THE TIMES THAT TRY....

A glimpse of California summer. Mellow afternoon in San Luis Obispo.

founding father trouble maker

    Thomas Paine would have been the leading blogger or social media star of his era-the American Revolution.

     His pamphlets fueled the rebellion. Common Sense was read by most of the Revolution's leaders. As we celebrate Independence Day this year, it seems more than appropriate to let the radical speak for himself to 2017 America.

•  'THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S SOUL'
•  'THE STRENGTH AND POWER OF DESPOTISM CONSISTS WHOLLY IN THE FEAR OF RESISTANCE'
•  'REASON OBEYS ITSELF; AND IGNORANCE SUBMITS TO WHATEVER IS DICTATED TO IT'
•  'IT IS AN AFFRONT TO TREAT FALSEHOOD WITH COMPLAISANCE'
• 'A LONG HABIT OF NOT THINKING A THING WRONG GIVES IT A SUPERFICIAL APPEARANCE OF BEING RIGHT'
• 'AN ARMY OF PRINCIPLES CAN PENETRATE WHERE AN ARMY OF SOLDERS CANNOT'
• 'GOVERNMENT, EVEN IN ITS BEST STATE, IS BUT A NECESSARY EVIL; IN ITS WORST STATE, AN INTOLERABLE ONE'
• 'THE MOST FORMIDABLE WEAPON AGAINST ERRORS OF EVERY KIND IS REASON'
• 'THOSE WHO WANT TO REAP THE BENEFITS OF THIS GREAT NATION MUST BEAR THE FATIGUE OF SUPPORTING IT'
• 'WHEN MEN YIELD UP THE PRIVILEGE OF THINKING, THE LAST SHADOW OF LIBERTY QUITS THE HORIZON'

     It did not end well for Paine who continued to speak his mind, regardless of who it might offend. He quarreled with George Washington, irritated Christians, and was jailed in France, where he observed their revolution. Future American President James Monroe pulled strings to get his freedom.     

    He wrote Age of Reason, The American Crisis, and The Rights of Man and was perhaps the most influential writer of the American Revolution. 

     One could argue a foundational piece of the great divide between liberals and conservatives goes to Paine's criticism of Edward Burke, a founder of conservatism.  
     Paine is a god-father to liberals, libertarians, left-liberals, feminists, democratic socialists, social democrats, progressives and free thinkers.
     He was one of the first to advocate for emancipation of slaves. He may have been the first to advocate for old age pensions and guaranteed minimum income. 
      Paine said he believed in "one God" but not in religious doctrines or churches. 
       He had the ability to infuriate. But he continued to expound. There are reports only 6 people attended his funeral.
      But had it not been for the instigation of Thomas Paine, our Independence Day might be a moot point.  No less than John Adams said "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."

       Independence Day 2017....hmmmm!

American Hero

     Conductor/educator Michelle Brosseau-Tacchia is one of those Americans who have kept America great-for years.
     She is the leader of Symphonie Jeunesse from San Bernadino. You can link here.
         Students who do not otherwise have the resources may learn to advance their musical skills under Brosseau-Tacchia. Instruments, lessons, rehearsal and even touring expenses are the result of a charitable spirit and effort led by Michelle. Lives of young women and men are enhanced and changed. 
      The frame above is from their most recent Central California tour. We have been fortunate to hear Symphonie Jeunesse several times. They are wonderful and leave audiences always shaking their heads that what they heard was performed by students. They are indeed extraordinary thanks to the extraordinary devotion of a dedicated educator. An American hero.

      See you down the trail.

THE GOOD FORTUNE OF....

A CONFLUENCE OF AN IDEA
AND A PERSON
Mandela as an example

    The world's knowledge of Nelson Mandela has grown exponentially thanks to media saturation this last week.

    The comparison to George Washington as father of his nation is apt. Both men were requisite for their moment in history and by all accounts both rose above their own pain, suffering and challenge to evince a defining national character.  

    Churchill's legacy, rallying a battle scarred Britain to stand in the breach of WWII is another contemporary example-the correct person at a pivotal moment. Copernicus, Einstein, Newton and Da Vinci are among others who perceived and thought reality and boundary busting norms and who pushed history.

     Is there something behind such motions of time and history?  Fate? Serendipity? Providence? What do you think?

     What makes some people so very special?

and art as an example

A POINT OF REFERENCE
a meditation on
what was or what might be?

ART COLLABORATION
as an example

    Though my skill is sub zero on any scale, I've always been fascinated with artist studios. And I've been lucky to live with an extraordinarily talented woman who has created fascinating spaces from which to create.

   I've noted too, that artists generally stimulate greater output when they are in each other's company.  Here's a snap shot of such.  Karen from Marin County, Jane from North Carolina and Lana from Cambria in a moment that could best be described as an engine running flat out.

People and moments
historic passages
creative endeavours
break throughs in knowledge
like the advent of light in darkness.
Nothing is as it was before 
that moment or that person.

And we have the good fortune to live with the difference.

See you down the trail.

INSPIRED

A DOSE OF GOOD MEDICINE

    Being personal now- our fall trip to Washington was a much needed medication.

    Time with our dear friends Frank and Sandy was part of a cure. The other "tonic" was to touch history, art and culture as an antidote to a bruising and almost unfathomable battle.

    I sense some of you are saying, "What the...?  Washington as a place to go for peace and inspiration?  Yes!  Yes indeed!

   Frequent readers remember I'm a First Amendment fanatic. I'm the kind of goof who reads the Declaration of Independence each Fourth of July, and who is adamant about protecting our liberties and who holds dear the extraordinary set of bones upon which this republic hangs-the Constitution.

   I believe that all of us are entitled the full extension of  rights, privileges and responsibilities laid out for us by the founders, protected by sacrifices through generations and increased by our perpetually growing enlightenment. 

   So Washington DC is the touchstone, in so many ways.

   Ingrained in the raison d'être of these monuments and memorials are intellects, sacrifices, leadership, vision and a devotion to an ideal-a nation where all live in equality. 
   Personalities who have risen to lead are honored, beyond their days, as a challenge to us in our time.  These stone reminders are a tonic. We are humbled and inspired by what we see and remember.

    Service personnel and journalists have given much, including their all so that we may know and live free. They inspire me.
   Politicians who rise above petty politics to move the arc of history as statesmen inspire me.

    Temples that celebrate the best of our creative dreams,  reaching and artistic output, inspire and offer a healing balm.

    And so our divided and dysfunctional Congress, beleaguered Presidency and questionable Supreme Court do not detract from the wide and long sweep of the true greatness that can and has emerged in and from this Capitol of human longings and achievement. It is not perfect.  None of the heroes who are memorialized were perfect. Like all of us, they had feet of clay and were made of the same star matter. 
   We have eras of which to be proud and periods of shame and embarrassment but it is always on a human scale, moving toward an ideal, an inch, a day, a moment at a time.

    So I take from all of it an inspiration and renewed zeal to stay stalwart in my belief that all of us, regardless of birthright, are children under the same heaven, brothers and sisters of planet earth. I may not like you, I may not agree with you, but neither that, nor how and who you were born should stand between you and full equality, even in a church.

    Your color, your gender, your ethnic heritage, your sexual orientation, your physical or mental challenges simply make you a human being, entitled to the full privileges of life.

    I thank the good Lord for a vision that it is so, and for a nation where we get better at making it so and for a place where we build monuments and temples to remind us to make sure it is always so and to recall those who have said so.

    See you down the trail.

THE MAN FROM VIRGINIA

ANOTHER VIEW OF 

"THE FATHER OF AMERICA"

     I wonder what George Washington would say about the McAuliffe and Cuccinelli race for Governor in his home state.  

    Not far from these peaceful Virginia settings are ever present yard signs of the campaign battle. 

    Million$ have been spent on a nasty media war in Virginia.  So I come back to George and wonder.

    We can see Washington through another lens than the iconic and idealized view we get from our American history lessons.

    Washington was a member of the Masonic order and he is memorialized in that more personal way in Alexandria Va.

    The Washington Masonic Memorial was started in 1922 and completed in 1970. Washington's personal life is curated as is his role in the Masons.

    One of the fascinating artifacts is the clock that sat at his bed side.  It was stopped and the mechanism disabled by his attending physician at the exact moment of his death December 14, 1799.

   I learned that our powerful French friend and ally, the Marquis de Lafayette was also a member of the Masonic order.

     The 331 foot memorial also affords one of the grand views of Washington DC.

 There is probably no aspect of American government over which Washington does not cast a legacy shadow.

    To read and see evidence of his participation as a member of a fraternal society and to see pieces of his life is to make him more human and, to my thinking, even more of an extraordinary man.
    To know of his personal and financial struggles and weigh those against his contributions to our founding struggles and  his precedent setting behavior as our first Chief Executive  is to gain a view of a man who indeed looms large over those who occupy or seek power.
    We are told there were many times when he simply wanted to retire to his Mt Vernon estate and seek the peace of the country side.
     When my Scots ancestors left Renfrew they landed in Virginia and some of the clan have remained. Some served in the Virgina regimental line and there is a family pride they served with Washington.

   The Virginia Governor's race is being watched around the world, called an important barometer of America's mood. But what a different mood and depth of issues that face us now than when Washington led us into this new experience of a democratic republic.

     And what a different quality of man and woman.  

    What might George say,were you to come along side as he sat contemplating pristine beauty?  Do you think any of our current leaders will be memorialized?

     See you down the trail.