Tag Archives: international conflict

The Road to Diamond, Day 196: Clarity

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

June 12, 2025- Angela sang a mix of love songs and reflective ballads, in the corner of Gypsy’s Bakery, where I stopped for a while to enjoy a light lunch. Gypsy’s is just one of several delightful spots that are within walking distance of Home Base I, making it as easy to take a meal out as it is to prepare my own. Angela’s music was an unexpected and soothing bonus.

I had a modest mission besides: Getting a back-up medical monitoring device, as my old one may be just wearing out, after fifteen years. I feel perfectly well, and want to keep it that way. With a potential addition to our family to consider, I need to be “in fighting trim”.

There are tempests swirling around, in other parts of the country and across the globe. These could be mitigated by clear communication, but the trend, for many years, has been to play close to the vest, and to talk in riddles. Another trend has been for people to approach one another like bulls in a china shop, or cannons aimed at mosquitos. Clarity, ahead of action, is the only way to avoid the miscommunication that has led us to our two current impasses, one domestic, the other international.

Some will say that the world is too complex for clarity. Well, we see what obfuscation has brought us: 249 dead in a plane crash in India; mass destruction in Iran; increasing tendency to pre-empt dissent, by merely arresting the possible dissenter(s) ahead of time. Obfuscation comes from ambition gone sideways; as does repression; as does vengeance.

I pray for all those in Israel, Iran, India and across our country, that there is safety and that there is a return to sanity-as well as clarity.

The Fire This Time

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

February 20, 2022, Bullhead City- Someone I know, an hour south of here, suffered second-degree burns from a misfiring gas-powered grill. A bit sore, but being tough as nails, the friend told me of how a neighbour with training in such matters got the blaze under control and treated his wounds.

Once I had ascertained that he was not suffering from any aftershock, we talked for a while about Ukraine/Russia. If that powder keg goes off, it could go in any direction. I’ve been told by others to keep my mouth shut about the matter, that it is partisan politics and not the business of anyone who is sincere about world peace.

I beg to differ. This is one planet, one human race. Those who cherry pick which group of people to support, and whom to ignore, are flying a false flag. While it is ultimately up to forces beyond our understanding and control, as to what transpires in eastern Europe, and in east Asia, for that matter, we turn a blind eye to human suffering at our own peril.

“And the second is like, namely this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”- Mark 12:32

It is perhaps ironic, maybe fortuitous, or just serendipitous, that two of the areas I have been told by my spirit guides to visit this year, Canada and east central Europe, are experiencing winds of turmoil. I know, I know, it has nothing to do with little old me. It may be that the latter area will be off limits to anyone without portfolio, in the months ahead. It may also be that, in some yet unknown way this October, I will end up in western Poland, looking over the area where my maternal grandfather’s forebears lived, before their emigration and that I will locate a friend in Croatia, whom I’ve known online since the mid-2000s. It also could be that no one is going anywhere. I leave it all to the Higher Power.

One thing remains, though: The fire this time, with apologies to the great James Baldwin, will require all of us to extinguish it.