Category: Uncategorized

Big Brother China

If they try this here, it might be the kind of thing that causes a figurative, if not literal 2nd raid on harpers ferry. In my book, I dream up a fictional surveillance system used by the evil Authority. It tracks people’s spiritual travels after death. Too far fetched? Give it another decade or two.

What he is saying is on the spot.   Wave the American flag in some liberal hotspots of our country and you are called a fascist and probably physically assaulted.   While at the same time, people protesting a brutal authoritarian regime are waving our flag as a symbol of the freedom they aspire to.

How crazy is that?

For me, this demonstrates the success of cultural marxism.  Indeed, we surrendered without a fight.   A silent insurgency took place over the last few decades.  A fifth column subverted our own will to fight by convincing us the battle is not worth fighting.  Look around you and ask how all it came to this.  What massive program is poisoning our minds, day in and day out, about the very foundational benefits of our Republic?   Are the police cracking heads of protestors waving American flags in our country?   No, they are not.  It is our fellow citizens so thoroughly brainwashed that they are blind to the freedoms and benefits they enjoy everyday.   That reality, however, is overcome by the rage of insignificant or distorted narratives fed to them.  Ask yourself who, if any, stand against it.  It would take a brave soul to row their boat against this current.

Well, in my book, I created the Kindred to describe what these citizen soldiers might look like.

 

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”—Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago: an Experiment in Literary Investigation (1974)

 

Over the forty days I hiked the Camino, I met some students from Hong Kong who agreed to circulate my book back home.   I think the raid on Harpers Ferry fails by comparison to the insurgency taking place in Hong Kong.  Certainly, they are up against the mother of all Authorities.

Je souhaite beaucoup de courage au Kindred pour publier des rapports à ce sujet.

I think this video helped me decide which Camino route to hike in 2020.   The Northern coastline is spectacular.

After completing my Camino from St. Jean de Pied a Port to Santiago de Compostela, I celebrated like most pilgrims with close friends I made along the way. Eventually, everyone left to return home to their jobs. Being retired, I struck out for Finistera and Muxia as a continuation of my Camino experience. Its all documented on my YouTube channel called Bardo Patrol.

I returned to Santiago alone and a bit beaten down from hiking a week along the rainy Galicia coastal area. I finally decided to purchase my return ticket home to the States. As it turned out, the first decent flight that was not sold out was 4 days away. So, I had some time to kill. I revisited all the places I had been before, explored a view new ones and eventually decided to go to confession and get my Catholicism back on track. This was easier said than done. Finding an English speaking priest led to to a series of churches and designated times which proved fruitless.

In one particular small chapel, once I realized there was no confession taking place, I just sat down in a pew feeling a bit defeated and despairing. That is when I noticed a small screen playing a slideshow over and over again. Intrigued, I moved closer and started watching. I will start posting the images I snapped of each slide. This simple little presentation which I totally missed when visiting this building to get my Camino credential was incredibly moving and something I want to share with you. Above is the first slide. Meditate on the message for each. It will be worthwhile.

I dreamed of hiking mountains all my life. The most important step I took was to click the key on my computer keyboard that purchased my airline ticket to France. That action committed me to an adventure that opened new horizons. Yes, climbing up high summits was strenuous and a bit scary, but really just next steps from that most critical first step.

I have wanted to try a thru hike of the AT for years.  Wagon Wheel by The Old Crow Medicine Show was always my unofficial anthem for living the experience of walking the length of the Appalachian mountains from Georgia to Maine.  Don’t know why but this song puts me in the mood to put on my backpack and hike.

Even though I have never lived in West Virginia, it feels like home to me.  Who knows why?  Maybe because I have so many memories of my family, friends, as well as, my lonesome self running its rivers, hiking its mountains and drinking in its taverns.  My last trip was with my daughter Shannon.  We had a blast driving backroads (yes, country roads) up to Dolly Sods and then into the small towns of Davis and Thomas.  What made it special was the impromptu gorgeous views that made us stop the Jeep dead in its tracks, get out and take pictures.  Take me home, please!