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….but yet there are ones so young that they believe they can overcome the darkness and build a place of light for all of us to dwell. A future of hope wrapped up in their innocence, without futility in their nature. No cynicism walling up their ideas of a new paradigm for humanity.

And if the world is turned over to them, we will have fewer worries. The dreams they dream will be of tomorrows in space exploring the universe, and problems here on Earth boiled down to mathematical formulas and solved.

There will be no violence and no war. There will be no racial hatred and religious killing. Police officers will again become peace officers.

There will be paper made of hemp for all of us to write upon….and the soft, sweet smell of ganja drifting on the breeze from the joints of the old people in pain, who will be smoking them to relieve the pain in their joints….

Can you dig it?

I can’t get the thought out of my mind that we are all the same. We are sparks of life embedded in many different flesh and blood houses, and when the spark goes out in the house, it will never reassume a place in the “physical” world again. Perhaps I’m wrong, but that’s what I believe.

“We are neither Jew nor Greek, bonded nor free, there is neither male nor female…..” so begins Galations 3:28 “for you are all one in Jesus Christ”

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” says Buddha…

So that when that one light from the single candle is extinguised, it lives on in others…but only in shared happiness, not hatred, never in hatred, because that which is darkness cannot become light.

I guess I could say: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

…and in our human experience we should try to make lives better for those around us taking that same journey, even those human beings whose spirit is evidentally not of a good nature. And there are many. I don’t understand the purpose behind the existence of those two opposing natures but I know there is a purpose.

I feel that in the nature of the existence of the Universe, no matter what your individual belief, good will endure in some way over evil.

By Larry Bowers

On a Mountaintop

I wish I lived on a mountain top, so I could see the stars more clearly,
I wouldn’t mind the cold wind, or the thin air.
It would be well worth an extra cloak to be closer
..to their persistent and lasting beauty.
It would be worth exhaling an extra breath of steamy warm air
…into the cold, still night
..to be able to almost reach out and tickle the moon.
Somewhere on a mountain top. There’s a million stars waiting.

I hope to God I find it someday

Larry Bowers.

As I watched the planes circling Atlanta in their super high holding pattern tonight, I thought about what a perfect delivery system for people we have developed. For people and their own personal retinue of germs and viruses we all carry with us.

I thought about flights originating from Seattle/Tacoma airport and found: Spirit Airline -nonstop to Dallas Ft Worth and Chicago O’Hare, Alaska airlines to Pittsburgh, Delta to Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and New Orleans, and Frontier to Austin Texas. These are flights originating there and going to these cities.

In Kirkland Washington 25 residents and 25 staff are being tested for a probable outbreak from Covid19 virus. That’s about 18 miles from the airport. Also, a high school student 18 miles from the nursing home tested positive for the virus. Unfortunately, he had been allowed to go back to school before they learned he had it. As the head of the CDC said, it’s not a matter of if but when.

What makes it even more difficult is the 27.5 million people in the country who have no insurance. Many of them are liable to not even go to a doctor if their symptoms are mild, meaning they are more likely to spread the virus to people who may become seriously ill.

There are a lot of unknowns left to figure out in this crisis, but unfortunately our medical system in America is ill equipped to handle anything even resembling a pandemic. Our medical and hospital resources have already been stretched this year by an inordinately severe flu outbreak.

It would have been nice if the CDC task force for infectious disease had not been fired, and the CDC’s funding severely curtailed. I really believe the money would have been much better spent on those facilities, then on a border wall.

We will have to wait and see what develops, but those planes keep flying even now, and I know there’s nobody yet where they are debarking with a thermometer to check temperatures. There will be though before too long, I think.

I’m not writing this to panic anyone. There’s no need for panic, but every need for precaution and preparation.

Fishing. I’ve spent a lot of time when I was little going fishing. Most of the time it was with my Dad. I have to admit that I never really “had it in my blood” like Dad did. I loved it when they were biting. Nothing beats the feel of throwing that line out there and letting it sit…and then when that stopper on the top of the pond starts to bob. The blood pressure goes up a little, your heart beats faster and you start to hold your breath. Then when it disappears all the way under, BOOM…you snatch that line back and hook ‘em good! I was a slow learner at first. I had a hard time waiting until that stopper went all the way under. I wanted to snatch it up and pull just as soon as the stopper started moving. I have missed many a “bait stealing” little bream by being impatient. Dad taught me to be patient when it came to fishing.

I remember going to a little pond somewhere down in Gore about 1960 to fish. Can’t remember who owned it, just a little ways out the road to the left after making a left hand turn there at Ballenger’s. I was fishing with worms trying to catch some Bream and Daddy was Bass fishing with a “shyster” lure. I had caught one and wanted to show him, so I ran up behind him with my fish on the line just as he was about to make a cast. The “shyster” caught me in the left earlobe on Dad’s follow through and one of the barbed hooks went right through my earlobe. The look on Dad’s face was one of surprise and shock and horror all at once. Needless to say, our fishing trip for that day was over with. I think we went back to old Doc Clemens up at the old hospital, and he actually used a pair of wire cutters to just cut the barbed end off and pull the other end through my earlobe. It really wasn’t as painful as it looked. I never walked behind my Dad again when he was casting! I know he felt bad about it, even though it was my fault he kept telling me he was sorry.

But there were lot’s of other times that the results were better. Many days of catching Crappie down at Lake Weiss with leadheads. We would put two leadheads on at a time when they were biting hard and sometimes we would hook two at the same time! Daddy would whoop and holler and you could hear him all the way to Centre. I have photo’s of him with stringers full of those fish, and boy were they tasty! It was a yearly ritual every spring as to when the Crappie would start biting! Ahh yes those were the days. We didn’t own a boat, so we would put on a pair of waders and wade out chest deep in that cold water so we could cast out as far into the lake as possible. I know I about drowned a couple of times when I would fall or trip and the lake water would fill those dang waders up. Daddy would just laugh at me.

One fishing highlight was in 1966. It was the first time I EVER went to Florida. We went with the Browns and I think my cousin Judy came along. We went DEEP SEA FISHING! It was in August and I was getting close to 16, but looked a little older. I was more interested in girls at that time than in fishing but couldn’t resist the lure of going out on the Ocean and trying to catch a “big ‘un” We went out on a chartered boat…Captain “somebody” or another. Before we left, everyone kicked in a couple bucks for the lucky person who caught the biggest fish. Dad kicked in a couple for him and me. The ride out there was great for me, as I wasn’t prone to motion sickness. I met a little old girl and Mikey got seasick. Everything was cool, and I was wanting to spend more time with the girl than fish but Daddy set me straight: “I paid for you to fish, so get your ass out here and fish!” Well I did, and the first bait I sent down got me a bite. It was an electric reel which we had rented, so I pushed the button and pulled. I thought I had snagged somebody else’s line…the dang thing wouldn’t come. I kept pulling and pulling and finally this giant fish head hit the surface. Jeez, I though I had a whale! Turned out it was a 33 lb Red Grouper, which ended up netting me 44 dollars for the biggest fish of the trip! I was rich! It was a good and a bad trip….Mom and Dad fought…and there were roaches in the motel. But, it was memorable.

I have said all this to get to this point. Dad probably went fishing for the last time about 2007. I think he and Uncle Frankie went over to Billy Locklear’s lake and caught a few bream. Dad’s health started getting bad about then and he couldn’t got by himself anymore. Too many car wrecks had happened and there was a danger of dizziness and black outs. Dad kept asking me about going fishing, but I was on the night shift working 12 hour swing shifts and rarely if ever felt like doing anything but sleeping. Dad and Mom got to where they couldn’t take care of themselves and we decided that Assisted Living was the only choice for their care. Dad kept after me though: “When you gonna take me fishing?” he would ask “When it warms up good Dad” says I.

In April of 2010, Dad was feeling pretty good. I was on the 2nd shift then and still not feeling good, and not sleeping good. Dad asked me again “When we going fishing, son?” I promised him we would in a couple of weeks. “We’ll go down at Sloppy Floyd’s” I said. “You can sit up there on the walkway in the wheelchair if you have to and fish from there” I remember those exact words. I meant it. But April moved on into May..and we didn’t go.

On May 21st, they called me at work from the “Cozy Manor” and told me Dad was sick. He had been bleeding and having lots of stomach problems. I called the 3rd shift supervisor and asked if he would come in a little early so I could go check on my Dad. He came in an hour early…wow a lot of help. I went to LaFayette and Dad was sleeping. I asked him how he felt and he said “ok, but I would like a drink of cold water” I brought him one and asked him if he wanted me to stay. It was 1:30 or so in the morning. “You go on home and rest, and come back in the morning” he said. He woke me up at about 7 am the next morning and said he was hurting in the chest…and then he said “Can’t breath good” and it sounded like he dropped the phone. By the time I got there, my Dad was dead.

Guilt comes in a lot of sizes. Small, medium and Extra Large. My guilt for not staying that night goes beyond extra large. It’s hard to describe still. It’s like swallowing a rock and having it sit down there in the pit of your stomach all the time. You forget it’s there sometimes, but at other times it just eats you from the inside out.

I was going to wait until May to reminisce about fishing and my Dad. But, I picked this “special” day which happens only once every four years. It’s an extra day on our calendar and it represents that extra day which I wish I would have had with Dad. I wish that extra day would have been the one day that I had taken him fishing. That day which I had promised him. That promise which I didn’t keep…. I pray that if there is a pond or a lake between Earth and Heaven that when I die that God will let me go with Dad out on that little body of water and try and catch a couple of bass. I owe it to him.

Have you ever caught yourself saying: “I just HATE……so, and so…” person?

I’ve been guilty of it a lot. I’m trying to quit saying “I hate” though.

The reason, in my case, is very simple. I don’t know any of the people I have just offhandedly tossed that phrase towards. I…don’t….know…them.

I think for most of the “I hate’s” it has been a dislike, or disagree instead.

After Antonin Scalia died a couple of weeks back, I watched a good bit of his funeral. I saw the love his family had for him, his children and his friends. I certainly had disagreed with him on many things in a philosophical way. But, I did not know the man. I only knew what I knew about him…from articles, videos, televison. I had no idea really, who the man actually was…same thing for some of our current political stock, on both sides.

So, as I thought about it, I thought back about other people in the past at whom I had thrown that phrase.

I didn’t know them.

Of people who I actually knew, actually had a relationship with over a long period of time, I could think of nobody that I “hated”

I have a couple of people who I had close relationships with in various ways who were close….but even now I have let that go…I have let it go..

It’s a word of such finality, and should not be used flippantly as I have used it in the past. As we often use it in our vernacular today.

I have certainly disagreed with a lot of people in politics, in religion, in sports, in all walks of life many times. I should never have said I hated them. I didn’t, and I don’t. It was just something to say.

There’s a huge difference between not agreeing and hating, and we should all think about that difference before we make the statement.

I’m going to try and do better…

As a long time metal detectorist and treasure hunter I cannot say enough about how envious I am of the two people in California who found the 10 million dollars worth of gold coins while on a walk. I have many coffee cans full of dirty old Lincoln pennies, some of them half eaten up by the acidity in the soil, I have Nestle’s containers full of oddball metal stuff that I still have not identified…some old Civil war lead bullets, some marbles I found while digging up a ton of coke pop tops, and pull tabs (which by the way I took home and properly disposed of) but…the most rare thing I ever found during my metal detecting and treasure hunting career was one single silver half dollar…pristine and beautiful. I saw one of the gold coins on the news tonight…the rare one worth a million bucks by itself…wow. I still look for “treasures” every week at flea markets and trade days…and I have found some nice stuff over the years…but absolutely nothing would approach actually digging up a gold coin from the ground. I would probably just drop over….

If the United States of America is the “melting pot” of the world, then New York City is at the center of the pan. It’s the hot, hot cauldron which has produced many a hero, but conversly has produced many a fiend.

The five boroughs of the great city which was founded in 1626 as New Amsterdam have given us Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman. It has given us Carl Sagan, Lou Gehrig and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Also Anton Scalia, and Harry Houdini. A diverse group of good folks.

There also have come the “Son of Sam” and the Oklahoma City bomber, born in New York City. Many others…good and evil, darkness and light..

The complex interwoven city, with it’s open mindedness also harbors the most secret of secret societies and relationships between people who might at first glance seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum from each other.

Businessmen and mobsters in relationships. Prostitutes and politicians. Rabbis and priests. Strange bedfellows, strange indeed.

Now comes Donald Trump…and the story begins……

There will be more….

So, when two different people “search” Google….both typing in the exact same word or phrase, different information may be retrieved depending on the identity and biased preferences which have been stored for that person. Thus, the idea of “impartiality” of the internet is nothing but a myth, as what people find when they search for things has been slanted by the information which has been stored on what they have looked for in the past, things they have favored, things they have stayed away from, etc.

I think I realized this, but was unable to accept it totally until I read an article another friend posted last night on how the internet was being manipulated by multi-billionaire programmers.

I now must definitely stick to my Dad’s old axiom of believing nothing I hear (or read in this case) and only half of what I see…(and that half being what I see in person)

The age of internet propaganda is going to be a very, very hard road to navigate, full of pitfalls and dead end roads, wrong turns and tom foolery. Good luck to everyone in trying to get through the maze.

If you don’t think you are being tracked and manipulated by the internet just do a simple experiment. Go onto Amazon and search for a product, but don’t buy it. Then see if the next time you get on Facebook an advertisement doesn’t pop up, with the item that you searched on Amazon being right there on your timeline. Same thing for sites like Ebay, etc. Every time we have gone on these huge sites and without much thought, have checked the box that these sites could “share” our information with FB, or any other site for that matter, we have opened a Pandora’s box for ourselves that it will be difficult, if not impossible from which to extricate ourselves.

Our closest relatives are quite telling. I mean, they are not telling us as in writing us a book or anything. They are not speaking English to us. Maybe a little sign language now and then. Rudimentary stuff. Yes, No…Gimme’ banana. Stuff like that.

99.6% of our genome is shared with Chimpanzees, and now scientists have found, also with Bonobos, (pygmy chimps) although we share a different 1.6% of our genetics with Chimps than we do with Bonobos.

Monkeys and Greater Apes, like the Chimpanzees, are generally not pleasant creatures. Chimps especially will become very vicious creatures as adults. Just think back a few years when the poor lady in New York City got her face ripped off by one of her friends “pet” chimpanzees. Vicious.

My Father in law was a Veterinarian. Dr. L.J. Neurauter. He was an administrator, and after he retired from the Air Force, he ran the BIG primate center out in Davis, California. But he didn’t like monkeys. He certainly didn’t like the Chimpanzees. One time we visited them in Davis, and took a tour of the primate center. “Don’t get too near the Chimpanzee compound,” said Dr. Neurauter. “They’ll throw feces at you, and they are really accurate.” I took him at his word. He went on to tell us how none of the handlers would ever…ever…get in the chimpanzee compound with them out, unless they had a death wish. Vicious with each other, and vicious with human beings. Almost like a hatred of human beings.

Our closest relative, as far as genetics go. I know a lot of people are gonna’ say: “We didn’t evolve from monkeys!”

So true.

We had a common ancestor with the chimpanzees and bonobos about 4 million years ago, and the ancestor who eventually evolved into human beings split off from that common ancestor. I imagine they were pretty vicious animals. Out of the three most closely related Primates, the Bonobos, who are the smallest, are the least vicious. Humans and Chimpanzees….not so much.

Survival of the fittest…and the meanest.

As Anthropology major in college, I took a lot of classes in Physical Anthropology. Dr. Butler. A hard man to please if you didn’t study like you outta’. He once told me that early man was probably a vicious animal, but also a social animal. Conditions of living dictated that families stay together for protection from larger predators. Sabre tooth tigers, Cave bears. You know…all that Jean W. Auel stuff. Eventually families started hanging around together for even more protection. They became tribes. Tribes grouped together and became ethnic groups. Discovered agriculture. Started building small villages, towns, cities. Still maintained the viciousness. The aggression and the primal instincts of those first ancestors.

Survival of the meanest?

For how long?

The creator alone knows, and he ain’t telling.