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This is an oil well-common in the forests around here and growing more common as the price of oil increases. The mountains of Western Pennsylvania were one of the original boom landscapes in the late 1800's when the demand for oil first began. With a barrel of oil at over $100 it has become economical to drill new wells and reopen old ones that may have a few drops left underground. There is currently disagreement about drilling in the Allegheny National Forrest, where private owners have mineral rights to what is beneath the surface, but Legally, it Will be done for the week or two worth of oil left that America will blow out it's collective tailpipe. As I watch food prices around the world rise while the World Food Bank calls on rich nations to face their "moral imperative" to help feed the suddenly desperate hungry-made poorer as the cost of oil inflates everything along the food chain and we grow corn for ethanol - I fear it is a portender of the future which unfortunately many Americans continue to ignore. Where were the solar panels on all those mansions built in the last decade? Where were the gas mileage standards when there were already vehicles making 35 mpg in the 1980's? What has been in the people's heads who have bought all these trucks and SUV's? I do not think that the average citizen understands the gravity of the shortages facing this planet-in the seas, in the energy supply, in the water quality, in the chemical pollution and habitat losses-in everything that an island runs out of when the populations gets too big and consumes too much. Another two billion people in China and India have gotten a taste of the American lifestyle and by God or Hell they want and believe they deserve it as much as we do. I still beat my head against the wall trying to get people to turn the lights off when leaving a room. I suggest to them that they walk or bicycle or buy a scooter to travel the few miles around this town. Maybe it will require $4 or $5 dollars a gallon to force real change in peoples habits, which at the same time might solve some of the ills caused by the obesity epidemic.I have not fallen into despair for I have seen innovation in a few places, but the leadership from Washington has been pathetic for decades, and time is running out. I always used to say to my kids that this was going to be the critical century for humanity, and taught them to live simply by my example, but even in my warnings there was an expectation that the crisis might not come until their children's lifetime... I see now that it has already begun and is a slow process that unfolds right before our eyes. People have simply chosen to ignore it from cowardice or shortsightedness. So carbon limits and all the other innovations that should have begun years ago were ignored in order to "prevent economic hardships"... well, sorry, but the economic and social consequences of the problems facing this world will Not go away merely because people hide their heads in the sand. We spend trillions of dollars on weapons while people go hungry?? Where is the moral outrage in every kitchen and living room? We expect medicare to buy our insulin while we stuff ourselves with Twinkies? Where is the personal responsibility to pick up your own bootstraps? Go walk a mile, and buy a moped, or a hybrid... and turn your damn air conditioning down and cool your feet in a stream ..Might do you and everyone else in this world some good..

Love, or something else

It's been a mixed road in my life so far as female relationships are concerned, and most recently I was labeled a "f-head" by someone who has claimed to be in love with me. For whatever reason, probably my independent nature, I have had no pressing need for companionship and ultimately have either been unwilling or unable to romantically give women what they want. Perhaps because of my inexperience I simply chose unwisely and it is only in middle age that I know clearly the kind of woman I would wish to spend time with. Spontaneous laughter without judgment would be a good start. Many years ago a close friend said of love, " You have to find someone you want to give to", ( ..and who wants to give back ) and that sounds true enough to me. Another workmate once said that love is " an ever growing affinity to be with another person to the point of physical discomfort upon separation". Jackson Browne has many good things to say in his songs, with "Sky Blue and Black" perhaps his definitive masterpiece regarding the hope and madness that relationships draw out of people.
I look around me at couples who have survived the challenges of marriage and stayed friends and lovers, some of whom met one another at a young age when they could not possibly have known what they were looking for, yet somehow they did, so their wisdom or good fate astonishes me. Love certainly does not seem to have anything to do with raw intellect, or age, for I see people of all kinds who make it work and other equally good or bad people who do not. I have friends and acquaintances who have never had loving families, nor known even a few years of loving companionship, nor found the joys and trials of children, and I wonder why the 'hardship has been piled' on them...fate? bad luck? chance?karma?genes? When I look closely at my own life I find that my present emotional reactions and anxieties trace all the way back to the womb, so in one sense our personalities are set in stone and there is little we can do other than recognize our inner truths in hours of need. We are all of one mind in our need for love-where ever and however we find it.
While I am walking I sometimes see an injured or struggling insect and I spontaneously bend over to help it to the side of the road, or help it fly, and show it great compassion without thinking, then later I wonder why that kind of kindness comes so easy to me yet people can be a struggle. At such moments I ask Heaven to help ease the suffering of that fellow creature and hope that Heaven hears me. I don't know if any of it matters but I tell myself that love of any kind is why we are here.

Politics,etc

Has to be Obama...he is the only one with genuine WISDOM and the charisma to unite people-that is, if they are openminded enough to be united...critics bitch that he is all talk, naive, elitist etc... but such people are pessimists who fail to understand that some people actually Believe in cooperation and compromise and work to make it Reality...Obama wisely examined the history of the middle east with the Foresight to Know that invading Iraq was a foolish decision Before we went in...a rare thing among politicians who were ridiculed for it at the time..I respect McCain for his personal integrity, but his policies are far too conservative for a forward looking man...Clinton would fight like hell for what she latches onto, and be a good second choice, but probably lacks the people skills to unite this divided world..In my heart I know that the entire political/economic system is corrupt, but I'm going to vote anyway rather than give in to despair... As for criticisms of Mr. Obama's 'lack' of experience or judgement, people have to remember that the present mess in both the government and the world is the direct result of the decisions and behaviors of mostly middle age experienced white men. And I am supposed to worry that a young black man might do worse?
...postscript:- As I walked into the office just now after my walk, I was told that Bill Clinton was campaigning for Hillary in the high school a mile from here..I never even knew that he was coming to town, but he apparently drew thousands..
...postscript: A poll in the local paper shows support for Clinton at 46.2 %, for McCain 46.2 and Obama 7.7%...which reflects the conservative, rural character of this county...No doubt there is a measure of racism to the Pennsyvania vote, so I am not convinced that the nation is yet ready for a black president..in that regard I am a bit ashamed of my fellow citizens, but closed minds are hard to enlighten...
...postscript: I just returned from the theater in town where author Peter Jenkins gave a talk. He's the guy who wrote "A Walk Across America" about his walk in the 1970's...His journey took five years during which he stopped for months to earn money, so it was an entirely different experience than mine, in some ways more socially and economically integrated.Although I was not impressed with his somewhat superficial, 'pedestrian' speech, I respect that he's still out there giving a positive message about humanity. A few people in the mostly middle aged and elderly audience showed interest in doing their own journey, so I reinforced to them that the negativity in the media was not reflective of the good heart of this nation...Yes-the crazies are out there, but they are given far more press than they deserve

a year later...

I remember odd aspects from the walk, mostly fragments of the places I rested or slept, just visual images and impressions that have no meaning other than that I Do remember them, and for whatever reason they have lodged in my mind. Probably rest stops stay in my memory because they were so pleasurable and necessary, and those few minutes sitting did wonders to rejuvenate me for the next hour. I usually walked seven or eight miles at a stretch, and decided on my breaks by the feel of my feet, so I would look around for a suitable bit of shade or a good view and keep moving until I found one. After stopping during the heat of day, sopping wet with perspiration, I sometimes stripped naked behind a bush or stone, then laid my clothes out to dry as I rested and snacked on whatever I had in my pack-usually a package of donuts or peanuts or a breakfast bar. Generally I removed my sneakers as well and aired out my socks, for there was rarely an opportunity to wash, particularly in the deserts. It was remarkable how enjoyable those short breaks became, maybe because they were all that I needed in that simple life, and more essential than the trivial wants I had been used to.
It became easy to hide in plain sight, so during one stop about ten miles from anywhere I sat on one side of the road while a motorist pulled over to the other side, where a middle age guy got out in order to urinate. Thinking he was alone, he stretched and shuffled and mumbled as he went behind a bush, and only noticed me after he had shifted into gear to speed away. I smiled and waved and figured it was a rare opportunity to see a man as he truly was, uninhibited and wholly natural, like watching a dog in the backyard. Embarassment over bodily functions were the least of my concerns so I became skilled at relieving myself in public without being noticed... Odd what sticks in the memory...
While eating lunch one day behind a small town in western PA I watched Great Blue Herons nesting in trees about two hundred yards away, which was the first time I had seen that species reproducing. To me it was like watching cranes or storks in the Everglades, yet I doubted that many of the townspeople knew they were there, nor would I have seen them if I had not slipped behind a power station to sit on some grass.
Another time I sat beneath a tree near Kansas City sipping from a frozen bottle of Gatorade that a good Samaritan had given to me a few minutes before, and I can visualize the shade and the roots and the grass and the lay of the road and how it twisted and turned beyond that spot and the hot macadam I had followed to get there. There was nothing unique about that place, although by tracing my mind I can remember the grass where I had slept the night before, and the church lawn at which I slept later that evening. When I had wandered over to the neighbors house to explain my presence at the church, which was in an isolated area, he offered me a swim in his pool...the next day was hazy in the morning and 105 degrees... Odd what sticks in the memory...but it's all there somewhere and can be retrieved if I make the effort.

Spring In Warren

3/03/08 :
Walking today I see flies sunning themselves on the wall, which to my spirit is like being reborn, as if some equatorial breeze has penetrated these cold mountains and reminded me that 'yes-the Earth continues to revolve around the sun in the law of the seasons.' Water flows in every street gutter so that by late morning yesterdays icicles have already succumbed to the warmth. Should I expect spring to arrive in the next hour? No, but the door has been left ajar and I shall wedge my foot in the opening.
I hear the sound of water dripping from the eaves as I watch mallards mating on the Conewango, so I know that the months of dreariness finally are nearing their end. People pass by on bicycles in shortsleeves, prematurely perhaps, but that is how determined they are to break the spine of winter. The March sun is warm enough that it is not foolhearty rather a reckless liberation for them.
Spring, my old comrade-where have you been this year? But for a few days in early January I have not talked to you since October. You have tested my patience like a prisoner counting the days to his release. My feet have grown weary of slipping on ice and my cold skin has threatened to penetrate my heart. But the flies...The flies! They buzz as if no time at all has passed, now chase one another like spring lovers. They cannot afford to lament the months of winter so go about their pleasures on this warm afternoon. They are the first spring robins to my eye, more trustworthy than a March thaw, and I stand in the sun beside them to let them fly about my ears. Flies in spring do not bother me as they might in June, rather are my answered prayer more reassuring than rosary beads or ancient texts. They are the preachers Nature sends to me when I am cognizant enough to witness, and tell me to hold on awhile longer; the grass will be budding soon.
By walks end I am a new man, hopeful and jubilant for the spring I had feared might desert us-but that is the power of sunlight in a town blessed with everything else.

(FLY photo courtesy of Jill Olerich-check her out!)http//www.flickr.com/photos/jilloelerichphotos

Winter in Warren

Took a walk today about 1.5 miles west through town, then 1.5 miles on a dirt road loop into the mountains which brought me back to town, where I walked another 1/2 mile loop to visit the bank, the post office and the library, which are within 2 blocks of one another, then headed north a mile to my mother's house where I shoveled her driveway for the 2oth time this winter, then backtracked 1.5 miles to where I started. That walk encapsulated everything that is wonderful and depressing about Warren: All one needs is within a mile and most of what one wants is within 3 miles-so long as one is willing to walk through clouds and/or rain and/or snow for 8 out of 10 days. I literally do not need a car to live here and yet can count on my hands the sunny days since November 2nd. While living in the eastern part of the state I was accustomed to seeing redwing blackbirds and grackles return by late February, so I miss the comparative warmth and sunshine of that area. But the overpopulation there contributes to an overall level of stress and economic inflation that makes the area nearly unlivable. Warren is in the process of trying to revitalize it's downtown into a tourist mecca in order to attract people to the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains, and the town has much to offer for simple, cheap, friendly living- If only it could control the weather! Needless to say, I am ready for spring and look forward to that time of life when I can move south for the winters and return when this town shows it's summer charm...

Irreverent Ambition

I heard from the mother of a teenage son that my walk had inspired him to abandon his plan of living in a box to instead attend art school, and I approved of his decision while advising that he not learn so much in school that it corrupted his creativity. That is, so long as his teachers encouraged him to expand his ideas rather than stifle them, then he would avoid trading one box for another and so find his path sincerely. I must admit that I have a fondness for his first ambition, at least in that it reveals an ability to think outside the box as it were, which is a rare and refreshing thing in this society. There comes a time in every young life when a person must leave behind one's mentors and realize that the only path forward is to follow one's desires regardless of social or economic reward. What the society calls ambition may as easily be called foolheartedness and at length no life is wasted that foremost seeks knowledge and compassion. The challenge for every human being is to nurture one's ideals through every hardship and emerge hopeful and optimistic. It is never too late-Never-to change directions and live according to one's inner directives. If life requires their postponement for good reasons, then do what you must to nurture dreams in your spare time, in your soul, until such moment as you know the time is ripe for their fruition.
To all those aspiring artists who must balance physical survival with creativity, I have always felt that it is an obligation to your Creator that you develop your talent, which ultimately will inspire and reward you in ways unforeseen. Every life matures at it's own pace along intimately private avenues.