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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Unexpected Undertaking 10/04/09

Love is good. Love with noodles is better.

Unknown
(I think it's an Amish saying. It sounds like it.)
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Come walk with me.
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After posting "Temporary Tacking" just after midnight, I retired to bed. When I awoke I could not stand on my left leg. Trying to get around my apartment has been severely painful. I have to grab a hold of everything if I want to move from one place to another. If it doesn't improve by Monday I will have to hobble to the RiteAid and buy some crutches. That's normally a 15 minute walk.

I am one of those that the crack pots are trying to deprive of health insurance.

So if you happen to see an old geezer looking like Sasquatch with a NY Yankees cap on, limping down the street, that's me. Wave
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Years ago, when I was living in New York, I drove to Allenberry, Pennsylvania, to see my friend Lowell performing in an Offenbach operetta. On the way I passed through the Amish territory. At one spot there was a yard sale, so I stopped to look. Among the items on display were some beautiful cedar chests. While I was fussing with one, trying to get it open, a young Amish man with his straw hat came over and showed me how to open it. I was very impressed. I told him I was on my way to Allenberry but wanted to stop by on my way back. He gave me his card which read "Eli Lapp" with a small drawing of a map to his shop.

On the way back home I tried very hard to find his shop using the map but I wasn't able to do it. Disappointed,I went back to New York.

The following summer Lowell was again back at the Allenberry Playhouse, this time doing Gilbert and Sullivan. So I drove back out to see him. I had saved the map in my wallet, so on the way I tried again to find Mr. Lapp and his cedar chests. Following the map I turned down a side road and saw a humble sign that told me I had found it.

There was a house with a driveway next to it. I went down the driveway to the back where there was a barn with a horse and buggy. There were two little Amish kids sitting on the back porch. When they saw me they jumped up and ran inside. A few moments later here came Eli. I told him about stopping off at the yard sale the year before and about unsuccessfully trying to find his shop. I explained that I was on my way to Allenberry but would like to look at his chests. He opened the door to the barn and we went in to his workshop. The one chest that caught my eye had a sign on it that said "sold." I said it was the one I wanted. He said he had just made another one like it and went into the back to bring it out. I asked him the price. It was very reasonable. Remarkably so. I paid him and the two of us huffed and puffed to get it into the back seat of the Toyota I was driving. It almost didn't fit, but we got it in. He told me had taken doors off of cars to get them in. I said "Yes. I'll bet you have." One wouldn't want to leave one of those chests behind because it didn't fit in a car.

I had many years of pleasure owning that chest. That was decades ago. I don't know if he's still working. I hope so I don't remember the name of the town but if you find yourself in the Pennsylvania Amish area, (Paradise, Bird In Hand, Fertility, Gap), seek out Eli Lapp. You'll be glad you did.

DB
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Lots of sunshine to you.
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Weekend Head Scratcher

Two of the items below do not belong on the list.

Which one's are they and why?

ALAND

ANDORRA

ESTONIA

FAROE ISLANDS

LIECHTENSTEIN

LUXEMBOURG

MONACO

REDONDA

SAN MARINO

SEALAND

SIKKIM

VATICAN

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3 good answers so far.

Good luck.
DB