Ownership

It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness.

Thomas Jefferson
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Unlike the young, which I'm not, I know the difference between popularity and quality. Unlike the educated, which I'm not, I know the difference between logic and reason. Unlike the wealthy, which I'm not, I know how to be rich. So at what corner does that put me on the fly screen of creation? I am simply a poor, old, uneducated vendor of opinions and ideas about politics, religion, aesthetics, ethics and society to which no one famous or influential pays any attention. In other words I'm just like most of the people in the world.

No one from the news media is going to come here and ask me my opinion, what I felt or "what went through" my mind. And that is just as well, because they would most likely get an honest answer, which they won't want.

Managing one's humbleness is a difficult thing considering all the spit balls and javelins life is fond of throwing at us. I don't know how Jefferson found tranquility standing on the trembling ground of forming a new country. I'm sure those men looked forward to retirement more than most of us do today. But if tranquility is one of the steps toward happiness then it is surely something to be desired.

Thom also speaks of occupation. Occupation means not only a profession or the holding of land or office. It also means a calling. I was called to the theatre as a lad and spent close to 50 years as an entertainer. Now, in my retirement, in my ardent but frustrating attempt to find tranquility, I write. I've written over a thousand journal entries, two novels, some short stories and articles. Is that an occupation? If I could ever get past the blocks that keep me from copy writing, find an agent, editor or publisher I may also find my way to tranquility. If my books merely gathered dust on some library shelves at least the occupation part of the equation will have been answered.

I guess whatever it is we do everyday is our occupation. Or is it? We tend to get possessive about the wrong things. Do you have an office job? Do you work at a desk? The desk isn't yours. It belongs to the company. It has been loaned to you to do the work you were hired for. Similarly, the job belongs to the company. If you leave it the company will hire someone else to do it.

I came to understand this years ago in my career. I did not own the role. The producer only hired me to play it. Another actor could do the job. And my life as an artist was not dependant upon that role. I did not possess the role and it did not possess me. The ownership was temporary and my career lay outside of it.

Now I write. I own the computer, the desk and all the words, provided some villain doesn't plagiarize them. But the occupation is reciprocal. I own the words but they also own me. I am occupied by them. That brings me some joy.

I am, however, still working toward the tranquility part.
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DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
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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

13 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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Fading Flowers

Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life.

Thomas Jefferson
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I have often said I believe friendship is the network that holds civilization together. The true value of a friend is something we often take for granted.

Yesterday a friend asked me if I ever get depressed. I didn't identify any particular depression. I don't like depression, it interferes with my attitude, And last night I talked with another friend whom I have known for 40 years. We did several plays together and now we talk on the phone about once every 3 months, but we are good friends. He is going through some dark times and talking with him would tend to depress me. I didn't let it, for his sake as well as mine.

But reading this quote from Jefferson I am pondering my former friends and that is a depressing thing to do. I suppose it's partly due to my vagabond life, always shifting physically, mentally or emotionally, putting down roots, then uprooting myself to move on. But even so I have friends from way back who are still in my life.

People move away, one loses contact, you can't find an address or a phone number and so it goes. I have lost friends because they got married and the wife or husband didn't like me. But the worst is when someone cuts you off without a word, without an explanation and who won't take your calls, leave a message or answer a letter.. There is a man in New York who stopped being my friend because he is convinced I lied to him about an important matter dealing with money. I didn't, but I can't talk to him about it since he will not communicate with me.

As Gertrude Stein put it "Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded."

A friend is one who appreciates you and is happy and complimentary if you do something good. But a friend is also some one who tells you your wrong if you do something wrong. If you didn't like my performance tell me what you think is wrong with it so I can consider it and maybe improve. If you don't like my writing and you're my friend, speak up. If you don't like me and don't want to be my friend say so, don't just disappear down a dark alley. I know what a broken heart is and can deal with it.

Sometimes I want to say "Aw. You can all go to hell!" But I don't mean it. I will always care about the people I care about and those who feel the need to apologize to me don't need to, they've already been forgiven.

DB - The Vagabond
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HELL'S BELLS
Last weekend people had fun with the ball.
This weekend let's play with the bells

The winner is the one who comes up with the most number references using bell or bells. So ring 'em up.
dbdacoba@aol.com

Good luck
DB
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Fear Not

Philosophy is the tool with which to seek and discover religion.

Friedrich Von Schlegel
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I am amazed at otherwise intelligent, rational people who can sacrifice all reason when they enter a church or other religious institution. People will listen with no comment and with some undeserved degree of respect and belief to the ignorant, egregious and often belligerent interpretation of their sacred writings. One religionist is praying for the failure and death of our president, another is advocating burning the books of a different religion, another is molesting children, one is claiming the divine right to turn people out of their homes, another is calling for homosexuals to be hung to death, and another is ordering a woman to be stoned to death for adultery. What madness!

Extreme religious fundamentalism is the scourge of the world and it has become rabid, a pandemic. All religious texts call for love, compassion, charity, forgiveness and brotherliness. But instead of hands of help the brotherhoods and sisterhoods of the earth are holding out sharp claws.

Margaret Thatcher wrote "Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy." I know for a fact that there are many intelligent Christians in this country and elsewhere. Some of the most important philosophers of the past and present have been Christians. They are hardly being heeded today. Instead there is a large group of professing Christians who are buried in a mental tunnel which leads nowhere. They will vehemently claim that this is a Christina nation. Well, it is. It is also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation and a nation of Atheists. Only a non thinker can't understand and accept that.

Ordinary people who can express themselves on their opinions about things back off into the tunnel when the subject of their religion comes up. Well, the Bible says so and so. My Pastor says such and such. I want to ask, "Yes, but what do YOU say?" One doesn't have to throw out one's Bible in order to think for oneself.

Now we are confronted with a silly argument about why the founding fathers never meant there to be a separation between religion and government. Here's the First Amendment to the Constitution
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

How can that be interpreted to mean that Congress is obliged to recognize one particular faith or set of beliefs as the official set for the country any more than it obliges it to allow only a certain set of speeches to be made? Many times I hear someone citing what the founding fathers really meant by the Constitution. An interpretation that is merely an opinion. Here's what Thomas Jefferson, the American philosopher and statesman who wrote that amendment, had to say: "Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

Fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the unexplainable. Fear of difference. Fear of others who are not like us. The unconscious, unacknowledged fear that maybe our faith is not right no matter how many words have been written about it. The deep down hidden fear of offending a God we do not understand. It is safer to hide in the mental tunnel of belief than to face the fears and "question with boldness" the reason for our faith.

Dana Bate - The Vagabond

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Just Journey 7/02/09

Every generation needs a new revolution.

Thomas Jefferson
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Greetings, interesting one.
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Search for ventures and adventures. Revolutions are not made from inventing an entirely new way of life, nor creating a world that doesn't exist, but from exploring the realities of the world we live in and discovering new things about it. The seeds of a new world are already in the ground and putting down roots. It is necessary and well worth it to observe the growth, care for the tender shoots and pull up the old, perennial weeds that would choke them.

Revolutions come from exploring, discovering, adapting and correcting mistakes. ":What ever happened to the good, old days?" They're gone, and these are the good, new days. Or thay can be if we don't try to hold on to ideas that have had their day and are ready for the museum. John Cage said that he didn't understand why people are afraid of new ideas. We should be afraid of the old ones, he said.

There are great things to be learned form the past, to be sure. But why round up a bunch of old cattle and try to sell them as the only healthy herd when you've got calves in the barn. Lyndon Johnson said "We can draw lessons form the past, but we cannot live in it."

And now, here we are, a mere decade into a new century, and we have the opportunity to revolutionize the world into a place with no war, no killing and no development and proliferation of earth destroying nuclear weapons, with the majesty, magnificence and magic of outer space scratching at our door, and the International Space Station doing its arabesque around the globe.

My country, one of the greatest achievements of the human race, though flawed and frustrating, is about to celebrate another year of survival. That is a miracle, considering those who would like to back it up, divide it and deprive it of its essential vitality. On this birthday it's a time to regenerate and revolutionize our thinking , no matter how old we are.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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Smile for me.
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