The Road to 65, Mile 363: Thankfulness and Grace

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Posted by on in Inspiration, Personal Values, Spiritual

November 26, 2015, San Diego-  Every so often, the American Thanksgiving conflates with other occasions of import.  In 2013, for example, Thanksgiving and my 63rd birthday occurred on the same day. 😀

On other years, such as this one, we Baha’is observe the Day of the Covenant, along with Thanksgiving.  The former is a celebration of the life of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, eldest son of Baha’u’llah, and His immediate successor as Head of the Baha’i Faith.  It is so named because ‘Abdu’l-Baha stressed loyalty and obedience to the written Will and Testament of His Father, a document entitled Kitab-i-Ahd, or Book of the Covenant, over loyalty and obedience to a given human being.  This aspect of our Faith has proven its worth, time and again.

Mirza Abbas Effendi-e- Nuri was born on May 23, 1844.  As he was coming into the world, His Father’s Herald, al-Bab, was proclaiming His own Message to humanity:  It was coming time for all mankind to unite, and He was to prepare the human race for One Who would show the way that this could be done.  Abbas Effendi was given the title, ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Servant of Light), when He was nine years old, and was the first to recognize His Father’s station, as the Messenger of God for this day and age.

‘Abdu’l-Baha forbade celebrations of His birthday on May 23, but reluctantly agreed to observances that celebrated His life, while focusing on the Covenant of Baha’u’llah, the promulgation of which was ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s prmary focus, during His twenty-nine years as Head of the Baha’i Faith.  Thus, each November 26 has been dedicated to that purpose.

So, on this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for having been guided to this spiritual path, and to the perfect example set by ‘Abdu’l-Baha.  His are larger shoes than any of us can hope to fill, but it is worth the effort, for the sake of developing and strengthening our virtues.  They guided me to my marriage, to the birth and raising of our son, in whose company I celebrated another marvelous Day of Thanks and to the various friends and places of joy which I have been fortunate to meet and see, over the past thirty-four years.

 

 

The Road to 65, Mile 362: Passing Through Yuma

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Posted by on in Hiking and Nature, Historical, Travel

November 25, 2015, Chula Vista-  After getting my Nissan serviced, and a few other errands, which are always necessary before departing Prescott, I headed down the mountain, towards San Diego, and a holiday weekend with the most important person in my life.

This time, I opted for a twist.  Turning onto AZ 95 south, at Quartzsite, in Arizona’s Outback, I headed down to the southwest AZ city of Yuma, underrated largely because of its status as the hottest spot, in a state that is very hot from May to October.

Nowadays, though, Yuma is very, very pleasant, and it was quite cool, when I rolled up Prison Hill, for a walk around the East Wetlands and along the exterior of Yuma Territorial Prison Historical State Park (about which, more, on my next visit in mid-March).

The Wetlands trail takes the walker down to the Colorado River, which is in fairly good shape right now.  Here are a few scenes of what I encountered. (These are what the new and improved Word Press offers as a photo collage, under Windows 10.  Just click on the photo, to see the caption.)

A view of the East Wetlands, from atop Prison Hill
The East Wetlands, Yuma
The Colorado River, Yuma
A view of the Colorado River and East Wetlands, Yuma
The prison wall, Yuma Territorial Prison State Historical Park
Aram, in his abode
The Prison Graveyard, Yuma Territorial Prison State Historical Park, Yuma

The rest of the journey was spent navigating high speed, rather frenetic holiday fellow travelers:  Crowded road from Yuma to El Centro, a bit quieter from there to Alpine and bustling again, until I got to Chula Vista.  In Alpine, I enjoyed a decent Gyro plate at Greek Village Grill, which sits tucked away in a restaurant mini-mall, on the south end of downtown.  The town itself looks worthy of further exploration, when it is light out.

For now, as indicated above and at the second from lower right, I will be happily celebrating Thanksgiving, the Day of the Covenant (see next post) and the 65th anniversary of the arrival of a squawling, but eventually happy, baby boy.

The Road to 65, Mile 361: Paper Turkeys

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Posted by on in children, Community, Education, Personal Values, Striving

November 24, 2015, Chino Valley- Today was the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break.  The concept of a two-day work week is a bit foreign to me, but I will take it, gladly.   It’s the season of my birth, after all. I had the kids do homework, last night, and maintained my regular teaching regimen today, with one adjustment:  Many children treasure the idea of making paper turkeys and Pilgrims. So, we spent the afternoon class hour, before P.E., following tradition. One little girl made an Indian headband, with a paper feather sticking out.  Some made separate turkeys and Pilgrims.  Others designed turkeys wearing an Elizabethan-Era hat.

This sort of fun activity, for elementary school students, harms nothing and no one.  Some will say that “The truth about the Pilgrims must be told!”  Yes, it does need telling, and to people who are of an age at which the black, the white and the gray can all be processed, and sifted out.  Sharing such information, too soon in a person’s life, is exactly what has brought on the excesses of Political Correctness.

The Pilgrims and Puritans were dour, narrow-minded people, as regarded those of other faith traditions, both European and Aboriginal American.  So, too, were the Spanish and Portuguese.  Many of the Founders of the United States were slaveholders, men of their time.  The best of these slaveholders were progressive in other ways, and some educated their chattel-people.  None of that excuses their slaveholding, but therein lies a tale of lives lived in the gray.

I teach older students, when I am with them, to avoid throwing the baby out with the bath water, as it were.  There has been, is, and will be, no public figure, aside from the Messengers of God, who is a paragon of perfection.  Every person worthy of emulation also has aspects of his/her life that are less than savory, even despicable.  So, one must choose the good elements, and sift out the bad- Wheat from chaff, as The Christ told us.

I will long adhere to things like playing Hallowe’en and Christmas songs, encouraging holiday art, and having birthday parties, when a child’s parents request them.  Childhood should not be frayed at the edges.  It’s when we have time to learn who we are, and build a firm foundation for life’s course.

Bring on the paper turkeys!

The Road to 65, Mile 360: In-Gatherings

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Posted by on in Community, Personal Values, Social

November 23, 2015, Chino Valley-  There are all manner of get-togethers this time of year, and this little town will have its share, including one that I will visit only briefly, on Dec. 5, before I head down to Tucson, for another brief visit.

Time is tight, in the Christmas season, as both celebrations and the business of the day must get their fair share of one’s attention.  Then, there are online and telephone “meetings”, to which I devote myself for 15,30 or 60 minutes, based largely on my intuition, as to the other party’s state of mind.

From time to time, I come back into contact with people I knew as a child and teen.  Old friends from Xanga and long-lost relatives also surface, when least expected.  Each of them has done me some good, just by having been in my life, at some point.  It is interesting to see how each of them are doing, as well.

I spent about thirty minutes, on Saturday, messaging a childhood neighbour, back and forth.  He has had his share of hard times, and it sounded like life could be better for him, even now.  This all made me feel far more fortunate, despite the travails of 2003-11. If I ever get to his neck of the woods, I will certainly call on him, and he’s always welcome here.  Heck, you all are- just not all at once. 🙂

The Road to 65, Mile 359: That Which Brings A Smile

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Posted by on in children, Inspiration, Personal Values

November 22, 2015, Prescott- This is the last day of Positivity Week, and I have been asked to mention those people and things in my life which make me smile.

So, in no particular order:  My students, and hearing them sing and struggle with the winter song that is associated with the coming holidays.  I know they will sound just fine, with practice, by concert time.

The antics of teens in the neighbourhood Skate Park.  They have mastered some moves that I would look frightful doing, and they do nothing wrong, while there.
“Peanuts”, and other such remnants of the days when childhood was indeed a world apart.  I know the teacher is made to look non-existent, but that’s part of the allure.Mission Inn

Pets, and their silliness.  The love of an animal keeps a lot of people sane, who would otherwise be underwater, emotionally.

The ambiance of places like Prescott, Sedona, Flagstaff, and Tucson, at this time of year.  Even Riverside, CA will command a stop, when I head back here from San Diego, next Sunday. Mission Inn has a legendary holiday display.  Our Courthouse Square, though, sets the mould.

The cards I am getting, in advance of my hexagenarian midpoint.  I am always grateful for those who help me “ring in” my personal New.

Positivity Week is now drawing to a close, but a positive spirit need never do so.

 

The Road to 65, Mile 358: Positivity Outside

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Posted by on in Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Spiritual

November 21, 2015, Prescott- I looked, to no avail, for a parking spot near the point where I left off on Prescott Circle, last Saturday.  I have an ethic about such things:  Never park on a business lot, unless patronizing said business.  So, the second half of Segment 7 will wait until after Thanksgiving, most likely until the afternoon of December 6.

That bit of irrelevance aside, the outdoors, as is well known to my readers, is a huge part of my life.  Positivity arises from the mountains, the desert, the beaches, the grasslands and the serene forests.  Even the ocean has given me a sense of serenity.

Sedona’s red rocks and pine forests abound in good vibrations, as do “our own” forests, lakes and grasslands, around Prescott and vicinity. The vortices of Sedona are closely matched by Thumb Butte.

I have felt similar vibrations elsewhere:  At Indian Gardens, along the Grand Canyon’s Bright Angel Trail; at both Spirit (“Devil’s”) Tower and Medicine Wheel, in northeast Wyoming; at Cahokia Mounds and at the Cairo Confluence, in southern Illinois; at Palo Duro Canyon, in northwest Texas; at Cape Flattery, Washington (the northwestern-most point in the contiguous United States; atop Harney Peak, South Dakota; at several points along Waikiki Beach, Hawai’i; and at more places than I can count, in southeast Alaska.  Then, too, Spirit knows no boundaries:  Stanley Park, Vancouver, the woods of Metz and Le Donjon, Rouen, France, held me in rapt respect.

The wind spoke to me, while on the ocean between Honolulu and San Diego and the rock along the River Trail glowed, in multicolours, when I first visited Palo Duro.  Spiders rode the breeze, on their webs, at Cathedral Rock, Sedona and spun exquisite places of rest in Olustee State Park, Florida, while I watched, in wonder.

There will, no doubt, be other encounters on the road ahead.  Nature eternally urges us onward.

The Road to 65, Mile 357: Ten Positive Areas in My Life

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Posted by on in Personal Values, Striving

November 20, 2015, Prescott-  I spent today at Mile High Middle School, here in town.  The classes’ focus for the week was facing prejudice.  The main class had been watching “The Diary of Anne Frank” (2009 miniseries), and finished today.  The Honours classes viewed “Simon Birch” (1998), a film that examines institutionalized, “faith-based” prejudice in a small town. The clever teacher, for whom I was covering, had done a fine job in responding to the events of Nov. 12-13.

My response to those has been engaging in Positivity Week, an annual project of the blogger Cherokee Writer.  Today, I’d like to note my life’s ten positive themes:

1. Children and youth- I so deeply love the younger generations, that helping them build on their personal strengths, and their futures, remains my central focus.

2.  Faith- I am a Baha’i, because of the comprehensive, all-inclusive and forward thinking that infuses every Word of Baha’u’llah’s Writings.  No nation or group need be left out of the World Order, as He envisions it.  It was nice to finally feel like I belonged somewhere, beyond immediate family, and  I still feel it.

3.  Family- My son, mother, siblings, in-laws and all extended family bring me great pride and solace.  That the holidays will find me among many of them offers yet more of these.

4.  Nature- I will elaborate a bit more in the next post, but being in a natural setting gives me all manner of reassurance, that life is resilient.

5. Music- Various genres alternately soothe and energize me.  One of my earliest memories is of marching alongside the Varsity Marching Band, in the Independence Day parade, when I was about four.

6.  Heritage-Both history and lore have fascinated me, since I was small.  Growing up in a town which honoured both Indigenous peoples and settlers from Europe helped engender this focus.

7. Literature-  Fiction and nonfiction alike led me to learn to read early on, and I often had my nose in a book, when others would be watching TV.

8.  Justice- I have been urgently concerned with having the right thing happen, since I was in grade school.

9. Personal development- Largely due to my personal challenges, a major focus of my being has been to own up to, and address, defects and weaknesses.

10.  Mercy-  I have tended to forgive and move on, after slights or mistreatments.  Though I am less forgiving of hurts to children or vulnerable people than I am of injuries to myself, there is still a sense that it falls to the Divine to exact true justice.

 

 

The Road to 65, Mile 356: Positivity in the News

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Posted by on in Community, Education, Inspiration, Uncategorized

November 19, 2015, Chino Valley- Day Four of my friend’s Positivity Week looks at good news from the mass media.  I find two such reports today.

One, in the Chino Valley Review, (http://cvrnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=446&ArticleID=61041), details our school’s annual Science Fair.  Two of my current students won First Place ribbons, though in fairness, most of the preparatory work on this was done by my predecessor and the leg work, by the boys’ parents.  The ideas came from the students themselves, which is the main thing.

The second, reported on Phoenix-area television, concerns a nine-year-old boy and his emotional-support animal, a pot-bellied pig, which he had named Maggie.  The animal was the subject of an anonymous complaint, leading to the City of Chandler moving to force the family to get rid of  Maggie.    The family, their neighbours and animal-rights activists banded together and, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act, persuaded the city to reverse its decision.  The one down-street neighbour who raised the objection has also relented.

These past two weeks have had lots of bad news, but the brightness is also here.  The light is building, even as darkness rises in clouds.

 

The Road to 65, Mile 355: Positivity About Myself

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Posted by on in Matters of Faith, Personal Values

November 18, 2015, Chino Valley- I have a long history of self- doubt and second guessing.  My late wife had just about cured me of these, when her disease took her to the Spirit Realm, five years ago, next March.  On my own, since, I have had to face myself and look at the smiling, approving people in my life, while looking past the stern-faced ones.  The biggest task is letting myself be among the former.

It was a bit tough, this evening, after a good, productive but tiring day, to face a meeting with people who were stern-faced and all business.  I got it done, though I had to get hold of myself, as doubt began to slip back in. Rule Number One, anymore, is not to let detractors get a sense of any vulnerability I might feel.

So, here are three positives about me, which no one can take away.  First:  I am committed to bringing peace, safety and tranquility to the lives of children and other vulnerable people in my life.  Second, I am doing better at taking the time to get my tasks done properly.  Third, I take a larger view of things, so what I can do to help the wider society, in reaching its legitimate goals, is well-worth any personal sacrifice.

I am believing more in my abilities, every morning I have the honour of waking.

 

 

 

 

 

The Road to 65, Mile 354: Positivity in 2015

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Posted by on in Family, Inspiration, Social

November 17, 2015, Chino Valley- I will have more to say about the year that is winding to a close, when my 65th birthday comes along.  Day 2 of Positivity Week has, as its theme, the topic of how this year has been positive.

Any given year has its light and shadow.  I am sad for those who have suffered losses this year, and it seems there are no shortage of friends and extended family, in that regard.  The only positive aspect of loss is that the departed is no longer suffering.  This is cold comfort to the bereaved.

My most positive memories of this year will revolve around the places I visited and revisited- and the work I have been doing for the past month or so.  Most important has been that this work has sent me flying out of my comfort zone, in terms of working towards an Elementary Teaching Certificate, after 39 years in the profession.

Seeing my son enjoy a year of relative success is also  a major positive.  He has continued to do me nothing but proud, and has established himself fully as a responsible adult.

2015’s positivity lies mainly in the lessons I have drawn from its events, about which more next weekend.