When Donkey's Fly!

 

 

 

                                                              Patch Adams

People like the man in the picture above, ones who crop up every so often, ones who make a difference, give me new hope.

The past 100+ days have tested my faith in people.

"I didn't see this coming," said Kamala Harris on the Steven Colbert show,

What was it she didn't see?

“Ca·pit·u·la·tion,” she said.

•      The action of surrendering or ceasing to resist an opponent or demand: "A capitulation to wage demands"

The people caved in.

I didn't see it either. I thought the people would be outraged to see someone they trusted tear down human rights and freedom we have enjoyed and is the framework of our country.  I believed in the greatness of the American people, still do, but there are a significant number of those who oppose the things for which we have held in high regard. (Or else, because our system hasn't been perfect, they are willing to see it fall.)

 I said I would pull back on discussing politics. Now I wonder, if we don't express our distaste for what is happening, is that letting the liar, cheat, rapist, demagogue, narcissist, and general sociopath get a free pass? He blames his opponents and threatens citizens who dare criticize him. Folks, does that sound like someone we want as President?

He de-funds Universities, for heaven's sake—are we going to allow the end of academic freedom?

That would signal a dying civilization.

Now he is after the Olympics. And he makes numerous assaults on his opponents, saying they have a low IQ. I don't care how high your IQ is; if you don't feed that beautiful brain of yours with good stuff, you will come out one evil smart-alecky creep.

I am repeating myself here, but I learned a lot about democracy from Barbara Kingsolver's book The Poisonwood Bible, particularly when she wrote about the governments' attempts (In the 1950's and 1960's) to introduce democracy into the Congo.

The Congolese people got the idea that it was a government by the people and that people voted for whom or whatever they wanted. The trouble was they rushed to a vote before any discussion or consensus, as is expected of a jury.

The wise elder of the village said, "When a country is divided 49-51, half the country is mad all the time." 

Their democracy didn't work.

De-funding Public Broadcasting? Forcing companies to fire comedians?  Deporting Immigrants? Threatening to take citizenship away from citizens born in this country? And then expect me to play nice and not talk about politics?

When donkeys fly.

My lesson was this: go ahead and comment, have your ideas, share, but keep a glad heart. Don't let yourself jump off the deep end. Once a friend and I went to see Patch Adams in Eugene, OR. He was the doctor who formed the "Gesundheit Institute." Robin Williams played him in the movie Patch Adams. 

It was a small gathering, and Adams told my friend Betty she could sit on his lap. I asked him how he managed to maintain joy in the face of misery. He said, "That's when I need it the most."

He didn't tell me how, but I understood his TRY. 

I went to the Chiropractor today because I sprained my back. As he gently relieved my muscles, he told me he had taken a trip to London and Paris since our last visit. He said when he first stepped onto a street in France, a moped raced past. The driver had a white scarf waving in the wind, and on the back of the bike, there was a bag with a baguette poking out. Picture perfect. He couldn't believe it.

He was surprised at how friendly the French people were; someone would come up to him, gently ask a question, and end by saying: "You are not that much different from us."  That young man was being a goodwill ambassador for the U.S.

Way to go. 

 

 

 

My Daughter Says I'm Too Involved In Politics

 My daughter says I am too involved in politics, and she’s right, it’s driving me nuts.

So, for the past week I am deep breathing life into a sequel of Wish on White Horses.

 I want a positive place to fall. A place to force me into a more positive mind set, plus it’s a celebration, one that is more Google friendly and has more capabilities, so here we go.

 www.wishonwhitehorses2.com 

 

I have never been a very political person. In college I had to read an entire damn book on political science because we were required—not to take a class on Political science—but to pass a test on the U.S. Governmental policies and guidelines before we could graduate. I had reached that time and age without knowing much about the workings of the government, and I didn't care. I had more things on my mind, like school and maintaining a house and life for two college students. Thus, I read the book, and passed the test.

Could our President pass that test?

These many years later, I couldn't pass it either, but then I’m not the President, and

I recognize a mess when I see one.

 It appears that people are going on with their lives, oh, some are talking about the mess, and many want to throw a towel over it so we don’t have to see it, hear about it, smell it, or clean it up.

I know the mess is still there, but the stench is making me sick.

If you’re sick, take a break.

And with the loss of the lady I mentioned in my last two blogs, Terry Cole-Whittiker, I feel a disturbance in the force.

So, I go to her site and read this:

 

“Success avoids people whose minds are clouded by doubts.”

 

I invite you to visit my new website

www.wishonwhitehorses2.com/

(Don’t forget the 2)

And don’t forget this one, https://www.wishonwhitehorses.com/ I will still post on it.

 

Terry Cole-Whittiker

 

 Terry at home at Mt. Shasta.

 

One day in San Diego, California, I stood in our front yard and called out to the Great Spirit: "I want this to stop and I want it now."

I had privacy as our yard faced a canyon, and from my cry, you might surmise that my life was in turmoil.

The following Sunday, I went to Terry Cole-Whittiker's church, and I've been on a spiritual roll ever since.

Yesterday, July 27, I mentioned Terry on my blog, and after that, I checked to see if she had posted anything recently. She hadn't. And then, I found that she had passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 22, 2024.

At first, I didn't believe it, for when you look up people on the internet, many times they will say they have died. But I kept searching, and I guess it's true.

I had spoken with her, I thought, within the year. I had emailed her and thanked her once again for the workshop I took with her at Mt Shasta in 2023. She said she would call, and we could catch up. We spoke on the phone, and I found that she was living in a Tiny House in Washington State, I think in Olympia.

This powerhouse of a woman once began a ministry for Science of the Mind in La Jolla, CA. She moved to San Diego and started Terry Cole-Whittiker's ministry, where she grew her congregation from 50 in La Jolla to over 5,000 in a Sunday service in San Diego. She also spread her message further through a television program.

I was a Sunday regular. That was home, and from that I branched out into other teachings.

During one of Terry's classes, she asked all of us to stand up, grasp the back of the chair in front of us, and grip it. Hold on. Hold on," she kept telling us.

Finally, some of us let go.

"Why did you let go?' she asked.

A voice piped up, "Because we were tired of holding on."

"That's the reason we let go of things," she said.

One day, I volunteered at their offices to take telephone calls, listen to questions, and say a prayer for the person.

When I walked into the room, I told the person in charge that I didn't know what I was doing."

"You'll learn it by doing," she said, pointed to the phone, and turned me loose with no monitoring.

I was impressed with her attitude and happy that I didn't have someone looking over my shoulder. I took the calls and had a blast.

Finally, Terry said that the ministry was running her, not the other way around, so she stopped. She moved on, being her own person, writing books, setting up workshops in Hawaii, traveling to India, and ultimately moving into nature.

She settled in Mt. Shasta, Oregon.

A few years ago, I decided to drive from our town outside Eugene, Oregon, to Mt. Shasta for a weekend retreat with Terry.  It was over a July 4 weekend, and the workshop consisted of one other person besides me.

Terry cooked Vegetarian for us, and on the second day, drove us to an alpine Meadow on Mt Shasta. I had never visited an Alpine meadow, and I was awe stricken. Water prickled through the meadow, flowers were in blossom, it was open and green, and astoundingly beautiful. We walked into the forest and followed a trail to a lake where we could dip our feet in mountain water, and throughout the walk and the day, Terry taught the principles for which she has become known.

 And I have never felt more loved.

After we closed for the weekend, Hanna, my fellow participant, had taken this retreat before and was thus relatively quiet during the discussions, wanting me to have the experience, escorted me to the town of Mt. Shasta to see the "Headwaters" of Mt. Shasta.

At the City Park, there is a pond where 50-year-old, hand-numbingly cold-water rushes from the ground through moss-covered rocks into a clear pool called "Big Springs."

Every day, people come with jugs to collect the water.  According to a 2009 study commissioned by California Trout, water bubbling from Big Springs – from an aquifer of the same name – fell high on the slopes of Mt. Shasta more than 50 years ago.

This is the same aquifer that Crystal Geyser taps for its water from a manufacturing facility on Ski Village Drive. The company has private wells and water rights to water from Mt. Shasta.

Terry’s home was a farm house in an open countryside in a beautiful setting, surrounded by lush green pastures, and no houses close by. She ran around barefoot connected to the ground she adores, and took people on spiritual excursions.

From high stakes in San Diego, a darling of Hollywood, and once wearing designer suits and high heels, she at Mt. Shasta, bought clothing from the local Thrift store, walked barefoot through a mountain meadow, preaching as she had always done.

Terry was home.

"Thank you for Loving Me," a video of Terry Cole-Whittiker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20VJdlMKG6g/

Love you girl.

Blessings on your journey. 

 

 Terry in her meadow.