Step To The Right

Travel only with thy equals or thy betters, if there are none, travel alone.

The Dhammapada
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I'm not a bum. When I stagger down the street with my cane, my long hair and beard, and my baggy pants I look like either a poet or a bum, depending on your point of view.

Now the Amish , with a few exceptions, are a polite and gentle people. There's an Amish market near here. I was in there one day with a friend and one of the clerks called the front to have someone one come and politely check me out. Another of the clerks looked at me with suspicion as I approached her counter, until I hoisted up the big bag of potatoes I was buying and handed her the cash.

I finally got smart enough to realize that just because someone looks like a rogue it doesn't make them one. As a result of that knowledge I have had the privilege of knowing some very interesting people whom the squeaky clean world would leave alone.

When I hitchhiked across the country in 1960 I picked up a fellow traveler in Kansas who went with me as far as the Oklahoma border. He was a full time road person, a perpetual hitchhiker, a hobo, and he looked the part. But I soon found out he was a well educated man, had graduate degrees in business and economics. He had his reasons for dropping out of society and taking to the road. He had family spread around the country, including a sister in Missouri who would take him in whenever he showed up there. I learned a lot about life from him.

Now, in my senior years, my fellow travelers are mostly those I meet along the way on the intricate pathways of the Internet. I consider some my equals. But there are a few I definitely consider my betters. Thus I'm still learning about life.

Dhammapada, a Buddhist text, can mean feet of righteousness, or path of truth. But righteousness is more than being kind and respectful to others, and truth is more than not cheating and lying. I think the overall cosmic journey the human race is on has a destination which is greater and more important than we can ever imagine. Thus it is vital to avoid the real rogues and bums, especially the ones in suits and skirts, and find fellow travelers who are our equals and particularly our betters who can help us through the swamps, up the mountains and down the city streets of life learning. Or else we travel alone.

Never give up
DB - The Vagabond
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Weekend Puzzle Answers

All of these questions have to do with United States history.

1. In which hand does the Statue of Liberty hold the torch?
Right hand.
2. Who was Martha Skelton?
Mrs. Thomas Jefferson
3. Which was the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
Rhode Island
4. Who was Emma Lazarus?
Poet of "The New Colossus", part of which is on the base of the Statue of Liberty
5. What happened on Christmas, 1776?
General Washington crossed the Delaware River to retake Trenton
6. Who was Alexandre Eiffel?
He designed and built the structure tha holds up the Statue of Liberty.
7. Which was the first of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
Delaware
8. Who was Martha Custis?
Nrs. George Washington
9. How many stripes on the US flag are red?
Seven.
10. Who was Frederic Bartholdi?
The sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty.
11. What does the Statue of Liberty hold in her other hand?
A tablet which read July 4, 1776

There are two winners of a genuine Tupperware American Flag decal: Geo and Val. Good going guys.

DB
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SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

7 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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