Inception

Is it time for Another Beginning? That's where I started to go on December 30, 2010. But I got lost; right at the start of a new maze. I have gone so far off of the intended path that some friends have suggested I take a breath, meditate, and/or get back into yoga. These same friends believe that the self-destructive path of humans is inevitable and cyclical; maybe even written. 


But other friends and family encourage me to be passionate, intense, and yes, even angry about the human condition. This week, two events have crossed into my field of vision that make me proud I have been speaking out. 


#1 - An article at Salon.com calling for an American Spring.

#2 - The protests at Wall St.

I don't pretend my voice has added to the public debate, but I do know that I had to speak. At one moment in January of this year, my agitation about politics and economics began. I went back and read all of my Blog posts and it is clear that when Gabrielle Giffords was shot in Tucson in January my thoughts and focus turned outside of personal journey. And although I began this week thinking about reversing the content of my writing, an American Spring and a good old fashioned democratic protest sprung out of nowhere.

In the not too distant past, MLK and Nelson Mandela were catalysts for change. They accomplished their goals in different ways, but both sacrificed so much. This is done with deep commitment, unwavering determination, and by not listening to the advise of loved ones who are concerned about the well being of the person willing to express their anger through writing, speeches, marching; basically shouting "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore."

A new inception, Another Beginning (AB), has been my fantasy for 35 years. AB has it's origin as a slogan on my first canvas tote bag. Long before bringing your own bag to the supermarket was the in thing, Berkeley's Richard Register produced this inspiration circa 1976 ....... Alan might still have his? But that's now become another story for next week.

[But that's another story] ..... a cool, fancy way of saying, 

"I could tell you about this, but I won't because it's not really 

that related to what I'm telling you about now." 

Used quite often in the book, "The Neverending Story" ...... 

It's basically one of those phrases that everyone yearns 

to find a good opportunity to say .... 

Urban Dictionary

NOTE FOR ANOTHER POST:  
The mention of "The Never Ending Story" in this definition is incredibly synchronistic. That happens to me a lot. I will be researching one thing and land on a reference that contains elements of what is already percolating in my mind. If you have never read the book or seen the original movie "The Never Ending Story," take the time to at least read a synopsis.  For inspiration, my young son watched part of "The Never Ending Story" every morning before school. We played kids games like Tic-Tac-Toe, but that doesn't build confidence; even a child realizes that with 9 squares and X's and O's, you end up focusing on blocking the success of your opponent. Sounds like Congress doesn't it?

Sounds of Silence

Solutions ........ do you have any? As you watch what is happening around you, in your circle of life and on the national and international stage, do you take it in stride, accepting it as beyond your control? How are you coping? 


From strangers, I hear loud posturing, lies repeated, misunderstood Bible passages, but from you I hear silence.


I know many of you. You take the time to read this and other forwarded commentaries, revealing jokes, relevant videos clips, and some journalists rants. Other folks arrive on this page through some degrees of separation. If you Googled a key word and landed here, than you are curious and interested in something that is embedded in these thoughts.


The Sounds of Silence are deafening:


Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains; Within the sound of silence*

I hated history when I was in school, but when I became a Math Teacher I realized why. Many of the "facts" that I was taught in my first 20 years are not true. My solution in my classroom was to spend time emphasizing the reason for learning. Having an open mind and knowing how to use our brain should be the focus of early education. Tests based on memorized data should be replaced by challenging students to collaborate, investigate, explore, and create. 


Columbus didn't discover America and Pluto is not a planet. The narrow mindedness, bigotry, and arrogance of the Columbus story is a great example of the root of America's mess. The "tea party" spews this kind of fabricated information. 


The new Pluto story reminds us that with the ever expanding explosions in technology we will always discover new truths to replace old facts. We can't possibly foresee or imagine the future at any stage of evolution. 


And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening ....
"Fools", said I, "You do not know"
Silence like a cancer grows
And echoed; In the wells of silence*



Last week, a respected friend commented on my previous post, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." This is what I heard when I read it:


"[Earth] is NOT a vacation planet. It's in vast transition and the old greedy model is thrashing about trying to make its illusion of reality last ..... all these tacky people ...... stay in this zoo of madness ......" 


And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, 
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence*


A solution was given this week by a Senator I had not heard of before. Lamar Alexander, an influential Republican, will step down from his leadership job in January, saying he can do more to help set budget priorities and curb government regulations as an “independent senior senator.”  I applaud his action.


Now, I want to promote a solution and encourage you to take the time to tell us your new ideas for real change. In what would be a bold, courageous and wise decision, I suggest President Obama tell the world he is not running for a second term. He should do this for his children, his wife, and for us. I respect him, like his style, know he his a brilliant attorney, and would be a great international diplomat. I applaud his American story and he has paved the way for more diversity at every level of our society. 


But this has turned out to be a time when Hilary Clinton should have been our President and she could be convinced to run again in this scenario. With her added international experience, her connections in Washington DC, her savvy and understanding of deal making and brokering in a very corrupt and self -serving US Government, she would beat any Republican candidate in the election, which Barrack may not be able to accomplish, and we would be better armed to tackle our problems in spite of the divisiveness and rancor in our 2 party system. Do I hear an AMEN!


*Simon and Garfunkel

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Bad role models                                       Poverty/Welfare
No telephone skills                                   Billions of Foreign Aid
Lack of respect/civility                             Military Waste
No accountability                                     Lobbyists and Greed
Inadequate education                                Tax Evasion
Zombies/Horror are funny                        Religious Fanaticism
Too much junk food                                 Healthcare & Fuel Costs



Emboldened by a conversation on the phone at work with Contractor Keith, I am agitated to the point of taking risks. The maze has trapped us and no one has a map to the exit. Constantly turning down dark alleys has taken us ever further away from solutions. Their is no leadership with a true desire to be part of planning a way forward, only egos seeking power and money.

Keith and I are now connected. Even though we have different backgrounds, education, locations and political beliefs, we agree that America is in deep trouble. The significance of our phone call on Tuesday has caused me to get very worked up again about this crisis. I was pushed over the edge yesterday when a friend at my work place was terminated. A smart, calm, friendly guy, a man who had quickly become part of our team, our work family, was suddenly dismissed.

These 2 events have set me off and find my brain churning and my fingers shaking. I am hopeful I can make a point in the next 3 paragraphs that will cause you to action. George Harrison emphasizes my point:


I look at the trouble and see that it's raging,
While my guitar gently weeps.
As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but ageing,
Still, my guitar gently weeps.

America is beyond the tipping point. This is about the economy, education, false idols, and the shift in American values. The people under 40 at my work place have grown up playing violent video games, wasting their education, and disrespecting authority. They are distracted by "reality TV", play fantasy sports, get no nutrition from junk food, do not have conversation skills, spend hours texting nonsense, love zombies and horror, and idolize and emulate people like Snoop Dog, Snookie, and Lindsay Lohan.

Keith is the owner of a large contracting company and has to have skilled carpenters in his employ. His workers spend every day in our customer's homes and they have to communicate with respect and personality while working efficiently and thoroughly. Think about the pool of 20-30 something men he has to choose from and realize how hard it is for him to maintain his professional service company.

My company hires hourly retail staff. They pay peanuts and get monkeys. Young people who are lazy, overweight, under educated, with no work ethic, and little desire to improve. Our retail staff is reminded endlessly that customer service is paramount and that positive customer feedback is essential. Yet the company does no customer service training nor does it screen potential workers for interpersonal skills, telephone skills, or sales skills. They look at the pool of candidates on a weekly basis and if an individual has no criminal background, doesn't have drugs show up in their pee test, shows up to interviews on time, and are desperate enough to sit still and be moderately polite during their interview, they are head and shoulders above their peers.

It is a sad state of affairs. During the past 20 years as our major corporations have focused on their stock values, lowered their costs and improved their profits by moving manufacturing jobs and customer service phone jobs overseas, we have lost the middle class. The reason these jobs are gone is not only because labor is cheaper overseas, but also because without unions and watch dog organizations like the ACLU, overseas workers can be brow beaten to get results, given no benefits, and still appreciate their opportunity to work.

OK that's 4 paragraphs and I'm just getting started. We have to have this conversation. More people have to speak up and we have to provoke more voices like yours to tell the truth about our real problems.

1. The solutions to this mess DOES include collecting more taxes from tax evading corporations and millionaires.
2. The solution DOES include more jobs created to fix our crumbling infrastructure; roads, bridges, waterlines, dams, power grid, etc.
3. The solution DOES include health care for everyone and more sales tax on unhealthy products like cigarettes, junk food, and polluting vehicles.
4. The solution DOES include more exercise for our youth, more reading and less computer and cell phone time, better control over graduating illiterates.

TO BE CONTINUED SOON ..........  Please comment below

Magical Mystery Tour

Sixty years on Earth is a chunk of time. If your 25, it seems like forever. If your 90, you think it's young. That's the interesting thing about perspective; it all depends on which side of the fence you're on.  I've been observing my reactions, feelings, and attitudes during the past 9 months, and I'll admit they have been varied. I just finished writing an email to my 2 best friends, and realized in that composition that a theme has formed for the final 4 months of my 60th year. A Magical Mystery Tour (MMT)

Today's thoughts remind me of yesterdays. The van, as a symbol for my life, is profound. I never had one painted this way, but I did want to honor the Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" (MMT). I have had 4 vans during the past 40 years, so they have dominated my driving experiences and added to my personal MMT. My first van was a VW, much like the one pictured here. It was light green, had a stick shift, and its' engine froze in the middle lane of the northbound NJ Turnpike, somewhere between Elizabeth, Bayonne, and Newark.

My second van was a red Chevy window van and it was part of my life for 10 years; from Long Island to Princeton to Berkeley to Sedona. My friend Alan and I had magical tours in that van, visiting Vermont, listening to 8 track tapes, creating visions of that van as a big community bus; a vehicle for change and inclusiveness. "You've Got a Friend" was born in that van and someday I will write more about those days; the mid 70's deserve a post of their own.

I did illegal things in the red van, including light drugs and innocently smuggling a rabbit into Canada. Around 1980, I had it painted a strange blue color and converted it to a camper van. You can remake your ride to reflect your transformation from wandering to commitment. Many years went by before I bought another van.

In 2005, I bought the celery colored Dodge Grand Caravan in Ramona from the Russian guy for $3,000 cash. It was the best desert vehicle for my construction work. If you have ever left a hammer in the back of your pickup truck and went to grab it on a hot June day, you'll understand why a van is the right vehicle. Austin and I had all we needed in that van; it was a cash machine. Transporting merchandise from Home Depot and all of my tools, we'd pull up to someone's home, complete a project and drive away with cash. Those were good times in Borrego Springs.

That van transported me to my current location, and recently I sold it after it turned 200,000 miles. Although it wasn't the smoothest transition, I soon bought my current champagne gold 2001 Toyota Sienna Van. We drove it to Sedona a few weeks back, and if you have been following along here, you know that was a magical trip. Once again the tunes and the scenery were grand through the large windows of a van.

I have been asked many times why does an older guy drive a soccer mom's vehicle. This speaks to images in SoCal that you are supposed to have the right car. To be honest, if you look at me, really look at who I am and have been, you'd have a hard time figuring out what is the right car for Robby. Some think its a sports car, some say its a 4 door sedan, maybe something classic like an old Mercedes. I've owned an RX-7, a Jaguar, an Audi lemon, a green Volare (look it up), a 1969 red Camaro with a 396, and at least 6 other vehicles.

But my vans bring MMTs and symbolize my ride through life. The tour continues in a few weeks; back to the NW to visit my best friends and reflect on past, present and future. Anybody got a time machine?

Imagine

I don' know if I'm a dreamer as much as a restless observer, but last week I got some momentary clarity during our time in Sedona. Yes, it was part just being away from work and SoCal, yes it was part the energy of the Red Rocks, yes it was my history meeting my current reality, yes it was partially inspired by my email exchanges with Jud, and yes/but at then end of the day reflecting and packaging my thoughts here is what I do best.

I have about 50 songs on my smart phone and with the poor, but workable technology, of tethering it to the cassette player in my van, we listened to lots of Beatles, Carol King, James Taylor, and similar music from the 70's; as we drove 17 hours round trip across desert, mountains, freeways and Arizona highways last week. The words of those songs, the memories of days gone by, the freedom of the road, the meditation of the long hours staring through the windshield of my life, has me placing this summers head space, transitions, confusions, frustrations, depressions, therapy sessions .... (wow, that is a lot of "ions") in context.

Add this to my past two years of correspondence with my HS classmate Jud and it brings me to the heart of this piece. IMAGINE if we realized the kind of world Gene Roddenberry envisioned when he structured the simplistic culture on board the Enterprise, filled with the philosophies, morals, directives, and harmony in the Federation. OK, I am a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Many of us thought the world by now would be very different. Certainly we would now be more aware than the bigotry betrayed in the book and movie "The Help." Certainly by now we would be more concerned about solutions, than about personal or financial agendas. Certainly by now we would be more evolved as a planetary kingdom; connected humans solving international conflicts with wisdom instead of guns and bombs. It is not so. I am disappointed to say the least. 

I woke up this morning uplifted, while thinking about my son's new beginning in the USD Business Masters program focusing on Global Leadership. Somehow, we have passed forward the spirit to him and he wants to be a leader and part of the transformation of human truths, actions, and cooperation. 


We are all tiny pieces of a 7 billion human puzzle and that is why I named this Blog "1 of 7 billion humans." DUH!  I will be 60 in December but I still want to join/form a pack of doers and scheme to lead a village toward more awareness, accountability, and a conscious future.

From potential life threatening hurricanes and earthquakes, to overthrowing dictators like Gaddafi, so much more is unexpectedly happening on Earth and now more than ever I am seeing the need to "think globally, act locally." 

"Imagine all the people, living life in peace."

Sedona

Sedona, Arizona is named for Sedona Schnebly (1877–1950), the wife of the city's first postmaster, who was celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness. During our vacation in Sedona this past week, we constantly remarked about the friendliness of the residents and the obvious commitment by everyone living there, to making sure the spirit of Sedona lives.

Unfortunately, the other lingering feeling deposited in my soul from this visit to one of the most beautiful places on Earth, is the truth about the Native peoples departure from this land (their home) in the Verde Valley of Central Arizona. In 1876, the Yavapai and Apache tribes were forcibly removed from the area to the San Carlos Indian Reservation, 180 miles southeast. 1500 people were marched, in midwinter, to San Carlos. Several hundred lost their lives. 

Sedona's main attraction is its stunning array of red sandstone formations, aka the "Red Rocks". The formations appear to glow in brilliant orange and red when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. Juxtaposed with the vibrant green vegetation and the clear blue sky, it is no wonder that this breathtaking landscape "moves" millions of travelers from all over the world, who believe they are experiencing a spiritual force beyond nature.

Our favorite part of the trip was our visit to 2 Native American historical sites, Palatki and Hanaki. These cliff dwelling ruins, and the pictographs on the walls of their canyons, are mostly from the "Sinagua" circa 650-1250 AD, while some of the abstract symbols and drawings date back 3000-6000 years from the "Archaic" native cultures. The history (always remembering these are just interpretations and partial truths assumed by archeologists based on the remains pottery chards and fossils), brings alive a time when the weather was different, wild animals were abundant, and peoples were experimenting with farming. 

My spirit is raised when I go to Sedona and I was reminded again of the first time I arrived there in the early 80's and realized I was HOME. (HOME is an acronym I created in 1975 for Heart-Open-Mind-Eternal.) Living in Sedona in simpler times found us part of a small community of like-minded people who were determined to build a foundation for the Sedona of today. You cannot miss the beauty of the architecture and the control of the development, amidst the inevitability of the expansion in America over the past 30 years. Sedona is a tourist mecca in harmony with itself ......... still one of this planet's must see locations.

By the People, For the People

Open minded folks around the country are trying to get their heads around the incredible instability of the economy. History will report that the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of 8 years of Bush and Cheney. The Iraq War and deregulation in the financial sector were at the root of our collapse. 


But I am past the anger of how we got here, and attempting to join a positive movement seeking a path out of this maze. The most important question is: "What do we do about it now?"


Two good friends have offered up 2 significant ideas. The first proposal is "by the people." When the collective focus of spirit and intention by hundreds of thousands of people is brought to a crescendo on a given day, it will raise the consciousness of all 7 billion humans. This concept is rooted in the beliefs of authors and national speakers suggesting that if enough people pray and meditate on world peace, their combined energy will heal and inspire humanity.


The second idea is that the only path to real change in Washington DC is to add a terms limits amendment to our Constitution. In addition to limiting length of service, this amendment would reduce the financial benefits awarded to public servants, thereby turning over our Capital offices to citizens governing "for the people."


Will enough people get behind this movement? If you read through the following simple list of ideas for change, you probably will agree that this would alter the landscape and we would find a completely different kind of person wanting to serve. Holding a political position would be a privilege, not a career:


1. A two term limit - 2 years each


2. The salary is limited to basic housing and living expenses.


3. While in office, you get medical benefits and when you leave office you are eligible for nothing more than standard Social Security and Medicare


There are a number of non-profit organizations on the Web promoting a term limits amendment. I am researching their roots, and if I find one that I believe is worthy of your support, I will pass it forward.


In the meantime, a growing threat to the stability of our government is the Tea Party. Take a few minutes to read the following article. It will fuel you belief that this movement is ill advised.

The Right's delusions of world-historical grandeur

By Greg Sargent

Is the Tea Party movement comparable to the abolitionist, civil rights and women's suffrage movements?

As I've noted here before, it often seems like some on the right are suffering from what you might call a world-historical inferiority complex. They're so desperate to imagine themselves as actors in an ongoing drama that rivals the most momentous struggles in human history that they simply play-act the part, pumping up their own situation into something comically out of proportion with historical reality.

Here's another perfect example of this. "Tea Party Review," the first national magazine for Tea Partyers, is making its debut this week, and one of its founders explained the idea driving it by comparing the Tea Party to the most important movements in American history:

"People are weary of the distorted version of the Tea Party movement that we see in most of the media," said Katrina Pierson, a member of the Dallas Tea Party and the "national grassroots director" for the new magazine.

"Throughout American history, successful movements -- abolitionists, women's suffragists, the civil rights movement, the conservative movement, et cetera -- all had their own print publications."

I think it's a bit too soon to say whether the Tea Party deserves a place alongside those movements. Abolitionism and the civil rights movement, taken together, spanned more than a century, beginning with the founding of abolitionist societies in the early 1800s and culminating in the 1960s with the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts. The abolitionists helped liberate millions of people who had been held captive under a deeply entrenched economic system -- the Slave Power -- that could only be overturned by decades of committed political activism, superhuman perseverance, and untold amounts of bloodshed.

Publishers of abolitionist newspapers routinely had their printing presses broken up by angry white mobs, a fate that is unlikely to meet the publishers of the new Tea Party magazine. Yet despite the fact that the threat and reality of violence against them was ubiquitous, the abolitionists envisioned and helped put the nation on a path to the first interracial democracy in human history, and the civil rights movement took major steps to codify that vision into federal law, one of the greatest historical feats of all time.

By contrast, the Tea Party can't boast that level of accomplishment yet. Federal cash from the stimulus, which originally sparked the Tea Party uprising, continues to flow. And the jury is out on whether the Tea Party movement will even accomplish what has become its primary goal: Liberating millions of Americans from the tyranny of Obamacare and the individual mandate. It's true that the Tea Party has elected a few dozen representatives to Congress. But Tea Party leaders -- Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Rand Paul, etc. -- have yet to attain the historical stature of great abolitionists and civil rights figures like Senator Charles Sumner, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, or great suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony.

But, hey, we can play make believe!