his jaundiced mind’s eye, though it ranked me a bit. Then, and now, I have no romantic interest in anyone, least of all a person many years my senior- or junior, for that matter.
Friends, I have found in all ages, shapes, sizes and walks of life. It’s always been that way. As a child, I would on occasion, visit much older men and women, and ask their views on a variety of matters. Not having the presence of my grandfathers contributed to that, perhaps, but I have always been a soul who does not identify with a specific time element. It’s been all about commonalities of interest. Young, old and in-between will remain my friends.
So, being neither “old” nor “young”, in that regard, I go on, and wish Bud Cort a most happy entry into the dignified strata of Septuagenarian-hood.
Flautist
March 25, 2018, Burntwater, AZ-
Kevin Locke is an accomplished flautist, a master of the flute. He is also one of the Great Plains people who popularized the Hoop Dance, a Native American traditional dance which illustrates the oneness of Creation. A complete, properly executed, Hoop Dance will produce a sphere, representing the Earth. Kevin demonstrated this, in an afternoon presentation, after having taught several of us how to make and use a flute.
(Presently, I am unable to access my photo stock, due to a problem with File Explorer. Please bear with me on this.)
Getting back to the flute: There is a base, of either hardwood or plastic. Six sound holes, and one air hole, are drilled into top of the flute base. A couple of sound pieces are fitted together, then placed inside the base, using a light dowel. Then, an arrow-shaped fitting is tied to the top of the base, near the air hole.
Playing the flute requires a fair amount of dactyl dexterity (co-ordinated fingers), which is a challenge for someone like me, but I will practice a bit, as a means to produce a calming sound. It will be a good stress reliever.
Finally, getting back to the Hoop Dance, Kevin invited several people to join in the dance. I sat it out,as my right shoulder is being treated by a chiropractor, and I want to get this matter finished, before subjecting my faithful friend of 67 years to any more difficulty than necessary. The recovery is coming along nicely, by the way.
We ended the afternoon with a Friendship Dance, in which everyone begins holding hands in a circle, then winds their way around in a spiral, eventually shaking hands with every other person in the circle.
It was a long day, and a long drive back to Prescott, but well-worth the visit with an old friend.
Rising
March 26, 2018, Prescott-
I attended a gathering, yesterday, at the Native American Baha’i Institute, which is 4 1/2 hours’ drive from here. The occasion was an intensive flute making and playing workshop, by a long-time flautist, who is a friend. Kevin visited our home, years ago, when Penny, Aram and I lived on the Navajo Nation. His work is always worth supporting.
I will have more to say about the flute, and about the event, in my next post. Today, though, a brief word is in order about the rising of those who have been subservient.
In the mid-1990’s, my mother-in–law would insist on the Victorian dictum, regarding children maintaining silence. She would later come to regret that stance, but at the time, it was her way of keeping our son and his girl cousin in check. I disagreed, vehemently then, and do now. Children should be seen, heard, believed- and properly educated and guided.
Women have largely been relegated to a subservient role, over the centuries- across the globe. Thankfully, this nonsense started to unravel, as far back as 1965, though people like my mother have never been content to have their voices go unheard. The presence of so many strong women in my life has made such a state of affairs seem totally absurd to me, forever and a day.
When I was a senior in high school, one of the seminal events was the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., fifty years ago, next week. In my social studies and English classes, I would raise the issue of civil rights, to a largely deaf audience. My school, at that time, had five African-American students. I knew two of them, brothers, who were kept at home, the day after the senseless murder. There were hoots and hollers, expressions of satisfaction, by young men who have long since overcome their prejudice, born, as all prejudices are, by ignorance and fear. There were tears shed by more enlightened young women, who dared to date young Black men, from the next town over. My hometown is a more open-minded place, nowadays, and people are increasingly, though not completely, expanding their circles of friends.
There is a new world, a better place, rising from various ash heaps.
Enough
March 24, 2018, Prescott-
Great minds think for themselves.
300 people marched in our town
of free-thinkers,
a conservative majority,
and a vocal liberal minority.
Today, the conservatives
liberals,
and folks like me,
who are neither,
walked together,
had mostly civil discussions,
and in the end,
conservatives, liberals
and none of the above
stood together,
in a minute of silence.
There is no one trying
to sell the odious
Victorian-era epithet,
“Children should be seen
and not heard.”
Children should be seen,
taught to think,
and heard.
When what they say
is truth;
when what they do
is sensible,
they should be believed.
Then, they should be supported.
On the edges of the march route,
there were 3-6 armed civilians.
They were not there to intimidate.
They were there to watch out,
for any crazies.
Ditto for the police
who were present.
One lone man
carried a sign
saying “Abortion is murder.”
He’s largely correct,
but it is not
up to men,
to tell women
how to manage
their own bodies.
It is up to women
to exercise their
consciences.
This is, though,
a topic for another post.
For now,
I need to remain
clear headed.
I need to remain
available to support
these two generations
of children and youth,
who are taking
responsibility
for themselves.
![20180324_130441[1]](https://peacefulwarrior9.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180324_1304411.jpg?w=640)
![20180324_130046[1]](https://peacefulwarrior9.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180324_1300461.jpg?w=640)
Yes, there was a Trump supporter standing with the kids on the Courthouse steps. There is something about people not being killed, that appeals to each of us.
A Sagittarian Seeker 