Fake News

This is one of the most filthy lies perpetrated upon the majority of Americans (again, I mean citizens of the U.S.A.) fake news extends back to the beginning of time. I'm sure that some cave people reported falsely about events that happened to them while they were away from the rest of the group. There will always be a few pathetic souls who are pathological liars, but for the most part, stories get told that reflect the perspective of the person telling them. Great to know if you are trying to get at truth through the experiences of others. For instance, in all the court cases that have been resolved around the current POSOTUS, The message is never, "Would you want to make a deal with a serial delinquent or non-payer of their debts?" Gag orders accompany any legal settlement, so the aggrieved cannot even explain what happened or how it was resolved. The very same person, the current bumbler in chief, blew through a three billion dollar fortune, just making himself seem big and important. Fake news would to be to say that he's ethical and patriotic. No oligarch-owned news service would tell you that. When it is told, it is not fake, just because someone disagrees with it. The vast majority of people realize that grave dangers are common now that threaten life on the planet and that current leadership is not capable of steering a course to true security, stable monetary policy, and that there is nothing they could do to inspire confidence. Instead, the truth is, we see an endless clown car of idiots unfurled for all to see. Each Teathuglican speech seems to get more and more incoherent, but to point that out is fake news?

As far back as I can remember, there were lies put out over the air waves and in print about one group or another. The FBI, CIA, and a variety of other agencies with acronyms conspired to release false information about groups or individuals who represented a political philosophy that put truth above rhetoric and action above the learned helplessness that the oligarchs are so adept at fostering within us! Today, I learned of another resounding success story, the Sardinian currency, Sardex, allows island residents to barter real wealth for products and services knowing that it is a system they can trust . That trust extends to local investments helping local people. The way "commerce" is supposed to work. People want virtual currencies everywhere and developing monetary policy that allows for the future of money...who can say? The new age offers powerful resources that could encourage, not discourage participation in government. We are, after all, supposed to be, as Lincoln said, by, of and for the people. No mention of corporations, for good reason! The fake news is that people like me represent a "threat" to civil society. In fact, we the people not only deserve, but are responsible for seeking out and finding our own truth, not manufacturing it through the application of lies, but finding facts, representing them to the best of our ability and trying not to infer conclusions from partial data. That is why science-based decision-making is one of the campaign pledges that I have based the campaign on.

This week I became aware of data from the State of Wisconsin regarding cuts to local school boards in the state budget. In one year alone, the 8th Congressional District

has had nearly ten million dollars in cuts to local school boards. This is reality. Education is the one tool that has been proven to increase quality of life over the years. Reducing both the availability and/or quality of this vital civilizing force is an outright assault on future generations. Nothing was said about this in the news. The airwaves and print media instead focused on tragedies from across the globe, distracting us from what is going on right in our state, right in our neighborhoods, even in our own local schoolhouses. I am continuing to run for Congress. I will not be cowed by the oligarchs, I will not accept their interpretation regarding what I need to know. I will continue to investigate, utilize truth and facts. I will stand up for real people, regardless of their age, disability or whether they can afford to contribute to political campaigns. Part of the reason I am only writing one post per moon this year is that it takes time to campaign and I have to prioritize my time to spend more of it spreading the word about my candidacy.

Treason

This is an interesting word. It implies that you have taken the war path with regard to the very government that claims to have dominion over you. Here in my tiny part of the world, we are told that we (whites) have had a relatively heaven sent privilege that gives us "dominion" over "our" part of the globe. All too often, individuals also are subsumed. Many of those who look back at our history defend the rights of the whites to slaughter native people as well as buying and selling of others. The whole idea of a government that would serve the people had to ignore the rights of non-natives and natives alike, instead conferring humanity only on the whites of land and wealth, which in their time proved education and "breeding". The power and control they were used to at the time. We have grown as a nation since then.

We have become educated about genetics and the terrible legacy that was handed down to future generations of "noble" inbreeding! We know that there are no valid claims for anything based on race, the entire human race is indeed just one species. The current administration is a small group of people dedicated to eliminate the agencies they oversee. The treason is in the White House!

There is no simpler way to say it. The outright assault on our government is being waged from inside the White House. In addition to Presidential ignorance and gaffes internationally, there is the fact that our "leader" made vast amounts of money and took loans from Russian loan sharks. The current POSOTUS has had hideous appointments and his flaunting of law regarding his tax documents and appointing his own children to cabinet level positions as well as a series of appointments of shady characters pushing an agenda rather than serving the people of our great nation continues to desecrate the office! There is an all out war on the nation we have decided ,over the last two hundred years, to become! Through laws and deeds, we either rip asunder the environment, the economy and all that is valuable in our nation, or we strive to conserve what can never be re-made, invest in things that will be around a while and commit to the things that matter.

Anything less is against our interests! Saladino 4 District 8 is my campaign's facebook page. Seek me out there or on twitter. TCSaladino.

Who Wouldn't Love...

Who wouldn't love days warm enough to leave the windows open. The sounds which we might hear outside, yet not really even notice, take on a different texture when they come through a window...birds, the wind in the trees, squirrel chewing on antler, far off mowing machines or even traffic sounds better through a window than it would in the open air, on the street or in your yard. Even sirens and trains sound more soothing through a window when the climate cooperates. Who can ignore the scents that waft through as the warm weather season rolls by, coaxing open the windows far and wide. The smell of serviceberry, linden flower, lilac, cherry, apple, peony, lillies of the valley, elder flowers, milkweed, and the whole array of flowers and trees you and your neighbors have planted. Who does not love to go from inside to outside without donning a stitch of extra clothes!

Windows open, we feel the world around us much more fully. The acrid smell of fireworks drift through from time to time as do the gasoline fumes of musclecars, mowers and bikes of old. How can it get better than smelling rain or knowing which way the wind is blowing because all the windows in the house are open? This is good really really good means much more when you hear the sound of a boat sloshing in the water through screen on a warm summer night. When you hear a loon or owl through the screened window of a tent, it it way better than hearing it on a movie soundtrack or PBS Special. The net of safety that our enclosure implies sets us just far enough apart from nature that we can listen without fear. The fear of losing ourselves in nature. I think this is a pretty common reason, although not always eloquently expressed by non-campers. Many people say that they,  "Don't like the quiet" or who claim that, "It always rains" when they go camping. But I'm afraid, many feel separate from rather than part of nature. I have lived in the woods, rain, shine sleet and snow and it can still be a lot better than a day at work!

Who wouldn't love sitting around a fire, telling stories and listening to calm voices and relaxing after a good meal and refreshment? When the nights turn cool and the warmth tightens the circle just a little bit. The crackle and hiss of the wood charring, the dancing flames and the way your clothes smell the next day? I once had a girlfriend who would not wash her outdoor clothes, or ones she wore at fires. Instead she would always hang them with her regular clothes until she had another pair to replace them with, so the smell would scent all of her clothes! Some people may not go to these lengths to feel at home in the woods, or in the woods at home I guess. However, this love of the activity humans were born to do seems to be inextricably linked to our urge to dream, to drift off and to become mesmerized by the dancing light. They say candle light makes everyone more beautiful, but if this is true, firelight works that magic a thousand fold. Even the coming and going of voices from the other side make even mundane conversation better. Who does not love enjoying the company of others while at ease around a fire?

As the song goes, "When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when you're feeling sad, simply remembering the placid calm that was with you last time you sat around a fire and you will find the peace and calm to persevere. Today, it is an eerie ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Mid September is typically the time that the Autumn Rains begin, but this year, the grass never turned brown. There was no respite from the rain this Summer.Our local weather reporters got all excited and commented that the last 72 hour stretch without rain was May 5-7 and this was in mid August. Who wouldn't love a shift in climate so drastic that we didn't have to use heat in the winter, right? Well, now, let me think. If I get to make up for the energy savings by running the AC all Summer, I'm out. I have been hearing a lot about Sabbaticals, taking an extended time away to get renewed perspective. My serious run for Congress will consume all of my efforts and it would be silly to try to treat it like it won't. I would ask my readers to forgive me for not writing as many posts over the coming year.

Who wouldn't love to live in a world where two weeks worth of to-do lists could be whipped out in a single day? I have come to realize that the nature of how much work I get done lies more in my own perception of what really needs to get done. If it takes a load off my mind for a long time, I give it higher priority and feel more excited about getting it done. Often my ideas for art hold my attention for  along time before I can physically complete them. The waiting, as Tom Petty sang, is the hardest part. I know and understand that and don't want to leave readers with nothing to read, especially the long time supporters. Here is what I think I can do. In addition to my campaigning and work on election-related efforts, I will write approximately two posts per moon, rather than the seven that I committed to when I began to blog. some moons may not even get a single post, but I want all my readers to know that they can dig deeply into the trove I have posted so far and have at any posts from before you started reading. Long ago, I stated unequivocally that if I stopped posting, someone needed to be made aware of my absence, but this time I am actually going on a sort-of hiatus, partial working vacation. Find me on facebook as Saladino 4 District 8, or contact me in other formats if you wish. if you would like ot Paypal some cash to help keep the bills paid, or my run for Congress, be forewarned, any contributions from corporations will be returned, just like Bernie. however, digital donations can be made through Paypal acct. # tnsaladino42@hotmail.com. Please indicate whether it is for ECO-Tours or Saladino 4 District 8.

In honor of abundance, T

Russian Connection

In my experience, having tried to make as many Russian contacts as possible, conversation frequently comes around to what they think is the most interesting thing about America (again, the U.S.of A.). I have heard the same response several times which is noteworthy, since I have only met and had time to ask these sorts of questions to fewer than a dozen people. First generation Russian immigrants have said repeatedly that bread was perhaps the most interesting. When I asked why, they said, you, in America, never run out and you have bread for every class, the poor get white bread that is more like a sponge than food. Perhaps for a dollar a loaf. There are breads for middle class people and bread for rich people. Universally, they said that in Russia, you always buy more bread than you need, because the market may have no bread next time you come, or if they have it, there may be long lines to get it, but it is all the "good bread" as they called it and when I asked, they said rich people's bread. No one in their country lacked for good bread, except when none was available and if you were smart enough to buy more than you needed last time you got bread, you would still have some stale good bread.

I wondered long and hard about this place they must have lived before coming here.
Only good bread!

Man Of A Thousand Stories

When I was growing up, I had an interesting family. Our lives were full of experiences. In addition to moving virtually every year, we sometimes moved at least a couple times during the year...once we lived in three separate houses in three consecutive moons! Going through the collected baubles and books, art and toys, belongings and boxes of stuff, always focused on reducing our collected objects, was our way of getting down to what felt essential. Later, I discovered that this is a great way to learn about your own self. The things that you feel are "essential" often define, or hint at who you really are, physically, mentally and emotionally. By the time I had moved a few times, I began to realize that there are spiritual components to these choices as well. "Giving up" objects often leads to a freedom of spirit and an ability to see past the physical realm that I might never had learned of, had I lived in the same house all of my life, collecting baubles and bits of things that would just end up in a memory box one day. My collection of collections today is probably a reaction to living lightly when I was a child.

When we lived in a place for a total of thirty days, or twenty eight as happened a couple times, living by the motto "Stay Packed" became essential. Having the discipline to live with only one bowl, one cup, one plate, one spoon, one knife and one fork seems strange until you find ways to reduce your belongings further. Several Solstices ago, my sister got me a titanium spork, effectively reducing my kit by one item. The stories that have been lived rather than read about have a texture and depth that make believe, for me, simply does not. Fiction is great for some, but I tend to gravitate to real events and sharing the actual events that I have lived. My own feelings and belief is that these hold more power for me than fictional accounts or flights of fantasy. I do love a good native story from time to time, but these are mostly parables about how we should live, not a true record of how we actually did or do.

Living out of a suitcase, or panniers (bicycle backpacks) as I did repeatedly, changes your notion of what it takes to live and live well. I think it would help society greatly if more people understood what a luxury getting dry or taking a shower can be! Two books I would urge people to put in their go bag are the two Peterson Field Guides. These two books have more information on, Edible Wild Plants and Medicinal Wild Plants, than dozens of other books on the subjects and if you want to keep your pack light, getting the most information per pound is essential. I have seen people who feel that a weapon of some sort is essential for a go bag, but for the weight, I have gotten much more food from the land than a weapon would have ever been able to harvest. Books are relatively heavy to add to a go bag, but the value of these two publications has been immeasurable for me in my travels. I have learned dozens of wild foods that can make living outdoors not only possible but relatively luxurious. I have been able to eat hundreds of meals from plants that grew along my path. I'm sure that there could be a thousand moving stories in my own life about finding, cooking and enjoying food! At the risk of becoming mundane, there may be a thousand stories about how I found shelter while living in the woods, perhaps a thousand more about how I have met folks along my path who both inspired me and to whom I have given inspiration. The real challenge would be to pare down the stories to just ones that have profound impact, important lessons or to choose ones that best convey the deeper messages of freedom and responsibility, compassion and cooperation, commitment and abundance.

One of my stories is about the day I was born. Earlier that same day, my mother had gone to the neighbor's house. They had go-karts and she rode them around the yard, bouncing around and she felt that the jiggling and jostling helped to bring on labor later that day. I still have an unhealthy love for go-karting. Late at night, when my mom said it was time to go to the hospital, she said that my dad was running around the house like Chicken Little, even though they had the go-bag ready with everything my mother might need in hospital, dad had completely lost his composure. The doctor with which my mom planned to give birth was leaving for vacation and had already donned his Hawaiian shirt in preparation for touching down in our newest state. I guess they paged him at the airport and he drove back into town to deliver me. As mom was brought up in the elevator, un-comfortably seated in a wheelchair, to the maternity ward, she said she felt me coming. The doctor had arrived pretty much at the same moment she had and I was crowning as she was wheeled out of the elevator. She said that they didn't even have time to prep her for delivery before I squirted out! Blam! Is how she described it. So, the first person I saw in life was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. So many other experiences relate to that moment. Coming into the world is such a traumatic story for some, I am very glad that my birth story was not. I think that my experiences with normal and natural birth led me, later in life, to become a certified Bradley, husband-coached childbirth teacher. There are few times in life that nature becomes unavoidable and to be awake and aware of the process of birth is a joy often denied womyn. In my heart of hearts, I have great issues with the way we typically practice birth in our culture, healing that one aspect of our lives has the power to transform society form the ground up.

Perhaps one day, I will recount the letting go of the thousand or so things that meant a lot to me over the years. My complete set of Hardy Boys hardcovers, for instance had brought me many stories that allowed me to escape the boundaries of our humble home, escorting me on waves of prose to realms beyond my own imagination. Letting go of my home made movies, some of which were made in Denver in '76 & '77. Those documents were evidence of a great many hours studying filmmaking and honing my craft. My longest movie used Pink Floyd's Ummagumma as the soundtrack. I remember giving away art and selling some pieces for far less than their value over the years as well. We once had a larger than life size print made from a temple rubbing, The painting entitled "respond" done by my mother, things as mundane as a concrete Buddha, our kick ass stereo and eventually all my vinyl. One piece of art that I got back was an ink and Prismacolor pencil drawing, partly a self portrait, partly borrowed from King Crimson's court of the Crimson King album cover art. The hands stick out a couple inches from the face and it is tremendously psychological and topical even today!

Giving away art, especially that art was traumatic, getting it back made me ecstatic! I remember selling a bust of Kennedy that my grandpa Harold and I made together, the guy who bought it at our yard sale had said, "Someday I'll give this back." Thirty years later, he was good to his word and returned it to me, no worse for the wear. Again, humbling and profoundly beautiful. Those stories are unique in that once given they were returned. I do have a bicycle that has been stolen twice and each time returned to me by the thief. Both times it was not altogether willingly, but they did give it back. Both of these are stories unto themselves. Bicycling, as a single activity alone offers many hundreds of stories. The dozen  or so hundred plus mile a day stories from when I lived in Eastern Indiana/Western Ohio; each would yield several stories all by themselves! The time our group of three broke down in a storm was just one such story. The two brothers I was riding with took shelter in a woods and I rode on to the shelter under an antique storefront, sheltering under the roof of the porch/entryway as terrible weather engulfed us. After the thundershower and hail had passed, I rode back to find my friends, about three-quarters of a mile and there was evidence that a tornado had swept through right between the store and the woods. We rode a hundred miles one day just to go to the only big hill we had heard about nearby. We rode all the way to Muncie to ride down the hill they use for Soapbox Derby cars. Rob and Scott could not fathom riding down hills that steep for miles like I did when  I rode bicycle in and around Denver. As many stories as I have, it may do a disservice to call me, Man Of A Thousand Stories...

Man's Thousand Stories

Throughout history, we have heard plenty of stories about names and dates and important battles that supposedly made the world what we have today, bu the vast majority of stories that really made the differences back then, not a particular commander or theologian. No, it was the rank and file people, the teachers and mothers, the tinkers and farmers. In the realm of actual-factual history, many millions would often die at the hands of a vicious ruler and history remembers the ruler, not the genocide. Humankind has roughly a thousand stories we tell ourselves. Who won the Franco-Prussian War? (for instance) That has a definite answer. Current history excludes the majority of messages about how individuals whose names are forgotten to history played an important part in molding, shaping and refining it. Native people, for all their accomplishments are often overlooked because it would infringe on the all white male, all the time scenaria that were perpetrated on humankind for generations. Blacks, Mexicans, Womyn, etc. have been cut out of our collective consciousness.

We humans were matriarchal, but the war machine consumed whatever had been left of culture. I see daily examples of men being given too much power, enough to destroy. We so desperately need the womyn, and their stories, that I cannot express it strongly enough. If we realized that there were hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of lives squandered for the proclivities of those who ultimately took power and control away from whole societies, perhaps the thousand stories will be about the humble, those who were sacrificed and those whose toil led to the possibility of revolution and war. Instead of the betterment of generations that they were told their hardships was for, they were just sacrificed to fear and hate to allow power to be wrested from the public and given to autocrats and fascists. As undemocratic as warfare, terrorism and manipulation are, they seem to flourish in a world that tells itself that democracy is good.

 Humanity and/or mankind will always be constrained by their terms. It ignores half the population, so in essence, each sex should probably have five hundred stories each. Womyn I have known can often be smarter, more committed and stronger of spirit than many men, but let us continue to use outdated terms to run cover for those men who just so happen to be inept. Truly, it is a certain kind of skill to show up when the work is done, to stand around talking while your contemporaries are hard at work and/or to make huge drama out of unimportant things. Gossip, if you had to pick one thing to lead the pack of evils let out of Pandora's box, does more damage than good 100% of the time. This too undermines the validity of the stories we tell one another and how we think we got where we are today. Remember, it is all hearsay and the individuals suffering on the ground for every major war and/or rebellion that we speak of in history are summarily forgotten in favor of dates and who won.

Lakes Michigan and Huron are four feet higher than they were just one year ago. This entire field of rocks has been removed by the waves. The stories we tell can just as easily be subsumed by new knowledge. I never tire of telling the truth and for this post, I remind readers that the second most expensive thing on earth is ignorance. The most expensive thing is education!

There are literally billions of stories that are current with our lives today for generation upon generation, the population of the planet increased. The online resource "WWII Deaths video"
will get you to an amazing resource. The producer is looking for people to help him to create more content regarding the peace dividends that we were promised and how educating the public about war and peace can transform the decisions we make regarding war and invasion of sovereign nations. Remember the Peace Dividend that we were supposed to realize after the end of the Cold War? I do. There were supposed to be billions of dollars of savings from ending the military insanity that took place during the time the Iron Curtain was closed. The current infatuation with destabilizing states in the Arabian Peninsula, primarily secular states that have modernized and that exhibit relatively high standards of living only proves the inability of the war machine to relinquish a single dollar for social programs. Ninety-nine out of a hundred stories seem to be about wealth and power and how these two qualities are inseparable. I have said frequently the very same thing that the founding Revolutionaries of our nation have said. We must all hang together, or we will surely all hang separately. There is absolutely nothing new about this story. Of the thousand or so stories that we may hear, this is perhaps one of the most telling ones.

I have never felt that there was truth behind many of the stories we tell ourselves. The "dog eat dog" world has always offered me opportunities for abundance. Often, when I pared down my belongings to near ridiculous levels, The abundance became acutely clear. The "survival of the fittest" mantra ignores reality. Our current President is the best proof of that fallacy. Anyone who looks around themselves dispassionately will see the opposite is often true, or perhaps the rule is more along the lines of survival of the luckiest. Had I been born into a three billion dollar inheritance, which I squandered in less than a lifetime, perhaps I too would aspire to be President. This has nothing to do with fitness, just dumb luck. The chances of any President of the United States rising to the level of importance that is required to be included in the thousand stories we tell ourselves is remote. Our nation of less than 1/3 of a billion has no bearing on what the other 6 3/4 billion are experiencing. If our contributions to humankind's thousand stories are commensurate with our numbers, we (the U.S. of A.) would be entitled to around 147 of them. If I were to be allowed only 147 stories, I can't think of one that I would recount about a President. not one would be about war, not one would involve cheating another human being or relegating them to a position lower than myself. Even our current President is fulfilling the need for a coyote story.

Coyote is the character that comes to the wedding party and leaves a stinky fart. Mayhem, chaos and playful disregard for decorum are this spirit's way. In the end, humanity is enriched, but during the story, terrible distress and disgust abound. Sound familiar? Interesting that the term is used for those who smuggle people across borders and is it any wonder most people would trust a wolf long before trusting a coyote. The club of rich and powerful men who are willing to destroy civilization for wealth is as old as permanent settlement. The characters playing these roles today are just sequels to much older stories. Derivative and insipid as they are, there are still those who are infatuated with their current drama. The true test will be generations hence when none of their names will be remembered.
 

A Thousand Stories Of A Man

People say all kinds of things. When I was young, people told lots of stories about me. To this day, they continue. Perhaps the ones that made me feel the worst are when young boys would say, "You're gay." I assured them that I not only knew what that was, but also I was not. People seem to be predisposed to speak about others in their absence. This, in turn, can escalate after their death when no one is there to clear up misunderstandings or check their stories against facts. When I began going to school in Pennsylvania, stories circulated that I was some rock star's kid because I would come to school  in a giant Cadillac with a chrome grille. Those stories were slightly more welcome, but equally unfounded. Some of the stories I have heard about myself made me laugh, shocked and amazed me. some stories even defied logic, but they were about me nonetheless.

Being from Springfield, Illinois you can probably guess that everyone's favorite folk hero was Abraham Lincoln. The stories that have circulated about him have taken on mythic proportions. I'm sure many of the exaggerations were by well meaning fans, but especially after his death, stories didn't really have to be true. In fact, making him what we needed was probably the most salient fact in all the stories. How would we reconcile the fact that this man authorized the largest mass murder of non-combatant Native Americans in  history? How could we square the fact that the Great Emancipator got slaves as a wedding present? I do not doubt that in many ways Honest Abe exuded integrity, the story of him walking five miles to return a penny that he inadvertently overcharged, well perhaps the story is only an approximation of fact. I'm not saying his motives were flawed, but perhaps he combined trips because back then, walking five miles was not that unusual, especially for a man with inordinately long legs.

What seems like a very difficult problem, or circumstance pales when examined with the light of the original experience. Honesty and integrity are always in high demand, whatever our political situation seems to say. I understand that these traits need a heroic figure to make them seem worthy, but trumping up stories to give them more impact is still a lie. I'm sure that a thousand stories or more have been told, just about my bicycle ride around the Great Lakes. none of them conveyed the true meaning of the ride, or could possibly capture the whole story, but in my travels I tried to be clear and concise as possible when describing what the ride meant to me. I told everyone that my goal was to help them by teaching ways to live more lightly on the Earth. Living better for less is what I called it.

The obvious questions people had when I got back were, How far is that and how long did it take?
4,280 miles by the road signs, but they lie and eighty days were my responses. Who, Tony C. Saladino. What, Rode his bicycle around the Great Lakes. Where, Around the Great Lakes! When, Between April first and June nineteenth, 1987. Why, To teach people how to live more lightly on the Earth, or live better for less. These were the salient points of the overall story,but within that there are stories told about how i inspired someone to go back home and take responsibility for their young family and bringing them up right. Stories of how I offered to taker people on the road with me, stories about how they helped a traveler and were able to hear stories of my ride, how a fellow dropped by their campsite one night and burned his winter jacket rather than have to ride on with it.
One day alone i spoke by radio to over six million Canadians, even if only one in six hundred mentioned what I said that morning, there were a thousand stories that day alone! It is my goal and desire to fit twelve and a half stories a day into the book about my bike ride around the Great Lakes. I'm sure that there were easily that many things happening in any particular day. Things worth telling stories about, things that have left a lasting legacy on my life.

I'm sure that the ride sounds mythic to some. In fact it was epic, but in two and a half moons I was on fire, doing what I do best...teaching and learning every step of the way. Some of the things I learned, I wish I hadn't like when I went through a town that said they liked their local paper mill because they found a way to clean up their river...then the next day I rode on to find that the mill had just piped their effluent into the next river over, bypassing the first town whose water they poisoned. I wish that I had not seen the smog hanging over my city the day I left, nor the orange brown skies over the south end of Lake after lake after lake. By the time I made it to Ontario (the furthest from my home) I was appalled to see the grim smog hugging the North shore of the lake as well. As many stories as I have about heart wrenching truths, there are also many more stories of liberation, of realization and of understanding along the way.   The book i have written about this journey will include a thousand stories of a man, but it is in my own voice, not to be sentimental, but to be reflective of what my experiences along the way were like and because it has taken so long to write, how the things I learned on those brief eighty days have shaped the rest of my life. Some are loathe to admit that events have changed their lives, but I revel in it. Each choice we make shapes us. whether the outcome is eighty seconds, eighty hours, or eighty days away.

Seventy-five Years To Live, Seventy-five Years To Die.

Today, a news story came through that a young human couple, missing since World War Two was discovered in a glacier. My wife says that I can't say it was belched out, but that is the term that first came to mind. Even spewn from didn't meet Nancy's exacting standards. Immediately I thought of a sequel to Sound of Music complete with a score and sets to match the hostile and foreboding summits the young couple needed to traverse to neutral ground. Their inexorable last hours, deprived of food and shelter; becoming weak. Their eventual slowing to a stop, huddling together through hypothermia and ultimately freezing, solid, under layer after layer of snow. You know, now, you can make Broadway shows out of anything.

Seventy-five years is part of our collective consciousness, a lifetime as it were. For these two rare souls, their death, or at least our proof of it traveled through time, almost exactly a lifetime and today there are people studying them in a form of modern archaeology. What messages would be carried into the future if you were to enter a similar time capsule? What stories would be borne in your gullet or tissues? What of the bits and bobs in your pockets? I am completely empathetic to the two souls who chose to die together enfolded in loving arms rather than separate and face the same fate alone.

This message coming to me from across the pond had power over my imagination like few news reports do. Although I have seen people pretty much wait around for a lifetime to die, some perhaps dying a little bit each day, there is no story of slow grieving of a life that can compare to these young lovers. Their families worried and struck with the sense of their loss forever. Perhaps they were not on the run across the Alps to escape Hitler, maybe they were just out to summit a glacier, I have not heard more about the story since that first flush of information. Which helps fuel the fires of my imagination even more!

I have also tried a mental experiment, skewing the time-signature of life around. The sorts of time scales that these poor folks come to call up. What can be a lifetime, but a collection of moments? What if a generation had to pass before any of our stories could be told?  Each moment is important, this the corpses prove by their embrace. If you had but one moment left to share, would it be one you are proud to speak to the world of after a lifetime had passed? The message of love and holding one another affectionately has no equal amongst the human race. Just because their bodies had frozen and life had left them long ago, their personages remained in, perhaps, one of the longest hugs on human record. Imagine a sustain pedal for each of us on our deathbed, freezing that moment in time for a generation. What will the next generation think of our choices in our collective dying.

Essentially, I'm in awe of these young lovers and their death. They were doing the thing they wanted most to do, together, each with the person they most wanted to spend their lives with and for that they will always be remembered. I want to have a similar ability to speak to future generations and tell them to love one another, it is the only thing that counts. I'm not particularly interested in sharing the route of getting the ear of the next generation, but I do hope to repeat many of their messages. My moments spent with loved ones is truly priceless. Having feelings of love toward everyone is also priceless. Honoring that each one of us are incarnations of the godhead takes the burden of judging others off the table. We are, together, or we are nothing. Hopefully it won't take another lifetime for humanity to learn this important fact.

Hospitality

I spoke briefly about this in an earlier post, but in terms of generosity, there are few acts of kindness as powerful as hospitality. All life depends on hospitality. Since all life must do all the following things, grow, move, eat, excrete, exchange gasses and reproduce; providing necessary food and space (shelter), as well as room to feel comfortable and grow can be enough. Sharing your blanket with someone who is cold, sharing an umbrella when it rains, giving away half a sandwich to someone who has no food...all of these are obviously hospitable. It may be easier to see when there are physical needs that can be met through sharing, or outright gifts to our fellow inhabitants of Earth. Being intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually hospitable may seem different, but in fact it springs from the same source, our common humanity.

In my current experience as an "American", which ironically could better be said as a United States of American, if one did not want to belittle every other culture within the Americas. I am constantly bombarded with messages the Arabs are bad, Muslims are dangerous and that those who hail from the "Cradle of Civilization" are to be feared, or at least not trusted. In fact, our nation has shirked virtually all responsibility for being hospitable to refugees from areas that we, The United States of America have systematically destabilized. The hospitality of nations is not the hospitality I wish to speak of though, I am only trying to utilize our collective behavior to point out the inherent flaws of being inhospitable. Not giving, not sharing, not considering the needs of our friends neighbors and acquaintances demonstrates a paucity of compassion that can undermine every other virtue.

I tried searching for images for hospitality and was disappointed by the fact that since hospitality has become an industry, the corporate influence on the images associated with it would be corrupted as well. I didn't see a single picture of a host welcoming guests, or offering them food or drink. There was no allusion to the fact that travelers could find secure refuge along their way. Instead it was all about business and their industry. Images of staff and welcome cards next to bells, etc. I think of hospitality as something more akin to what we do for our guests. at our Air B&B, we only offer lodging and there have been times we offered to drive them to an event and drop them off to avoid needless traffic headaches, or put food in the fridge for them, but we always let them know whatever they need or want, they can call. We are right across the street. If they want restaurants, a grocery or music and/or dancing we can steer them in the right direction. I think of like being a tour guide of sorts, helping them plan more efficiently for their brief time here. I have had a lifetime to become familiar with this area. If you want to go to the artesian well with the best tasting water, a waterfall or trail hike, I can give you highway, or back road directions. I often wonder if a phone will ever understand any of the places I send folks to? The sublime beauty and energy of say a Dave's Falls, near Amberg, WI or if they go to see Strong Falls, near Athelstane, WI, they can rest assured that these are some of the finest falls around. If they ask to go apple picking, we will send them to our favorite orchard, and it will be different if they want apples or cherries. Hospitality in many ways is putting the best foot of your entire community forward.

Honoring the abundant planet, her creatures and one another requires that we are hospitable to one another. Giving what you would want if you were in uncharted territory, this is part of what I have written about repeatedly in the past, the give-away. Perfecting the art of giving selflessly is one that the best hosts have taken to heart. Being hospitable can become a way of life for those who have both compassion and empathy for others and giving enough of yourself to them to help them feel secure and at ease. There are very good reasons that in many cultures being a host is such an honor. People far and wide often speak of folks who host events and who take in guests who may be passing through. The WOOFing experience is a good example. Travelers work their way around the countryside working on organic farms for room and board, both the hosts and their guests get enriching experiences along with Working on organic farms (thus the acronym) travelers get to know local people and customs and farmers get help in their fields. Once one learns the art of the give away, hospitality resides in their person, no effort is required, no accounting takes place for the time spent or resources offered. Knowing that the dividends that good will pay back over time dwarf whatever the cost is today.

Native cultures often honor the gift with some guidelines. If a guest comments on something you have three times, you are supposed to give it to them...things like this. When you take your first harvest, give half to a single mother or invalid in the tribe. Ancient as these truths are, they have currency in today's world more than ever! Even the precious Bible that some speak so highly of admonish X-tians to plant  extra rows along the roadsides for travelers. Without giving, the abundance of of nature is cut off. Scarcity is not a part of native world views, because the reality is that there will always be more. Sharing makes us all wealthier, of mind, body and spirit.

Perseverance

We have all had times that it seemed that the deck was stacked against us, nothing we could do was right or that things crumbled around us or blew up into a crisis whether we did our best or not; through no fault of our own, things happen. Big things, little things, even things like chicken pox get in our way. Instead of moving along down the path that we feel we deserve to be on, we get sick, or someone around us gets sick, or the car needs repair or endless other distractions from where we would rather be. Getting through those times requires perseverance. Knowing in deepest parts of our being, our hearts, souls, minds, what needs to be done feeling progress toward our dreams and making headway toward achieving our goals requires this essential virtue, sometimes above all others.

Getting really down and into the making it through part, requires an essential component of courage. When one feels that death would be an acceptable alternative to stop the pain of living, but instead opt to stay alive, this may be the ultimate perseverance, far beyond that required for someone to cross a desert without water, or someone scaling a mountain without any extra gear or supplies, for these challenges only deal with external obstacles, the inner ones are a result of deprivation and require us to face the ultimate questions like why are we here or who we are really, beyond the former limits we had set for ourselves. these internal struggles often come about because of physical challenges, but they are not exclusively the product of  such struggles. The person battling their own wish for their personal demise begins their struggle from within the internal workings of their own mind. The deprivations are often of social contact, or meaningful relationships, feeling accepted, or experiencing intimacy with another soul. Getting through these mental and emotional challenges are just as dramatic and compelling as the well publicized extreme sports stories. We are living through a time when we are coming to terms with our many stigmas and rightly so, because human beings are being put under more and more stress and feeling less and less support. Putting into practice the nine virtues can resolve many of the issues we face, but we have to be willing to look at each in turn, deeply, meaningfully and try to figure our why we were given the traumatic or stressful events we have had to bear. It exercises a part of us that needs to be strong and resilient, not crack under the inevitable pressures and stressors that accompany living in a modern world. Many of the greatest examples of my own successes bear the sign of these virtues, making them part of each and every aspect of our lives enriches us, offers us the choice of grace in each of our undertakings and provides rich food for thought that leads to a richness of experience that is difficult to put into words.

Every generation has to endure; continue in spite of everything the world throws at them. Ideally, with grace, but to persevere is even more than just putting up with the pain, the feelings of neglect or abuse we have had to face during our lives. Waiting through, or wading through the bullshit is often how we do it, annealing our soul for greater challenges that await. Sometimes our coping mechanisms are the stories we tell, the truths we comprehend, the culture that surrounds and nurtures us, it can often be the self love that we bring to the table. No matter what melts down or blows up into a fiasco around us, we will make it through, nearly every challenge gets met, that is why Homo sapiens have been successful. The circle remains unbroken, back through the ages and if we play our part, the cycle will continue for generations to come. Meeting our challenges often requires just one thing, being sure that we are on the right track and keeping moving forward in spite of any obstacles.

Our efforts, even when they are seemingly made to no avail are sometimes just charging a sort of energetic battery which will bring abundance your way in seemingly magic ways. I don't attribute it to magic, I thing something energetic is going on that resonates, when we set our sights on a challenge and meet it. I believe that there are physical relationships between energy and the world we are able to create that science has yet to define of measure. This is the opposite of magic, just misunderstood reality. Working actually takes on a different quality when we give selflessly and transcend our own reality for a greater dream or creation to arise. Womyn have a leg up on this one, because they have taken the ultimate course of challenge, requiring a lifetime of perseverance. John Lennon perhaps said it best, "Woman is the Nigger of the World". As we see time and time again, men can just be sperm donors and walk away. They can be abusive and get away with it. Men, who shirk responsibility, who put as little effort into their families as possible are crippling our next generation, whose own ability to persevere will not be informed by those men whose sperm led to their mothers giving them birth. Leaving it up to mothers to tell the stories of making it, against all odds and with virtually no support.

We are slowly coming through a time when even the path forward was obscured by institutionalized sexism. It is still holding on, but has been exposed for what it truly is. The same is taking place with regard to racism. Bit by bit, we have come to learn that the way things are is based on lies, deceitful ones that stripped humanity from over half the population. The oppressed almost always persevere. Those who are power and control freaks just bully their way through life taking what they feel they deserve to the detriment of all others. Time and nature moves all things toward appropriate distribution, abundance and secure, stable ecosystems. "Humanity", as we call it in the Western World, has not yet reached the climax condition of cultures much, much older. That is why so many around the planet are calling for us to accept the humble participation in nature that first nations people have utilized for centuries to keep the peace with nature. Restoring civilization to a place of abundance can be achieved in short order if we just accept scientific facts and act appropriately. We will win the debate about whether we want to become more fully human or to abandon ourselves to Servoglobe, just having our basic needs met without thought, but that transformation will not be complete, not with hopes or dreams, goals or aspirations. All of these things, to be realized need us to persevere, to work through, wait, educate others and push, wade through the crap that is being dispensed as reality by the uberwealthy through the media. Whatever the odds are for those things that bring the greatest happiness to the most people, we will have no chance to make them happen without the internal ingredient that inspires our actions. Perseverance.

Self-reliance

There has been a recent popularity of the saying, taken from airplane safety talks, that sums up this particular noble virtue. "Put your own oxygen mask on before you assist others." This, perhaps, is one of the best ways to think about this concept and quality. All organisms on the planet exhibit this trait. There is a powerful change that takes place when one becomes independent, self-reliant and autonomous. Again, I go back to my youth and days spent in the woods. Even before I knew about leave no trace ethics or had any camping gear at all, I knew my way around fire, knives and wild edibles. There were still hobos living in the woods along railroad tracks back then and I saw proof of their passing, from fire pits to cast off coffee cans, blankets left behind after they got wet in a storm, etc. Utilizing these cast off items and a bit of creativity, I could "play" in the stream collecting crayfish, or if I could collect fishing line and a lure or hook from the bank of the stream, actually fish for a shore lunch. Of course, an old can could double as a pot to boil water in, or a dry, flat rock could be used as a griddle to fry my catch. I could make "forts" out of soaking wet bedrolls and in my mind, drying them out at the same time might even make them useful again.

Finding a way to live that utilizes cast off elements from other creatures is a time tested way to cultivate self-reliance. As is getting intimate with the world around you. I have sheltered in rock overhangs during drenching rains, I have slept in leaf piles when there was light mist. One very memorable night, I found a rock formation on top of a mountain (at least we call them mountains around here) that fit my body like a waterbed. I found this place by myself and no one was coming to rescue me, I was living by my wits and the benevolence and hospitality of the world around me. One of the first and foremost benefits of cultivating this trait is that when one is neither a burden or bother, it keeps others from being distracted from their path and priorities. Living in ways that hinge on self-reliance also frees up many resources that dovetail into one of the other noble virtues, hospitality.

At first these seem disjoint, but when you live free of the desire to pull others into your vortex, free of the corrupting forces of needing or wanting attention, resources or energy that by definition are coming from others, you will abundance, a cascade of blessings and such a powerful shift in your own countenance that grace will pervade your being in profound ways. You do not have to be good at everything to get to a place of self-reliance, you just have to be willing to do what it takes and meet each new set of circumstances with the focus of a master crafts person, the creativity of an artist and the grace you are capable of emulating. Whatever skills you are capable of exhibiting can lead to self-reliance if you can master the want driven aspects of your personality and focus on what is needed. Again, a beautiful and angelic spirit that I know, who inhabits the body of a friend once said, "as long as you can make bread, play with/teach the children and you are willing to do dishes, you will never have to pay rent." This set of skills do not impinge on others, they do not require that others go out of their way to "support" you, in fact, these skills offered by a graceful being who emulates self-reliance and power that comes from knowing you are providing valuable services also qualifies as self-reliance. Things that would seem like liabilities in this case, a sink full of dirty dishes, or unattended children, even empty mouths whose bread is commercially produced with suspicious ingredients are turned into resources to be taken gladly by the person who sees them as resources to help pave the way to self-reliance.

Being self-reliant is actually not even a choice, we must all master it before we can attain balance.

We cannot forget others in our quest for self-reliance, just as I gave thanks for the hobos for leaving me obtanium (cast off items that are still useful) however, I also honored my own creativity and intellect by making use of them for new purposes and leaving things a little better after my passing. when I would come across a hobo encampment, often there would be trash, or at least the fire pit would need to be cleaned out and these efforts policing the area never felt like work. Participating in the give-back never feels like a burden when you understand the joy of making things just a little bit better. Several decades after my childhood experiences, I learned from a wise soul that trash breeds trash. On some level I must have known that when I took care to leave campsites and trails cleaner than I found them.  I had relied on my own sensibilities, my own conscience, to pick up cast off trash, to leave each glen and fen better than I had found it. my own self, independent of knowledgeable others determined my actions, that is often enough. Doing these things is also, not enough, the reasons behind your actions often have more to do with self-reliance than the actions themselves. I never felt a shred of disgust for how casually trash got left behind, I never acted out of spite or harbored the slightest malice toward those who would pollute without a thought. I certainly never desired accolades for my efforts. (and I still don't) Instead, I focused on my own joy at being integrated into a larger system. In many ways, the only way we can leave the world better than we found it is to give without limit and support our selves first. Helping to take care of others can only be possible if we first attend to our own needs and become capable of being attentive to our selves.

Physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual awareness can lead us to understand what is necessary for our own organism to survive and thrive. In my eyes, self-reliance comes from not only understanding these different parts of our selves, but learning how to take care of these different parts of our being in ways that do not tax others, infringe on their ability to meet their needs or block their development either. A deep and profound liberation takes place when you know that you can make it in this world, not by continuously taking from others or stealing their energies for your benefit. These virtues are actually all aspects of one, much deeper quality. Sadly, the word for it has religious connotations, but it is separate and distinct from any and all religions; that is grace. when we become self-reliant, it helps us to "suffer the slings and arrows" of others because we know that within ourselves we hold the resources needed to take care of this organism we each call home, at least for this lifetime.

Discipline

This is a hard one for me to write about. First off, I'm a man, so speaking ill of my gender is difficult. As truthful and straightforward as I might like to be on the matter, the fact remains that I was raised by womyn and for male influences, a long string of sub-par men seemed to come and go from my life. I tried to spare my own children the difficulties of single parent homes, but cycles seem to repeat. As a youngster, my ideas about discipline were heavily skewed by institutionalized sexism, which continues today; no one ever pointed out the fact that every mother on the planet knows more about discipline than virtually any man ever could. Making sure that your babies get nutrients and food enough to allow them to grow up to the best of their abilities takes a level of commitment and follow through that most bachelors could never handle.

My daughter raised (is raising) two exemplary children, but they knew more about discipline at three than I understood before I was twenty. Daily rituals technically fall into that category and for some, just making it through shit, shower, shave, toothbrush, take time to groom, etc. is as much as they can handle, but the discipline I am speaking of is not what I learned about first.

Football. My stepdad (on paper) was a football star in his own mind, he had won a full ride scholarship to play, but enlisted instead. He shot himself through the fleshy part of his arm to get out of 'Nam but woke up addicted to narcotics in Colorado Springs missing everything the arm above the elbow. My mom married him after knowing him just 72 hours. He tried to teach me discipline, through his frustrated coach wannabe style. Confronted with a round boy of seven, he would say "Discipline is what you need!" I would do drills that he learned in high school, running in place drills where I would change direction in response to him moving the ball, jumping for passes, rolling, then immediately getting up and running in place, then rolling the other way and jumping up to continue running in place, he would have me run into him like a tackling dummy. During calisthenics he had me jumping, doing the large and small circles with my arms and I did thousands of squat thrusts and in his way he was teaching me the discipline he had learned of in the only way he knew.

The discipline that I know today goes beyond having to do the job of a single mother, it is that plus working to build community, heal the natural ecosystems that surround us, live, love and leave as much of a positive trace as possible. When I learned Leave No Trace ethics, that is perhaps when I began to think about discipline as "adulting". Bear in mind that the word would not exist for over two decades, but the reason the word exists today is to describe something specific, that people now need to talk about. Taking complete responsibility for passing across the Earth without leaving a trace is perhaps the most sublime way to travel. It is based on discipline. It is a bit like the cardinal rule of theater technicians, especially props, return everything exactly as you found it. That takes extreme discipline, maybe that is why I liked it so much as a camper.

Through the not-for-profit corporation my wife and I started, we have planted 60K trees, over three million tree seeds and countless forbs. The last six years we have been creating and using biochar which directly sequesters carbon in the soil. It will last for more than thousands of years and will continue to enrich and stabilize the soil the whole time. It truly sequesters carbon in the scale we call, geologic time. It takes discipline to make your body do things, the more important the things you do are, the more discipline is required to stay the course, continue and advance your trajectory, working it, living it, breathing it. Like the discipline of Pranayama yoga or keeping fish, ritualized action leads to meditative states of consciousness that reinvigorate our stores of energy to pour back into our discipline. It is as if the joyousness feeds upon itself and great realizations can come in each moment that would be unattainable attending to the mundane. I humbly submit to my role as charmaster, the discipline that consumes me.

Courage

I used to think that courage was being willing to take chances, not appreciating the consequences of possible failure, or acting brashly against all odds. A kind of old west mythology that was encouraged by personalities like John Wayne and the folk hero Wyatt Earp. These heroes that were cast for public consumption were far less courageous than we all thought because they were little more than mannequins to hang designs upon. See, a public that truly believes in the fictional courage of the "Law West of the Pecos", or the fellow in the big white hat, there has got to be no discussion about the courage that could potentially bring down the power elites who make the movies, the oligarchs who buy politicians like we buy chocolates. True courage is standing for what is right, not only in spite of the odds, but because of them. I ended my last post with a favorite saying that comes from the founding times of the United States of America. "We must all hang together, or we will surely hang separately." That is why I continue to exhibit  the courage required to speak truth to power. Because I believe in an America that is of, for and by the people, not just those who have most of the cash, property and wealth.

Courage is not only being willing to sacrifice yourself for the greater good, but to be completely okay with the bargain. Not for the accolades which death might bring, but selflessly, the way cave dwellers retreated into the depths to make their art. Courage can be as simple as giving to your guests when you are nearly out yourself, or giving to those in need, even when it hurts, when you know they may never re-pay you. courage is going out on a limb for something you believe in, facing your fears even when they threaten to disable you. Courage is the action taken, based on a desire to improve the quality of life for everyone, or perhaps for just one person, whatever the cost. Courage is the willingness to step in, even when your opinions may be unwanted, the ability to speak truth to power even when your voice quakes or wavers, to make sure that those listening know that you will no longer be ignored.

 A friend gave me a copy of Sierra Magazine today, it had some interesting facts about courageous individuals who are committed to ecological restoration and ending habitat destruction for billions of creatures around the planet, those who stand up to the oligarchs who want to poison their land, air, water and food. Here is just a tiny snapshot of what took place in 2015, the most dangerous year for environmentalists to date (still waiting on statistics for 2016 and 2017) these numbers were compiled by Global Witness. One-hundred and eighty-five environmentalists were murdered. Fifty were killed in Brazil alone! Thirty-three were killed in the Phillipines. Forty percent of the ECO-logically motivated environmentalists were from indigenous groups. These killings need to be considered genocide. Many of these murders are left un-investigated, of the ones that were, twenty were killed because they resisted agri-bussiness, forty-two were killed because they resisted mining interests. Thirteen of the murders were committed by national armed forces, eleven of the murders were committed by the local police force. These statistics point out how courage leads to commitment, especially to causes that concern the long term habitability of our planet. Just to put this level of courage in perspective...42 police officers died in the line of duty in The United States Of America that same year, the exact same number of people who were killed for opposing mining interests.

 Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. -C.S. Lewis

This misunderstood aspect of the nine noble virtues has to be experienced to be understood. Many are waking up to the concept of doing things that will benefit the next seven generations, something native people have known about for millennea. With the advent of  capitalism, there has been greater and greater exploitation of the masses and the time has come for more and more people to stand in the face of this continuing onslaught and to no longer stand for this sort of anti-humanitarian effort to part people from their wealth. Perhaps the most courageous thing we can do is to stand together in the face of economic terrorism and say, collectively and unabashedly, "No more." No more will we stand for raiding the public coffers for the corporate welfare flowing to the few. No longer will we have our teachers maligned and denied a living wage. No longer will we subsidize the fossil and nuclear energy corporations. No longer will we stand for arms dealers profiting from death and destruction. No longer will we accept mayhem and chaos as foreign policy. These are all courageous stands and I. for one, will never retreat from a single one!

Courage, my friends, courage.

We face a series of hurdles to get our messages out. No one can profit from compassion, no one can take a lifestyle worth living to the bank. We must remain strong, committed and fearless as we face those who hold all the cards. we will continue to find ways to better ourselves and our communities in spite of these economic assaults. Standing up against forces hell bent on stealing our children's future requires a courage that has, as yet, been elusive. as the stakes rise, there will be more and more willing to stand up for what is right and good, for our families and neighborhoods. It takes courage to find new ways of building community because many may call us crazy before we prove the efficacy of compassion. There will be those who call us rebels, but our rebellion is against the heinous abuses that have been perpetrated against us. all truth goes through three stages, first it is denied, then it is questioned, finally it is accepted as fact. It takes courage to bring the new information to the table and those who don't want us to understand truth and facts will spend their last dime trying to convince us that our truth is not real. courageous people will always stand in the face of terror and destruction and speak for those who are not able to do so for themselves. We each give our lives for future generations, courage makes us live specifically to make the world they inherit a better place. fearful and timid people seek to destroy the planet, the creation of generations past and the wonderful abundance that nature provides. The courageous do the exact opposite, nurturing, creating harmony and building systems that will provide benefits for future generations.

 

Fidelity

In our culture, fidelity is often described, defined and understood in relation to marriage or pairs of people, primarily in a sexual sense. Being true to one's spouse or honoring the marriage pact are frequently the way we define fidelity. Frequently we are encouraged to seek and find a committed relationship that is exclusive to one partner and the result of adhering to this monogamy is called fidelity. However, the word has many more meanings and is certainly more powerful than a mere sexual context can provide. As a child, I grew up amongst audiophiles, people obsessed with fidelity in the realm of sound. If you have ever wondered why music sounds so different in a live room than it does when it must be channeled through speakers, you will begin to understand a different meaning of the word fidelity. In this case, true reproduction, or integrity of sound is the goal and fidelity is the closest approximation possible of the live room experience.

This sort of fidelity is, of course, impossible, but for the moment let us not devolve into arguments based on idiosyncratic difficulties in audio reproduction. The physics of sound is not my subject. This fidelity that is represented as a noble virtue is based on staying true to your beliefs, honoring your associations and committing to larger principles that you will never forsake. Although it is impossible to exactly duplicate the acoustics of a concert hall, or the timbre of the oboe on a recording, the fidelity we can exhibit and exemplify by our actions is unmistakable and also cannot be captured easily, much like the sounds and vibrations of the orchestra, you have to experience it to understand the difference between the actual experience and the "recording".

I learned a great deal about fidelity from two different experiences; one was hearing back from a friend, let us call him Tom, about something another friend, let us call him Jim, said in  passing. Conversation between Jim and a third friend had come around to friends of friends, meaningful work and eventually specifically to me. Jim said, to a third fellow who was seeking some sort of meaningful work, and Jim said specifically, about me, "Whatever Tony gets involved in will be a success." We were both in the throws of starting new businesses at the time and for me it was a great honor to be included in such conversation. He was sharing elements of my process that were true and accurate, but I felt that even in this, the reason for my success is bigger than a "job" at which we "work". Even though he exhibited fidelity to me as a  friend and by association the efforts to which I commit myself, he did it as best he could, and even sub-optimal fidelity gets some of the information across. Perhaps he was thinking of my tree planting efforts that take place under the auspices of ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. Possibly, his thoughts were about my rehabilitation of old homes, which have consistently reduced energy consumption of those houses by over 50%, the fact that I have saved condemned homes from demolition, or that I have always sought to provide the highest quality dwellings for people of modest means. He may have even been making an allusion to my continued efforts as an organic gardener and educator, or my bicycle ride around the five Great Lakes, I'm not sure, but his commitment to sharing the messages of people he knows who are doing good for the community as well as themselves can easily be seen as fidelity, not in the hopes of reproducing my efforts, but describing them.

Fidelity is being true not just to a person or a performance, but to ideas and actions. I hesitate to use the term moral code, but if we delve into the topic of noble virtues, many will spin it as a morality tale. I perceive it as co-evolutionary to share these ideas. Not in any way to proselytize, but to encourage each person reading this to define "morality" in the best way they can manage/fathom. Rather than tell others what or how to think, or worse, how to act in order to "appear" moral, deeper messages and meanings require more subtle realizations to accomplish and understand.  I learned more about fidelity when I was in a class about anger management than many would think possible. Fidelity can often be based on larger issues, things such as what we believe to be true, commitments that we have made and principles, elements and ideals which we feel committed to. I need to slip back to the common view of fidelity (ie:sexual) for the sake of this message, or particular meaning. We were told in anger management class, that there are only two reasons for jealousy, the fear of infidelity, the first is that we do not feel enough self worth or integrity to think we deserve fidelity from our spouse; the second, is that we may feel that we are capable of cheating on our spouse and that must mean our significant other is not only capable of cheating as well, but may be predisposed to cheat. This dynamic is at work in far more relationships than I care to admit. Being true, to people, ideas, principles and elements of your craft, your art, your vocation, these all represent fidelity. Fearing the loss of fidelity, may be "natural", but when you think about what happens every time you pass someone on a two lane road...you actually come within arm's length of a head-on collision...that may be natural too, but to obsess on or believe these abstract possibilities are real is not being in touch with many other facts which include but are not limited to the skills, perceptions, nature and true abilities of the others involved. In fact, it is nothing more than a figment of your imagination, not really worth being accurate about representing. Having fidelity to imagined realities is perhaps one of the most dangerous things we can do. If you focus too much energy on these things, it will usurp your vitality and ruin your ability to exist in the world.

Acting in a committed fashion according to larger processes and pictures is crucial to creating positive and long-lasting change, it is required, no essential, to exhibit each, perhaps any, of the noble virtues, this commitment, fidelity,  is essential if we are to create a lasting legacy and build, not only our character, but instill character in others. A good and very well-educated friend once described someone as being like a fart in a mitten. This fellow being described exhibited fidelity to nothing. As malleable as mercury, he took the path of least resistance and could be held to not one single solitary belief. His countenance was without any sort of conviction, lacking even the slightest commitment to anything. Like a sand grain on the beach, he was tossed and turned by wind and surf, as invisible as Cellophane Man from the movie/play Chicago (Beware this link will take you to another site)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKHzTtr_lNk
Like a fart in a mitten, you could tell he was there, but only by the smell. Guaranteed to leak out, but no telling where. The person exhibiting fidelity is the near opposite of this. Again, I must apologize for describing each of the noble virtues by their opposites, it is just so difficult to say exactly what each is. That also why I ask my readers to do so much of the work of defining these terms as a process, slowly developing an affinity for each and seeing how these traits and aspects combine and interlock to create a countenance, a personality that allows for constant creation and the ability to act and reflect at once on how we can each better hone our actions and personalities to serve others, to build community, to ensconce ideals in our culture and to educate others to the critical nature of these tasks. When I learned the term, I am because you are...ubuntu...it qualitatively improved my life and I have tried to pass that enrichment on to others by acting in accord with the meaning of it. One word can change you, if you let yourself listen and remain in a state of fidelity toward it.

As I continue to repeat, we must all hang together, or we will surely all hang separately.

Industry

The simplest way to define industry is getting things done. I remember when I first heard that Corporate America had bullied their way into the abuse of that word. I was about seven. Creative ideas are only of value if you write them down, creative plans are only valuable when executed. The most industrious are agents of evolution, forging new associations, realities and methods, altering the way we perceive the world in ways that change the future. The industry that I am trying to pin down is a process. In other organisms, their striving to life is possibly as industrious as they can become, however we humans can think about ways to alter our reality by making things, writing things down, studying data or doing things that will assist in realizing our dreams. Idle thoughts and pipe dreams don't pay the bills, only changing the world in a positive way is supposed to do that. Greater forces than I can describe here have assured that some of the most destructive acts and support for them yield the highest dividends. Again, I am forced to define the opposite of industry to make it clear what I am describing. Industry from the point of view of noble virtue is to raise up the quality of life, often, not even for oneself, but it can be self-serving a deeper part though is that your "work" benefit others. Doing so graciously, again without the desire for accolades. Again I must defer to the intellectuals reading this, the description again, gets circular. How does one explain one aspect of gracious living without calling in all other aspects and principles together?

Perhaps, like noble gasses, noble virtues cannot be diluted, perhaps it is all for one and one for all.
Perhaps it is opposite, one must possess all or will be unable to express any, or perhaps none fully. 

Industry requires gracious giving of ourselves. Gracious giving, or perfecting the art of the give away requires knowing where resources can best be put to use. It is no different with our practicing industry. In effect, the most noble thing to do is sing your heart song, tell the truth, speak your truth to power and to keep yourself from fdalling into the traps of idle hands. Making things, doing things that make a difference is not difficult, however, it takes time. Our works tell a lot about us, In my estimation, far too few actually understand and appreciate this. One of the tenets of permaculture is to equitably distribute abundance, because when you jump into the realm of exhibiting noble virtues and collectively grace, you leave a greater legacy in that your selflessness will inspire others to live their lives in grace as well. When we appreciate nature, honor and respect the laws of nature, we cannot help but find near infinite abundance. One tiny seed can create a plant taller than a human in one year, now that's what I'm talkin' about! Industry! Industry can even create a sense of family where none had existed before.

Not only does industry require gracious giving, but the knowledge that you are giving in a way that has a specific character. I recently tore into the ideas about mastery. I found it odd that some put a specific number of hours being required to attain mastery. Believe me, I had a good laugh about that. I have seen people doing the same job, which they typically have deemed "dumb", not practicing their craft at all, not trying to get better outcomes, not even looking up to see if you are having a good day. These practices will never even approach what might be called mastery, I do'nt care if they "work" that way for fifty more years! To up your game, or shoot in the direction of mastery, you have to direct your attention to what it takes to do each step, how to home the efficiency of your doing so, and an endless striving for excellence, not the cheap and sleazy corporate excellence you can make memes and poster slogans for until the end of days, I'm speaking for the A+++ form of excellence that could out-do itself against all odds, tomorrow. Peak performance requires frequent and focused practice, never becoming mundane. The people who turn their backs on refinement become proficient at nothing. To "be" creative is to have facility and fluency in your craft, but also the ability to revise and experiment or solve problems when things go awry. When what we have tried has thus far failed, what can we do differently? In all probability, we will all leave a legacy, to be borne by future generations, will it be of our honor, our honesty, our perseverance? I hope so! The things we make say so much about who we are, let us hope future generations will remember us as people who worked hard for the betterment of them! When we got work crews building trails and bridges in national, state and county parks, it left an edifice for all of us to remember their industriousness. In our turn we need to be making these monuments.

We literally forge reality with our actions and being industrious in our attempts to make a world that would not just be better for ourselves, but our great grand children as well, we take our place in the history of the species. My own choice is to make and teach others to make biochar. anyone within stiking distance of Central Wisconsin, Custer to be exact, come to the Midwest Renewable Energy Faire. Learn about the industry of generating electrons! I will be presenting a workshop on Sunday, 2-4P in the Pink Tent. By making healthy soil, my industry may continue to bear fruit that will last thousands of years! The black gold (char) I make allows us to directly put carbon into the soil. I teach classes on how to make it and so far dozens have taken the classes! I want it to be thousands...please spread the word! Together, we can make it happen. WARNING: this will take you to a site that I cannot vouch for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeZPv8gPvJ0       But they do kick it!

Honor

Again, how does one speak of something so primal, so ethereal as honor? The closest I had heard about it when I was very young was "It takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but it only takes a second to destroy it." My teachers were guiding me toward honor, but perhaps they were not sure exactly how to talk about it either. I remember when people had pre-marital sex and got pregnant, "the honorable thing" was to marry the young woman, which also made no sense to me. After all, the honorable thing as I understand it would be more about not getting a young woman pregnant before marriage, but that is truly another story. As a young man, I read the speech written by William Shakespeare, given by his character, Marcus Antonius, given after Caesar's death. During this relatively brief speech, Antonius continues to repeat the line, "but these are honorable men", referring to Brutus and the other conspirators. Even at first reading I could understand the shrewd use of the dripping irony, the twist of phrase that drew in the crowd, got purchase upon their hearts and whipped them to a fury against the conspirators that was palpable. Mere words regarding the honor, not of the conspirators, but of Caesar, moved the crowd to seething hostility and deadly rage! We all know a few of these "honorable men", do we not?

True honor is even more than just saying what you intend to do and doing what you say. It is being humble in that, because honor need not bring accolades, for everyone needs to behave with honor. I can partially forgive those who have been raised on a steady diet of abuse and neglect only because they may have not yet had the concept of honor filled in, defined in ways they understand or perhaps they have not yet seen a model for this illusive quality. It is understandable then that they would see no value in it. I heard another way of speaking about honor that made a big impression on me, just in the last few weeks. "The greatest act of cowardice is to make someone fall in love with you and have no intention to reciprocate." Again, I am not speaking of honor, but I can easily point to the opposite.

Also growing up, there were some fairly common statements to the effect that there is "honor amongst thieves", like folks who rob and steal for a living won't rob or steal from one another. I can say with total certainty that this is not the case! Again, we are speaking of the opposite of honor, but I really want to take a stab in the direction of the meaning, for me, of this word. Honor is the Siamese twin to respect. I know that it may muddy the waters for some of my readers, but even the respect that I understand can be confused. Let me make a run at that first, so as to clarify why I brought that into the discussion. A dear friend recently made the case for fear, guilt and shame, claiming that they had a purpose in getting others to behave in ways you want them to. I had to stand up and voice my opposition to the very concept. Honor came into play. The person I believe myself to be could not stand for undermining other humans and fear, guilt and shame have no place in the coming age of peace, freedom and abundance. It is one of my most cherished beliefs that all humans can be motivated to behave appropriately, simply by educating them as to why co-operation is necessary.

As I honor and respect others, I would also like to think that they would honor and respect me. Not in ways that instill fear if they don't go along with me, not guilt for disobeying me, or having their own ideas about ways forward, I don't even want for people to feel ashamed if they do not meet expectations, it is a useless emotion. I am pretty sure that honoring our mistakes makes them less likely to haunt us, because we can learn and move on. The last oddity that i had to confront when growing up was the, I believe, Girl Scout Promise, "On my honor I will try..." by the time I heard that I understood that there is no try, only to do or not do. In my heart of hearts I knew that part of the problem our culture faces is that there are too many pledges, too many promises and too many excuses made to "be true" and far too little attention is often paid to the real tools that are needed to even be capable of making a significant commitment.

Honor is not asking others to live up to anyone's expectations, especially your own. It is not expecting everyone to be at least as informed as you are, honor is remaining an integrate whole in spite of people ruffling your feathers, pushing your buttons or bringing up sore feelings you may feel totally justified in having. Honor submits to no mere passing phase or "temptation", no honor is like the stillness that carries the day when everything else felt uncertain or changeable. Honor is something like a rock, it counts, it is not showy, but it will remain, even when times change.

Truth

I learned about truth the way many of us did. "These truths" were self-evident in The United States of America's founding document, the Declaration of Independence. I knew nothing about lies, having never lied, I also had not been accused of lying, so I know it is so. Because I had never known what they were, I didn't even know that they are the opposite of truth. I grew up a theater child and had heard tell of "suspension of disbelief", however, there was little discussion about the fact that everything we create in theater is a lie. From the sets to the props, from the teasers to the tormentors, it all exists to trick the audience into believing  our story. Even autobiographical theater is a story of who the author wants the audience to think they are. It was perhaps too self-reflective to speak of the lying nature of our business back then, but it must be understood to get to the bottom of what truth is. The idea of willful ignorance, the root of stupidity itself, is based on this willingness to continue to believe in lies in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary.

I will attempt to write about truth when even the act of writing is a lie. All stories are imperfect reflections through a kaleidoscope of words that depend on you defining what is meant by each of them and, if you are paying attention, to make decisions about what they meant in total. A stone, even well described, is not the same stone for you as it is for me and certainly the essential quality that the speaker has in mind cannot be conveyed in five letters. That is why geologists have so many names for them. Even describing something real in exacting terms cannot be the thing, so it is a representation, a figmentary non-rock which exists only in it's description. So too, the essence of truth is obscured by words. My attempt, as writer, is to lie to you in such a way as to simulate truth and hope that by reflection, in my very dirty mirror, and your astute mind, through presenting a variety of vagaries, can decipher the essence of it. I can make models of what it is not, perhaps fill in the negative space, but to show you truth, standing alone can only be done through examples pulled out of our collected experience, hoping you will "get" my meaning in spite of the allusions and props used to mimic the reality and it's essence  I want to define or point to what I believe is truth. My reality, my version by the way, cloaked in your perceptions. In trying to do it succinctly, I have to contort words to get my points across, so beware of putting too much meaning on any one point that I am about to make, taken together these paragraphs are but a shot in the dark, toward an essential quality that defies description.

We were told that when nuclear energy was implemented, electricity would be "too cheap to meter", that was a lie. The truth was, some scientists wanted the waste from nuclear energy production to make bombs, terrible bombs, which could destroy the world many times over. These self same scientists didn't care how many billions of BTUs of fossil energy would need to be squandered to achieve their aims. They only sought "success" as their "truth" allowed them to define it. As it turns out, the whole process, from inception had been a horrible waste of human effort. The lie carried far more weight than the truth in the American psyche, but the burden of millions of years of contamination will be born by our species in perpetuity. Truth was deemed too harsh for the American people, so lies carried the day. For some, they still do.The extortion and raping of our economy by the military industrial complex is still, seemingly, too distasteful to discuss openly, so we continue to fabricate lies about how our "security" is "enhanced" by blowing up foreign air bases and cave complexes built by our CIA, in prior times, to help further undermining prior regimes. That, sadly, seems to be the way the cookie crumbles. Eisenhower himself pointed out that even the President cannot bring these lying, cheating death merchants to heel. But again, how does this convey the essence of truth? Sorrowfully, only by it's opposition to it. Truth, however is even more than what these lies are not.

So, how am I, or when will I be getting to writing about truth? Well, it is time to speak truth to power and I will not be letting down my attempt to show you at least one truth before ending my post. It requires generosity (a form of hospitality), courage, discipline and perseverance. Truth is often self-less, given from the heart and researched through a lifetime of fidelity to fact, the ability to be self-reliant and not be parasitic to any other person. This is a hard one because so many are willing to sell themselves or profit from the efforts of others. Making things, especially when you constantly work to improve your craftsmanship, efficiency or technique, utilize creative problem solving to overcome systemic problems, etc. reflects truth and an attempt to hold it dear. If this description seems somewhat circuitous, it is because truth has many aspects, although it is one thing, a whole. To some this Truth, has the countenance of a deity. It is "holy" as it were. In an effort to approximate truth, a story with an important picture may do well to describe...

ECO-TOURS OF WISCONSIN INC. NORTHEAST WISCONSIN PLANTING SITES- Since this photo was taken, sites have been added, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and in Chase, Wisconsin. More native plants will flourish there as we continue planting and growing, building community and assisting the native flora and fauna to co-exist in ecological integrity.

Even understanding all the maps, graphs and charts in the world won't help find truth, it is that illusive. This photo shows just one reason why. I have kept track over the years of where ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. has planted trees. To the best of my ability I accurately placed a pin at each planting site. However, the pins themselves, in scale, are nearly mile wide! The plant-ins that have been held at these sites were rarely more than perhaps two hundred feet wide and were never more than a quarter mile wide. Some places were just a single line of trees planted as a screen, hedge or wind break, so even thirty years on, they will only be thirty feet wide at their greatest, not nearly a mile wide as the pin suggests. Just to try to clarify, These locations have had more than 60K trees planted in them and over three million tree seeds as well, however, at this scale, all of those tree seedlings we planted would fit within a single pin hole. (less than 200 acres actually) Even if every tree seed grew to a mature tree, which is impossible, the area covered would be about the size of one of the larger pin heads, (about 9K acres) The map makes our impact seem much larger, because all maps are a lie. They reflect only a tiny selection of "things"  in inappropriate scale, to get only one bit of information across and their information is always, by nature, contaminated by the fact that it is a representation, not the real thing.

Truth needs more champions and lies need to continue to be exposed.