When Things “Fell” Apart

Eight years ago I officially signed off from Precious Metal. It was bittersweet to put it lightly. I didn’t really want to walk away, I was really enjoying what the online sangha at the time was building. The universe had its own plan though and I walked away.

Here I am after nearly a decade and the landscape of the online sangha has changed dramatically. I can’t seem to find many of my old pals, but that’s ok; it’s all impermanent right? I’m about to get wordy so those that have hung on and want to play catch up here it goes; I will try to be as brief as possible.

Buster & Master Come Home

In July of 2018, just a few months before one of the most significant events of my life (more on that in the next post), another was taking place. One thing my children’s mother and I had always told them was that when we bought a house, we would get them a dog. We had a couple cats and of course, they were loved. But my boys missed having a dog since our Isabella.

Isabella was a local rescue we had taken in when we saw the conditions she was living in. We had zero experience with her breed, Great Pyrenees. At that time, we loved the idea of having a large breed dog, so after looking at the paperwork for her previous owners (before the squalor she was living in) we had an idea her health was ok. We loved that girl and decided that we wanted to rescue another large breed dog, maybe even a Great Pyreness again.

Passionate About Being Compassionate

One of the most vivid memories of my childhood was how our neighborhood had a bunch of tight-knit families. All of the parents got along and there was only a minimal amount of drama. Every neighborhood has it’s drama, but no-one is writing a script based on the stuff that went down on Juniper Lane.

As a gregarious cluster we shared lots of meals. Do you remember when eating at your friends house was a thing? You’d either have to run home or ask to use the landline phone to see if your mom was ok with it. One family in particular was very odd to most of us at the time, at least when it came to what they ate. We knew them as vegetarians! Ohh scary right? They had tofu regularly, ate lentil loaf instead of meatloaf. “Why,” we often asked ourselves. “Why would they do that,” we wondered. The food tasted so… ummm… weird and bland to our youthful and finite tastebuds.

“Open your arms to change but don’t let go of your values.”

I was going to come right of the gate with a run down of what I’ve been up to the past few years– 8 years to be exact. I don’t think I could do the past decade (nearly a decade) justice, nor would you want to absorb all of that at once. What I can tell you is that I am back once again.

The details of the past will trickle out in the upcoming posts, I’m sure. For now, let’s just say things went awry. I’ve spent the past two+ years putting the pieces back together and feel like I’m in a much better space now. As a matter of fact, I am doing really well.

9 Years Later…

I was thinking of how easy it is to rant about the events memorialized on this day, and decided I am not going to go on some maniacal tirade. We’ve had enough of that already right?

So, I just wanted to say a few words to all those affected by the event on 9/11/01….

Most people believe this was an attack on just America, I mean it did take place on our soil right? But at the same time, were only American’s killed? No, people from all over the world were killed. The WTC is a hub for worldwide business. We like to claim this day as an attack on America, and it was an attack on America, but the impact was global. Families worldwide were, and are still, affected by the attacks on 9/11/01.

This was not an attack on America itself, it was an attack on the freedom we enjoy here in America to choose our own destiny. Those that do not understand this freedom are scared of it. They have lived their lives inside a shoe-box and do not understand why anyone would want anything else but the life inside of that shoe-box.

This was not an attack on America itself, it was an attack on the religious freedom we enjoy. Some out there in the world do not understand this freedom, they only know what they have been taught and force fed to believe. This was an attack on Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Episcopalians, Methodists, Jews, Hindus, Baha’ists, Atheists, Buddhists and every other religion. And yes, duh duh duh duuuhh, it was an attack on Islam and Muslims.

Everyone on this planet was affected in one way or another. This is not just an American thing, this is a human thing. Whether we were impacted first hand by the event or not, we are affected daily by the stories. From parents who lost children, brothers who lost sisters, sisters who lost brothers, children who lost parents, etc.

These are not the only ways we are all affected though, we are affected by ignorance as well. Not just the ignorance of the attack but the ignorance today. There are folks out there, we’ve all been hearing it on the news, that are so ridiculous they think this is a whole religious groups fault, or a whole countries fault in some way. That is pure ignorance. This was done by fringe fundamentalists who’s motivation is nothing but fear, and they accomplished that mission cause we are still scared today. To scared to take a moment to learn the truths behind the people we do not understand. Some are so willing to burn a book rather than read it.

So today, I remember everyone affected by the past events of 9/11/01. This includes you, them, and everyone else. We were ALL affected, never forget THAT!

What really is more important?

I was reading some comments on another blog and wanted to pose a question to you all here. In the article, from the blog, there is reference to an event that recently happened, of historic significance. There was a comment made by the author about being tired of the news on the event and than went on to rail about some things which people commenting thought was rather self indulgent.

My question to you is, how do we/ you decide what is more important in our daily lives? Does your personal accomplishment outweigh the accomplishment a group of people have made?

Personally, I believe, any accomplishment that makes us better in a positive way that can affect others the same, is the most important thing. Coming to the realization that we are all one community, not just a Buddhist community or Christian, Not white or black, not Hindu or Muslim, not Hispanic or Asian, but one community that really needs each other to exist in a harmonious manner.

Having said that, I am going over blog posts that I’ve made here that may seem, how can I say this, not the nicest possible posts that could have been written. I am also going to try and use “right speech” a bit more mindfully in my posts here, it was never my intention to engage in idle chatter.

This does not mean I will not engage certain topics that I believe need to be engaged, but will do so more mindfully and make sure that if read, you will come away without feeling like “oh my, did he just say that?” Again, it doesn’t mean I’m going to shy away from an important cause that needs engagement, but will try my best not to single people out, or beat around the bush by not naming someone knowing in my heart that I have gone against my intention.

Opinions Please…

Ed. Note – This post isn’t going to make much sense anymore, since the header in question is now gone. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

….on the new header for this blog. My wife doesn’t like the “kill your self” part on the right and thinks it’s a bit to bloody. I enjoy it, but thought since you the reader see it all the time you may not like it. I think the wife is taking it as if I am saying to “kill yourself” but it’s quite different as “kill your self” I believe.

Please let me know what you think!

Tibetan students hold vigil in Beijing; Curfew imposed in Xinjiang towns

From ICFT – Tibetan students held a silent vigil in Beijing today to honor the courage of Tibetan protestors in Tibet. The group of around 50 students (pictured) sat silently in a circle with heads bowed outside the Central Minorities University in the Haidian district of western Beijing this evening for around six hours. They were surrounded by an official security cordon preventing outsiders and other students from joining the protest, although some foreign reporters succeeded in gaining brief access to the protestors.