Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label John Adams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Adams. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

PROTECTING OUR HERITAGE



photos courtesy of Pexels


night skies for future generations

     Astronomer Scott McMillan could have hit me in the head with a 2X4. He said the way we have preserved wilderness in national parks, preserves and marine sanctuaries is necessary for the skies.
     Consider this. It was a mere 140 years ago that electric lighting began to illuminate our lives. From the dawn of human life on this blue planet all or our ancestors had access to stars, constellations, galaxies and the infinity of space. It has been only a bit longer than our lifetime since we could look into the night sky to see what inspired science, religion, philosophy, art and literature. As McMillan said now millions of children will never know the wonder of the Milky Way. Perhaps some of you are unable to see it.
     The first time I saw stars that arched over me like a bowl was standing on a cliff at Big Sur. The stars rose up out of the roaring Pacific and passed over my head until they descended into the towering redwoods behind me.
      It's difficult to explain a moment on the plains of the Serengeti in the Great Rift Valley in Africa as I stood in absolute silence enveloped in a 360 degree dome of millions upon millions of stars, galaxies and visual wonder. That extraordinary sight and sensation caused me to shudder, almost shake. It seemed to have touched a key in my mind that changed my consciousness.
      Until the early twentieth century all of our ancestors had  those night sky experiences. How have we changed as a specie as the stars dim? Has it diminished our capacity? Do we routinely take desecration of nature as something we accept? Do we look down more than we look up and what is the significance of that?
      Thanks to the efforts of Beautify Cambria we have become part of a Dark Skies initiative. I have become a proponent of the International Dark Sky Association.  
I urge you to link here www.darksky.org
          Light pollution hurts the planet and life in ways that many are unaware. Human health is affected, it devastates wild life, it wastes energy and money, it can make you less safe and it robs us of our heritage. There are simple, inexpensive things we can do.
      I'm lucky to live at the edge of the continent, between the vastness of the Pacific and unpopulated coastal mountains and forests. But growing up in the mid-west I saw the dimming of the stars as cities grew and lights polluted the sky. We owe it to our self and to next generations to protect night skies and the wonder they hold.


fighting words

      "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
     We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
     That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.  That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and Happiness.

      But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government and to provide new Guards for the future security."

     Are you feeling happy?
     Are you feeling safe?
     Do you think the majority of voting Americans have given consent?
      Do you think Government has been destructive to unalienable rights?
      Do you see abuses or usurpations?

      Is North Korea's leader a despot?
      Is Vladimir Putin a despot?
      Should the President of the US legitimize despots?

      What are the opinions of mankind about our present leadership? Are they being given a decent respect?


       "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.--It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."
                           Thomas Jefferson to James Madison,
                            Paris, January 30, 1787


        Wouldn't you count it good fortune if the ghosts of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams haunted us these days?
        Maybe they could whip the dickens out of you know who!

     See you down the trail.



     
      




Monday, July 3, 2017

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.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

TRULY INDEPENDENT

HOW DO YOU DEFINE RADICAL
   Today's sentiment was launched by thoughtful observations of Jed Duvall and Stephen Hayes who authors the extraordinary blog The Chubby Chatterbox.
   You can read Jed's thoughts in the comments of yesterday's post on the Gettysburg anniversary observations.
    The Chatterbox, which is linked in the column on the right, got my wheels turning.
   This is always a day of melancholy. On the one hand it prompts a childhood sense of joy and delight. On the other it recalls true patriotism, devotion and sacrifice adjoined to how we modern Americans regard the day as little more than a reason to eat, drink, be merry and watch bombs that sparkle instead of those that have more lethal outcomes.
    After all is said, I come down on the thought that more than anything this is a day that should celebrate conviction and principle. John Adam's did not attend 4th of July celebrations, despite his contribution to our birth. He did not because he noted the Declaration was "declared" on July 2nd and he thought that should be the day of observation. The formal declaration was adopted on the 4th, but the actual separation from England occurred on the the 2nd.
The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not. (The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, Harvard University Press, 1975, 142).
That is an example of the American spirit. 
JULY 4TH REFERALS
If you have not seen the Gettysburg post
from yesterday,Here is an easy link 
And a true reprise-worth considering again-
A UNIQUELY AMERICAN DAY
Do your self a great favor today.
Take a couple of minutes to read
Here's something to add to your conversation at a barbecue or party today.
Two of the framers and signers of the Declaration
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third 
Presidents of the US, died on July 4th 1826, the 
50th Anniversary of the signing.
Both men had been ill.  Jefferson asked his doctor
"Is it the Fourth yet?"
"It soon will be," Robley Dunglison replied.
Later Jefferson awoke to say,
"I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country."
Adams was asked if he knew what day it was.
"Oh yes.  It is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God Bless it.  God Bless you all."
He lapsed into unconsciousness. Later he awoke and said
"Thomas Jefferson.  Thomas Jefferson survives."
Actually Jefferson had died a couple of hours earlier.
It remains an amazing coincidence that the two men, infirmed and dying  held on to life until the 50th Anniversary of perhaps America's greatest day.
Happy Independence Day!
See you down the trail.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

A THANKFUL TURKEY TROT

GO AHEAD AND COUNT THEM-
Your blessings.
Gratitude is good for you
On November 2, 1800 President John Adams
wrote to his Wife Abigail.
I send his words to you on a personal level
about your home.
And  they are issued here again as
Adams meant them, as he was a new occupant
of the White House.
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings
on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it.
May none but honest and wise (men) ever rule
under this roof."
I count friendship as a great blessing.
Long and lasting friendship is a cause for 
great celebration.
"The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet
and steady and loyal and enduring nature that
it will last through a whole lifetime,
if not asked to lend money."
Mark Twain
:)
And again today, our neighbors on the Top of the World
ridge top, made their parade, terrorizing our cats.
If anything feels lucky today, it should be
these messy cretins from a prehistoric age.



but we are glad to see them
and thankful to share one of
their commercially raised cousins.
(organic of course)
GOBBLE GOBBLE
See you down the trail.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

FOUNDER'S GARDENING

DOING IT LIKE
THOMAS JEFFERSON
An idea launched itself in Lana's head
as she read Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams used
kelp to enrich their fields.
 We now had a mission-collect
kelp from the shore.
 Chinese kelp harvesters worked these Central
California shores with great productivity.
 We didn't mind being the only modern
shore harvesters.  The Abalone farm in Cayucos
uses a harvest boat to work the beds in regions
for which they are licensed.
 We found a practical purpose for those
noxious plastic bags that never seem to go away.

 There was something else the Founders
used on their gardens. To collect it
we made a quick dash just up Highway 1 to a side road.
 In about a mile and half we were
entering a new micro climate as we drove
 into the Santa Lucias along San Simeon Creek.
 The road took us into sun and to
 the area of our next hunting
 with the prize being just
 across the cattle gate.
 The founders used manure and we knew of a
great field of cow chips.
 With a collection gathered, 
 we headed back toward the ridge
 and the awaiting compost
 about to be recharged,
first with the chips and
then with the kelp.
 I asked Lana if she thought TJ used a garden hose
to rinse his kelp.
 Now we have an enriched compost heap
thanks to offal of Pacific kelp beds,
 grazed open range cattle
and the Founding Gardeners.
See you down the trail

Monday, July 4, 2011

INDEPENDENCE

A UNIQUELY AMERICAN DAY
Do your self a great favor today.
Take a couple of minutes to read
the Declaration of Independence by linking here.
Here's something to add to your conversation at a barbecue or party today.
Two of the framers and signers of the Declaration
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third 
Presidents of the US, died on July 4th 1826, the 
50th Anniversary of the signing.
Both men had been ill.  Jefferson asked his doctor
"Is it the Fourth yet?"
"It soon will be," Robley Dunglison replied.
Later Jefferson awoke to say,
"I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country."
Adams was asked if he knew what day it was.
"Oh yes.  It is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God Bless it.  God Bless you all."
He lapsed into unconsciousness. Later he awoke and said
"Thomas Jefferson.  Thomas Jefferson survives."
Actually Jefferson had died a couple of hours earlier.
It remains an amazing coincidence that the two men, infirmed and dying  held on to life until the 50th Anniversary 
of perhaps America's greatest day.
Happy Independence Day!
See you down the trail.