Well, there goes another year. People died. People were born. Countries waged war on other countries and as always, innocent people got killed. In Haiti, an earthquake turned an already starving, under-developed third world country into something closer to a Stone Age civilization, and after the appropriate initial outpouring of sympathy and charitable telethons, it was quickly forgotten by all but a few.
In this country, the political scene just got uglier as a popular president became less popular and the two major parties can’t agree on anything. What that leaves us with is two factions fighting each other and the only loser is the entire country.
Speaking of which: beginning in mid-March, I will not only be talking the talk, but walking the walk---literally---across the entire country. I will start at the Atlantic Ocean in Savannah and begin a trek of around 2800 miles westward, hopefully reaching the Pacific Ocean in four months or less. As a younger man I used to do a lot of 20 mile walk-a-thons and usually managed to finish in a little more than six hours. Even using conservative estimates, adding another five miles a day makes the whole thing doable in 120 days.
Along the way I will be sending in dispatches from the road, as well as taking myriad photographs, and will also begin working on a book about my journey. I will also set up a website where I will be adding daily (where possible) updates on my location and the people I meet. I’m assuming that over the course of 2800 miles I will meet a few people.
The idea for this came about back in the spring of 2009, while I was doing my workout at Fitness USA, here in Jackson. I’ve written a couple of columns for this paper concerning healthy eating, exercise and lifestyles, and I found myself staring at a very unhealthy number on the scale one morning and decided that at age 49 I had better do something about it. The idea just popped into my head as I churned away on the elliptical machine that is my daily dread, and I immediately knew that this was something I could do with the proper training and conditioning. I’ve now been working out hard, have lost the equivalent of a fourth grader or so, and now feel that my legs are ready to carry me across the country.
The number on the scale that morning was 355. I can’t imagine a human being weighing that much, but there it was, digitally displayed---closer to 400 pounds than 300. The day I write this, I am down to 272, so I have lost 83 pounds to date. My goal is to reach 220, which will fit my big frame nicely. This trip should put a fine point on it.
I cannot do this alone. While the bulk of my expenses will be for food and water, I am looking for help covering my expenses, beyond what I am paying for out of pocket. I have several sponsors, commercial and personal, and could use a few more. If anyone is interested in sponsoring me, you can contact me at the email address posted at the end of this column.
Am I nuts? No. I am a firm believer that life is short, and you need to cram as many adventures into it as possible. This is just the next one…
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A Parable: The Boy and the Butterfly
A boy found a small, delicate cocoon that had been battered by the strong winds and rains and the sun. He watched as from the cocoon a tiny, equally delicate butterfly emerged. A precious thing of beauty she was. But she was very, very fragile and the boy didn’t realize just how fine and delicate she was. He reached for her, grabbed her with his strong hands, wanting to admire her fine features and the wonderful colors of her wings. Being so delicate, when he picked her up, in his excitement he grasped her too tightly and damaged her wing, making it almost impossible for her to fly. He brought her home, into his room, and found a small glass box in which to keep her so he could admire her. He really loved to look at her and see just how truly amazing she was. But he could see something sad about the butterfly. She wanted to take to the air, to do what butterflies do, but because her wing was damaged and because the boy was keeping her in a glass box, she could not flex her damaged wings and fly as she was born to do. She was grateful that the boy had rescued her because there were many large birds around that liked to eat butterflies just like her. But now she was injured and her life was sad.
She spoke to the boy. She asked him to please let her go free, to grow stronger and to be free to fly where she wanted. The boy knew that with her hurt wing she would never be able to do what she wanted to do. He gave it much thought and decided that he would help her to be the best butterfly she could be. He found her old cocoon which was badly damaged by the elements. He carefully unravelled the fine silk and just as carefully wrapped it around the beautiful, tired and damaged butterfly.
“This will heal your wing,” he said to her. “You rest, heal, and when you are ready you will emerge from this new cocoon stronger and better and even more beautiful. You know where my house is, and where my garden is. If you want to come back and make my life a more beautiful one, you will always be welcome.”
And he walked away.
She spoke to the boy. She asked him to please let her go free, to grow stronger and to be free to fly where she wanted. The boy knew that with her hurt wing she would never be able to do what she wanted to do. He gave it much thought and decided that he would help her to be the best butterfly she could be. He found her old cocoon which was badly damaged by the elements. He carefully unravelled the fine silk and just as carefully wrapped it around the beautiful, tired and damaged butterfly.
“This will heal your wing,” he said to her. “You rest, heal, and when you are ready you will emerge from this new cocoon stronger and better and even more beautiful. You know where my house is, and where my garden is. If you want to come back and make my life a more beautiful one, you will always be welcome.”
And he walked away.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Time to do Something about GUNS
So we now have another tragedy involving guns. A nutcase in Arizona shoots 19 people, including a United States Congresswoman, a high ranking judge, a child, old people, young people. There is practically no segment of society that he missed, is there?
It amazes me that in this society tin which we live today, with the illiteracy rates at high levels, the unemployment levels at higher levels than anytime in recent memory, the political rhetoric more nasty than ever before with Americans hating on Americans like no time since the Civil War (quaint term—“civil” war) that random crackpots like this guy in Arizona could just waltz in to a gun shop six weeks ago and legally purchase a handgun. Yet, that is exactly what happened. And it isn’t like he came out of nowhere---the police were aware of his history of making vague threats on social networking websites and yet, his name was never placed on any watch lists for handgun sellers to peruse and make a determination that maybe, just maybe, this guy was a little off kilter and shouldn’t own a gun. Why wasn’t his name put on a list like that? Because there isn’t one. Unless he had a prior felony conviction, this (alleged) murdering swine took six lives and ruined another 13 because he was able to just walk into a store and buy an instrument of mass murder. If his name had been Abdul or Ahmed, it is possible that he would not have been able to board an airplane for a vacation in Cancun, or anywhere, because there is a very good chance that his name would have been on a terrorism watch list.
I’m not here to debate the second amendment, a clause to the Constitution of the United States that, despite the claims of the NRA and gun owners, responsible and otherwise, is vaguely worded at best. I am here to state empirically that not everyone should be allowed to own a gun. In most, if not all states, to go out in the woods and hunt a deer with a rifle requires a hunting license. To get that license you have to take rifle safety classes in most states and pass an test proving a minimal competence with the weapon. Yet, anyone, in many states, like Arizona, like Georgia and others, can just walk into a pawn shop or a sporting goods store and walk out 15 minutes later with a killing machine. This has got to change, people. I have seen people in the aforementioned pawnshops, people that I know to be thuggish and aggressive, buy a Glock while I am browsing the used DVD racks. They have come in, picked out a weapon, filled out the minimal paperwork, and paid for and walked out the door with gun in hand before I have even found a movie to watch. This has got to change. With great power, (the power to kill in an instant), comes great responsibility—and it is the duty of the government of the states and the country to make sure that anyone who wants to buy a gun has to meet some kind of standards. We license drivers, electricians, plumbers, hunters, anglers, and more. Time to require licenses for ALL guns, and the ability of the gunowners to prove to us all that they deserve such great power.
It amazes me that in this society tin which we live today, with the illiteracy rates at high levels, the unemployment levels at higher levels than anytime in recent memory, the political rhetoric more nasty than ever before with Americans hating on Americans like no time since the Civil War (quaint term—“civil” war) that random crackpots like this guy in Arizona could just waltz in to a gun shop six weeks ago and legally purchase a handgun. Yet, that is exactly what happened. And it isn’t like he came out of nowhere---the police were aware of his history of making vague threats on social networking websites and yet, his name was never placed on any watch lists for handgun sellers to peruse and make a determination that maybe, just maybe, this guy was a little off kilter and shouldn’t own a gun. Why wasn’t his name put on a list like that? Because there isn’t one. Unless he had a prior felony conviction, this (alleged) murdering swine took six lives and ruined another 13 because he was able to just walk into a store and buy an instrument of mass murder. If his name had been Abdul or Ahmed, it is possible that he would not have been able to board an airplane for a vacation in Cancun, or anywhere, because there is a very good chance that his name would have been on a terrorism watch list.
I’m not here to debate the second amendment, a clause to the Constitution of the United States that, despite the claims of the NRA and gun owners, responsible and otherwise, is vaguely worded at best. I am here to state empirically that not everyone should be allowed to own a gun. In most, if not all states, to go out in the woods and hunt a deer with a rifle requires a hunting license. To get that license you have to take rifle safety classes in most states and pass an test proving a minimal competence with the weapon. Yet, anyone, in many states, like Arizona, like Georgia and others, can just walk into a pawn shop or a sporting goods store and walk out 15 minutes later with a killing machine. This has got to change, people. I have seen people in the aforementioned pawnshops, people that I know to be thuggish and aggressive, buy a Glock while I am browsing the used DVD racks. They have come in, picked out a weapon, filled out the minimal paperwork, and paid for and walked out the door with gun in hand before I have even found a movie to watch. This has got to change. With great power, (the power to kill in an instant), comes great responsibility—and it is the duty of the government of the states and the country to make sure that anyone who wants to buy a gun has to meet some kind of standards. We license drivers, electricians, plumbers, hunters, anglers, and more. Time to require licenses for ALL guns, and the ability of the gunowners to prove to us all that they deserve such great power.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
New Year's Column
Well, there goes another year. People died. People were born. Countries waged war on other countries and as always, innocent people got killed. In Haiti, an earthquake turned an already starving, under-developed third world country into something closer to a Stone Age civilization, and after the appropriate initial outpouring of sympathy and charitable telethons, it was quickly forgotten by all but a few.
In this country, the political scene just got uglier as a popular president became less popular and the two major parties can’t agree on anything. What that leaves us with is two factions fighting each other and the only loser is the entire country.
Speaking of which: beginning in mid-March, I will not only be talking the talk, but walking the walk---literally---across the entire country. I will start at the Atlantic Ocean in Savannah and begin a trek of around 2800 miles westward, hopefully reaching the Pacific Ocean in four months or less. As a younger man I used to do a lot of 20 mile walk-a-thons and usually managed to finish in a little more than six hours. Even using conservative estimates, adding another five miles a day makes the whole thing doable in 120 days.
Along the way I will be sending in dispatches from the road, as well as taking myriad photographs, and will also begin working on a book about my journey. I will also set up a website where I will be adding daily (where possible) updates on my location and the people I meet. I’m assuming that over the course of 2800 miles I will meet a few people.
The idea for this came about back in the spring of 2009, while I was doing my workout at Fitness USA, here in Jackson. I’ve written a couple of columns for this paper concerning healthy eating, exercise and lifestyles, and I found myself staring at a very unhealthy number on the scale one morning and decided that at age 49 I had better do something about it. The idea just popped into my head as I churned away on the elliptical machine that is my daily dread, and I immediately knew that this was something I could do with the proper training and conditioning. I’ve now been working out hard, have lost the equivalent of a fourth grader or so, and now feel that my legs are ready to carry me across the country.
The number on the scale that morning was 355. I can’t imagine a human being weighing that much, but there it was, digitally displayed---closer to 400 pounds than 300. The day I write this, I am down to 272, so I have lost 83 pounds to date. My goal is to reach 220, which will fit my big frame nicely. This trip should put a fine point on it.
I cannot do this alone. While the bulk of my expenses will be for food and water, I am looking for help covering my expenses, beyond what I am paying for out of pocket. I have several sponsors, commercial and personal, and could use a few more. If anyone is interested in sponsoring me, you can contact me at the email address posted at the end of this column.
Am I nuts? No. I am a firm believer that life is short, and you need to cram as many adventures into it as possible. This is just the next one…
In this country, the political scene just got uglier as a popular president became less popular and the two major parties can’t agree on anything. What that leaves us with is two factions fighting each other and the only loser is the entire country.
Speaking of which: beginning in mid-March, I will not only be talking the talk, but walking the walk---literally---across the entire country. I will start at the Atlantic Ocean in Savannah and begin a trek of around 2800 miles westward, hopefully reaching the Pacific Ocean in four months or less. As a younger man I used to do a lot of 20 mile walk-a-thons and usually managed to finish in a little more than six hours. Even using conservative estimates, adding another five miles a day makes the whole thing doable in 120 days.
Along the way I will be sending in dispatches from the road, as well as taking myriad photographs, and will also begin working on a book about my journey. I will also set up a website where I will be adding daily (where possible) updates on my location and the people I meet. I’m assuming that over the course of 2800 miles I will meet a few people.
The idea for this came about back in the spring of 2009, while I was doing my workout at Fitness USA, here in Jackson. I’ve written a couple of columns for this paper concerning healthy eating, exercise and lifestyles, and I found myself staring at a very unhealthy number on the scale one morning and decided that at age 49 I had better do something about it. The idea just popped into my head as I churned away on the elliptical machine that is my daily dread, and I immediately knew that this was something I could do with the proper training and conditioning. I’ve now been working out hard, have lost the equivalent of a fourth grader or so, and now feel that my legs are ready to carry me across the country.
The number on the scale that morning was 355. I can’t imagine a human being weighing that much, but there it was, digitally displayed---closer to 400 pounds than 300. The day I write this, I am down to 272, so I have lost 83 pounds to date. My goal is to reach 220, which will fit my big frame nicely. This trip should put a fine point on it.
I cannot do this alone. While the bulk of my expenses will be for food and water, I am looking for help covering my expenses, beyond what I am paying for out of pocket. I have several sponsors, commercial and personal, and could use a few more. If anyone is interested in sponsoring me, you can contact me at the email address posted at the end of this column.
Am I nuts? No. I am a firm believer that life is short, and you need to cram as many adventures into it as possible. This is just the next one…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
