Born in the USA, I grew up with an occidental perspective on this life, .viewing the world through a scope of western civilization, history and culture. As far as we know, based on ancient biblical history as reported by Moses and the Bible, it all started in Euphrates valley: Adam and Even. . . Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth et al. There’s also the epic of Gilgamesh, a kingdom of Uruk, which makes sense, from my perspective, because Abraham left a place which the Bible names “Ur of the Chaldees” when he decided to head west. From that time forward, western culture has pretty much move toward the setting sun ever since. Judaic culture migrated westward toward Greece, joining up with the Athenian wise guys blending biblical religion with philosophy. As Christian faith and culture expanded, becoming more and more organized along the way, important people were taking charge of things with empires and kingdoms strung out along the way, The Romans had an impressive run, eventually joining up, thanks to Constantine, with Christians along the way. After many years, the Roman empire split up, with authority, wealth and culture being distributed regionally among kings, dukes, bishops. The European expansion ran all the way from what is now southern Turkey, then called Asia minor, to the western shores of the European continent, where Spain and France are now. In 1492, Spanish Queen Isabella. and King Ferdinand II commissioned an Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, to sail westward over the Atlantic ocean, to discover what they might find there. They reached the Bahama islands and established a colony. . . and the rest is history. Truth be told, Columbus was not the first European to set eyes on America. A Norse explorer, Leif Erikson, had sailed to a northern coast, probably what is now Newfoundland. When the Europeans began sailing to the New World, a new phase of history was being established, from Atlantic to Pacific. The rest is American history. Now here is, as Paul Harvey used to say. . . the rest of the story. Once Europeans began coming here and establishing their cultured way of living, world history was changed forever. Europeans considered the New World natives to be primitive. There were battles, conflict and bloodshed when European invaders, advanced in technology and military hardware, tried to take over in America. Even so, In their so-called primitive way of living, the native Americans held an awareness of this earth that is far more sensitive to our natural world. We’ve come a long way, since ancient Babylon and Ur of the Chaldees. In our civilized way of doing things, we’d best maintain standards to preserve our earth in lifetstyles that replenish and repair the earth as we go along toward whatever the westward gold rush has compelled us to go, so we don’t end up like Custer did. Sitting Bull's Eyes

glass half-Full

The Eagle

While spending some time in Tulum, Mexico, I noticed this Mexican flag.

The flag was draped on a wall, near a cenot’e, where people swim in a pool of sparkling clear water that is fed by an underground stream. Gazing at the flag, I was fascinated with the eagle, clutching a snake. As an American, I can relate. Our national symbol is also an eagle. My curiosity about the image widened into a search for eagle references in my favorite book for research, that ancient collection of scripture that we call the Bible. I noticed, in the 30th proverb of the wise king Solomon, that he was fascinated by “the way of an eagle in sky, navigating the high winds in order to scope out the terrain below.” The eagle glides on the high winds, soaring and sweeping, all the while keeping his eyes on the ground below, in search of some animal that he may swoop down on, for a meal. Yes, Virginia, our national symbol is a predator. Read ‘em and weep, y’all, but remember this: our great nation has enacted a history of revolution based upon the freedom of all men. Ultimately, we had to fight a terrible civil war in order to assure the freedom and dignity of all people.

Today, visiting here in Mexico, seeing the eagle on the Mexican flag, there is no doubt that the Mexican people have had their share of revolution against their mother country, Spain. They liberated themselves from Spain in 1810. Their flag symbol presents an eagle perched on a cactus while devouring a serpent. When I viewed their flag today, I saw the determination of the Mexican people to free themselves from Spanish hegemony, just as we Americans freed ourselves from British colonialism. (For all ye Brits out there. . . no offense. . . we still love you blokes.) So we see that the Mexican republic presented the eagle on the their flag as a symbol of their determination to overpower the Spanish empire that had strived to keep them in colonial bondage. In the same way, our American republic presents the eagle as a symbol of our original determination to acquire independence from Britain. And that has worked out quite well for everybody, including the Brits who did just fine after we shook their snaky colonial hegemony off of us, like an eagle overpowering a snake. Glass half-Full

Mountain

In 1958, when I was nine years old, my parents drove us from Mississippi all the way to Seattle, where my dad attended an international forestry commission. We were driving through the Rockies. There was a stream in the valley below us. As we rounded a bend in road, lo and behold, there was a cattle drive, right in the middle of the road, conducted by some cowboys. I was amazed. These fellers looked just like the cowboys I’d seen on TV. . . Roy Rogers, Rowdy Yates, Lone Ranger, Ben Cartwright and his three sons. We had to stop; a cowboy let me climb up on the horse with him; my dad snapped a photo. It was a wondrous moment for a boy from the deep south. Those Colorado mountains were only the beginning of my mountain experiences. When we got to Seattle, we were driving through the city when I happened to glance up and see a great pink apparition floating in the sky, but it turned out to be Mt. Rainier. Six years later, my aunt Lena and Uncle Cooper were driving me and my friend Johnny through Mexico. Suddenly, I noticed a mountain in the distance. I’ll never forget that moment. Farther along, I had another mountain wonder moment when we rounded a curve; suddenly I caught a glimpse of Acapulco beach, stretched out below, along the Pacific Coast. It seems my youthful mountain wonder inspired me ultimately, to move to the Blue Ridge in 1975. While living in flat Florida, I had seen a movie, Where the Lilies Bloom, that prompted my decision. While living in Asheville, I attempted to start a newspaper, the first issue of which was prompted by a group of us boomer dreamers to prevent the NC DOT from cutting Beaucatcher mountain so they run I-40 through it. Well, it was a nice try, but so much for youthful idealism. A few years later, when we moved to Boone, I spent a couple of years working on a construction crew, to build a the Blue Ridge Parkway around Grandfather Mountain, a major peak of the Appalachian range, the oldest mountains in our world.

Now we live in the side of a small mountain, near Boone, about 25 miles from Grandfather. In all those years since, I’ve learned a lot about mountains. Moses brought the ten commandments down from Mount Sinai. That event, and the Ten Commandments delivered there, changed history forever.

Later, Jesus spent some time on the Mount of Olives.

2000+ years later, Martin Luther King took Moses’ revelation when he spoke of having been to the Mountaintop, when identifying his earthly mission with Moses’ mission, which had ended on Mt. Pisgah, where the Lord had given Moses a glimpse of the promised land, before taking him up to heaven. You can hear my song about Moses’ mountaintop experience and Dr. King’s mountaintop inspiration at Mountaintop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3hQNMr0A48

American Liberty

From a Boston church steeple to the red clay hills of Georgia, the cry for freedom rang out, nourished by the blood of innocent citizens and dedicated patriots. The clarion call for freedom rang out like a clanging bell, sounded loudly in the voices, the horns and the shots heard around the world. Who knew? Who knew that American independence would inspire a wave of Liberty around the world? From the bold declaring of Independence, agreed to and signed into reality by native patriots who assembled in Philadelphia, not yet knowing the bloody consequences of their rebellion? who knew?

Who knew that the principles stated in their Declaration, would ultimately inspire President Abraham Lincoln to issue an Emancipation of slaves, so that they could be citizens of these United States, and live free, and work for themselves and have freedom. Who knew that Martin Luther King’s dream of Liberty for all people would be actualized, slowly but surely, between the red clay hills of Georgia, the shores of Maine, the coffee klatches of Seattle, the gates of our southern border, and Pearl Harbor in the middle of the Pacific ocean? Who knew? Truth be told, cold hard facts. . . the Revolution was a bloody battle in which we finally ejected King George’s soldiers, and initiated a struggle for freedom that has inspired the whole world since those days in 1776.

Glass half-Full

Flowers to Seeds

I don’t know, but I been told that in the Beginning, the Creator of this world said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed. . .and so the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their own kind.

Later, the first man and woman screwed up, so the Creator ejected them from the garden, and set them out into the wide world to make it on their own. They procreated, making love. . . every time a man deposited his seed into his woman, or at least some times, his male seed would conjoin with her fertility and then, lo and behold, nine months later, a little baby would pop out. I first heard about this when I was in fourth grade, I began to understand some of these divine arrangements when a buddy of mine told me that the man puts the seed into his wife, or that she has the seed and he fertilizes it, something like that. . . and if his aim is good and she’s fertile, get this! another human will pop out a few months later! But getting back to that ancient genesis “seed”. . . generations of men and women populated the earth. Some of them were pretty good people; others, not so much. Eventually, the Creator noticed a fellow who was doing things right. He took Abraham aside and told them that in his “seed”, all generations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham obeyed the Creator’s rules for living a good life, and he taught his offspring the proper way of living. But you know the rest of story. A lot of things happened in this world. . . a lot of water under the bridge, so to speak, and millions of seeds were planted; hundreds of years passed. . .things were going along pretty well in Palestine, under Roman rule. Generation’s later, the Creator did a special impregnation, when (first time ever) a woman’s womb was fertilized without the man’s seed! The child was special, having a divine nature; He was destined to change the world, (you’ve probably heard of Him). . . by his resurrection after he was crucified for breaking a few rules, or something like that. His message—you’ve probably heard it—has been told from generation to generation ever since those ancient days. When Jesus was teaching men how to live, he told parables to illustrate the principles of the way the Creator does things. He said that the good news of His sacrificial work, was that He conquered death itself! But you gotta believe it to qualify. He said that the good news of his victory was like the news of His salvation. His conquest of death itself would be like seed that a farmer went out sew, and some of the seed landed in fertile ground, destined to bear fruit and more seed. Some seeds would sprout, and some would not. So keep that in mind whenever you plant your seed anywhere. It’s better to have a good crop than not to have a crop, thereby letting your offspring screw up. Train a child in the way he or she should go, and most likely the good news will bear fruit and your seed will be engendered in your progeny. Now because I am twice-born. . . once from my mother’s womb, and then again, spiritually, when I saw the Light of eternal Life that shines through the whole history of this world. And because, I am born again, this is what I thought of when I caught sight of the plant. . .

Glass half-Full

Something Happening

The voice of Stephen Stills still echoes in my memory as I remember, back in the day—1968, I think it was. . . his words sung in a song on the radio, “There’s somethin’ happening here; what it is ain’t exactly clear.”

That assessment—or maybe it was just a feeling, a hunch—was a thought that seemed to hang like a storm cloud over my generation. From the Cuban missile crisis, to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, to the November 22, 1963 shock wave of President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas. . . and on and on. . . why the hell did Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald? There’s somethin’. . . it ain’t exactly clear . . . clouded in a mist of Agent Orange. . . then the Pentagon papers. . . Ellsberg said “I hope I’m never in a job where I have to lie like that’’, referring to the public comments of a defence secretary. Then there’s Kissinger playing the craps game with the press and the jungle people of Vietnam.

Then there’s Nixon drawing fire from the press over his suppression of a nocturnal burglary in Ellsberg’s psychiatrist in the Watergate hotel, Then so much public questioning, criticism about tricky dick’s “dirty tricks” that decides to just leave the oval office before the American people and their lawyers impeach him. So Nixon waves goodbye. A hand-picked VP turned President for a few days, or weeks before Jimmy Carter left his peanut farm in Georgia, defeated Ford in ’76. He had to deal with Benachem Begin and Anwar Sadat trying to make peace in the Middle East (sounds oddly familiar) But then all hell broke loose when the Iranians ejected their Shah. Iranians raided the American embassy in Tehran. The 1980 election was bearing down on Carter. . . a gubernatorial cowboy from California rode into Washington to put an end to the shootout at the Iran corral. It really was like an old western. . . when Ronald Reagan rode into Washington, just like in the old cowboy movies like my dad used to watch, back in the ’50’s. Looking back on it all, now at age 75, I’m still thinking, as Stephen had sung back in the day. . . “There’s something happenin’ here; what it is ain’t exactly clear”. . . Something happening in 2026. . . something wrong that needs a fix. . . it’s just a. . . weird magamania that won’t settle back into the American way of Law and Order.

King of Soul

We the People will

When in the course of American events, it becomes necessary for the People to dizzolve the political bands which have connected them with a tyrant magamaniac, and to appropriate among the powers of our Constitution and our Rule of Law, a separation of the insurrection instigator from the executive office that he had formerly obtained . . . a decent respect for our Rule of Law requires that we should declare the reasons that impel US to the Impeachment.

We hold these recent events to be self-evident, that our Congress was attacked and that our Constitution endows us to protect our senators and representatives, and to defend, legislate and preserve our heritage of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of lawfulness, and that to secure these rights We have a long history of lawful resolution of disputes between liberals and conservatives, between Democrats and Republicans, between our Constitution and rebel Confederates who had attempted to separate themselves from US so that they could enslave other citizens of these United States. And furthermore, in the course of our history. . .Conservatives, Congress, and our Constitution have played major roles in the preservation of our Union. Even in our tribulation time of 1930’s Depression. . . we managed, by Congressional, Judicial and Executive declarations to preserve the peace and prosperity of America. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that our government, long established, should not be destructed for the sake of one chief insurrectionist who happened to be traipsing in the Rose Garden on January 6, 2021 and who still yet strives to establish his name, unworthily, in our most hallowed American institutions and landmarks.

We therefore resolve to protect and defend our ole New Deal, our Great Society, even our Morning in America, which happens every day that the sun shines on US. We can improve and provide for our Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Prosperity while still utilizing our historic ole New Deal and its subsequent Deep State, like it or not, read ‘em and weep all ye magamaniacs. . . our Great Society, even our deepstate bureaucracy required for all our agencies to function, alive an ticking. Yes, indeed. . .

We the People will somehow, some way, raise up the party of Lincoln. We shall overcome the magamania that so recently occupied the GOP by hook or by crook, we know not which. We shall let the Supreme Court pick and choose from their shadow docket, even as they toss their immunity life raft to a sinking president, even as the people come and go, speaking of Michelangelo, or of whomever the chief insurrectionist chooses to decorate his ballroom, or his reflecting pool, or his magamaniacs who try to Make America Go Awry. We can slog through the slush funds, drain the swamp or whatever it takes for a free people to break the bands of injustice and insurrection. We can overcome again, and again and again. . .until its time for We the People to elect new leaders. We Shall Overcome the gerrymandering pandering, somehow, some way, when its least expected, because We have a dream that someday, all God’s children will prevail when Justice rolls down like the waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. . . and all God’s children will live together, whether in the red clay hills of Georgia, the rocky shores of Maine, the old north church in Boston, or any church. . .the coffee clatches of Washington or the star-studded studios of Hollywood. . . We shall overcome someday. Deep in my heart, I know. . . Americans will overcome magamania. Glass half-full</b>