the need today...

After reading gurdonark and his entry on counting and then this piece by Roger Cohen in the Herald Tribune it is time to take a hard long look at ourselves. We will need to look at life differently, there will be a new dynamic in our culture, in fact in the culture of the world. I'm hopeful, very hopeful that a new spirit will define how we live, how we love, how we work for the betterment of mankind.

I will today count my blessings, and look forward to how I can share those blessings with my fellow man. We all need to change our vision, broaden our horizons, and embrace those we see as our brothers and sisters in this journey called life. Provide direction, provide knowledge, share wisdom, and share ourselves. We will all be better for it.

another post...other times

Homeless... I see too many every day, their shopping carts or backpacks hold all they have left.

I've seen indignity thrust upon these people as their carts are unceremoniously dumped on the sidewalk and the cart tossed into the back of a truck by a shopping cart recovery company.

I wonder how it is to be thrust on the street seeking shelter from a storm?

I've only had a few occasions in my life where I was left searching for  place to sleep. I had wheels both times, a motorcycle, and I traveled to the woods, where a large stack of wood provided something to guard my back and a place where I could hide in plain sight. It was only the next morning when workmen arriving to start their day woke me and I left the area virtually un-noticed. The other time I was rousted from my sleep by police and told to keep moving, it was not a 'welcome wagon' experience. A check for outstanding warrants while I sat on the ground, harsh words, a shove, and being followed by the police to the edge of town.

I can sympathize with  the homeless. Trying to sleep and keep dry under an improvised tent, made from my poncho. Heating some water on a Sterno stove, to make tea. Wishing for something warm in my stomach. Going to a laundromat late at night to wash a few clothes and dry those wet from the rain. A warm place for a while, a place to stay, to wait for the sun rise an to move on down the road.  On some of my 'travels' while much younger and while on disability, I would seek the 'free' campgrounds, sometimes remote, but always tried  to live cheaply, instant coffee, vienna sausage, oat meal, my diet was limited, money was for gasoline and a way down the road. I would travel between hospital stays, drove my doctors nuts. I would start out with a few hundred dollars, leave California for weeks, go to Yuma, camp in a park, then on to Quartzite, a stay in the desert, up along the Colorado River, then over into Arizona again, Williams, Grand Canyon, Flagstaff another night in the woods, Page and Navajo Country, a gracious people. Onward to Jacob Lake, North Rim, another night outside. Zion in the rain, watching th creek rise, rain turns to snow. Riding a motorcycle is a way to experience the environment. Sitting alone in the desert while you change a tire, on a lonely road and after hours pass, not another car is seen. You had to be self sufficient, you were on your own. Using used newspaper under my jacket to keep warm.

A stop in Vegas, plenty of warm places to stay, if you had money. Finding a place to safely leave my motorcycle, a quick hot meal, a casino bargain breakfast. Down to Lake Mead, sleep on the beach. Back across the desert. The town of Searchlight, heading south, back roads to Ludlow, Old Route 66, down south some more, catch the road from Vidal Junction to 29 Palms, a lonely road. Last gas, and the last tank back to Anza.

My parents and doctors always worried, but I was living, as I had heard many times, that I could live a long life or die tomorrow. My choice was to live.

Those trips allowed me to experience America. I traveled through California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, South and North Dakota, Oregon and Washington. I 'used up' a few motorcycles along the way. Over 80,000 miles on a Honda 400/4, another 80,000 on a Honda 450, 90,000 on a Honda CX-500. I spent the 4th of July 1976 in Clark Fork Idaho. I spent the night in a saloon in Idaho City Idaho. I fished everywhere I went in my later trips. Crater Lake, Mt. St. Helens the summer after the eruption. Driving down I-80 followed by a plume of volcanic ash rising from the pavement as my wheels headed west.

I have memories, pictures in my head, remembering the people I met along the way. Those were good times.

fire....

We see fire on the TV,,, we feel for those who have lost it all.