The Joy of small things!
We as a People Progress or Confusion?
Today as I started my daily walk I noticed my son who works for the cable company pull into the house a couple lots down and diligently pull out his tools to do the job he was called to do. I began to think that at twenty-one he was farther ahead then I was at the same age. He is a good young man, does not drink, is drug free and loves his Mother tremendously and will proudly admit he is a Mamma’s boy. During his childhood and adolescent years he would get interested in something like welding, he would totally apply himself to being the very best welder he could be, then he would loose interest after he Mastered it and move on to archery, automobile racing and rebuilding his cars until he tired of it and moved on to something else. At the time it uses to bug the crap out of me, but he has become a very well rounded versatile young man with many skills.
Then as my mind went racing back I began to see where he had not really progressed far above me at that age, only differently. The reality of my past came rushing back in full vivid color! When I was his age at twenty-one, I had three tours in Vietnam, been married and divorced, and God knows how many drunks I had been on. Not only that but I was a proud Marine!
Times were different; life was a whirlwind when you are a warrior. You expected to fight hard, party hard, and die young. I drove a brand new car, had a new Mobile home, and lots of attitude. Of course in my world I never expected to see nineteen!
Getting back to the walk it is merely a means of survival, I for some unknown reason feel I must be regimented in order to have some validity to my life. I awake in the morning and know I need to collect the laundry, get it started, collect all the trash and take it out, clean the dog kennels, feed and water the outside dogs, play with them a while, then I lift weights for two hours, and walk a couple miles. Insane probably so at age sixty, but it keeps me grounded and centered. Even my Doctor cannot understand since he tells me I should not be able to even get out of bed in the mornings since my lower back is gone, I have metal hips, mesh stomach, and three cancer surgeries. But, when asked how I do it I have to tell them the grace of God, the love of a beautiful woman, intestinal fortitude, and of course the oxycodone helps as well! The offer has been made to fuse my lower back and put me on slow drip morphine as well as shoot steroids in my other joints. I refuse, I can take a couple pills in the morning and at night and still moa forward and be productive, Sure there is always pain but that is significant since without pain I would not know I was alive.
Life was very different and we thought we were doing the right thing, Our country called and we answered the call! Did I understand it no, but I trusted my leaders and did as I believed was the right thing as this is how I was taught. Most of us are free because we were lucky enough to be born in America, many are free because their forefathers took great risks often sacrificing themselves and their well being to get here in the good old America to be able to raise their families in peace without the government telling them what to do, boy! Has that changed! I for one feel we need to regress in order to progress! We need to return to the basics, back to Mom and Pop Shops where they bought local, hired local, and sold local as well as Police their area of operation and physical security. We did not need a paramilitary force to observe and control, we had the local vendors and shop owners policing the area and protecting and serving the citizens. Manners need to be relearned; everyone older was yes or no Mam! Yes or no sir! And everyone considerably older was an Aunty or Uncle. We need to go back to prayer in school and the pledge to the flag of our country, and if that offends anyone then they can always go back to where their family originated from. There was so much from the past that served us well and would still serve us well if we would take those lessons and apply them today. Our lawmakers need to stop listening to the loud and boisterous minority and start to listen to what the silent majority wants! The true issue is the lawmakers give more credence to those that line their pockets and not the silent majority who has been priced out of the voting process!
Yes! Life here in America has changed dramatically, seems we somehow got lost along the way, or is it me that got lost and am still lost?
There are a hundred fifty channels on television vise the three when I was a child, and about four of them are actually any good, at least from my perspective. The Internet has broadened our resources for information to a point where we now have an information overload. Seems the more we learn about something the less we actually know. Although we have progressed to a level where most of our hunting is done at Safeway or some other food store, and we are told that this is somehow more humane. To me it somehow takes away the appreciation for the animal that is giving its’ life so we can have sustenance. There was an inherit respect for the animal that was a sacrifice for our consumption and we would Thank the animal and God above for this great sacrifice. Today we pick up our meats and never think about the great sacrifice. No consideration is given for the poor farmer who diligently works his fields so we can have fruits and vegetables for our diet, or the poor individual that comes over to pick and cut and to provide for our consumption when he struggles to feed his family. Yes life has changed dramatically, and I am personally not so sure for the better, actually I personally think conversely.
We are rapidly losing our social skills, and we being desensitized on a daily basis by shows we choose to watch. Too often the family sits and eats dinner while watching the people on the program perform an autopsy. I think we need to take a god look to see if we have truly progressed or just become complacent in our current state of confusion.
With Love and Respect To all!
Chuck Sanders
You can always come visit me at the Hilo Farmers Market on Wednesdays or Makuu on Sundays!
I recently completed a munuscript on my new upcoming book, it is Titled Lea Princess Warrior. It is about a strong woman that is taken captive and her island paridisc destroyed as is her tribe and their tribal way of life. As I finished it and went back to edit, I become aware that although it was a book about a fictious character it was true to societies yesteryear and today and sadly enough futuristically. Her ultimate goal was to reestablish the Island paridise that exsisted prior to her capture. She did reestablish it but it was not long until the ugly demon greed took over. Initially it was an open community then one person got jealous and demamded monogmy, that casued its own set of problems. Although I too adhee to a monogymous lifestyle, it can and often does lead to possesiveness. Example, I love my wife dearly and know in my heart she is her own person, and that is what I actually fell in love with, but for some reason when we join together as one, we tend to allow the human nature to take over and feel like we own the person and expect, no demand they abide by our dictates. I always thought I was different, but a few days ago my wife decided she was going to get her hair cut and that just went against my gain, who was she to just thnk she could get her hair cut? Well that is just it, it is her hair and I really have no say at what she does with her hair! I of course felt I did as she is my wife and I possessed her. Well time to wqake up, we own no one and it is perfectly in her rights to do as she wants with her hair. After she cut it and I got past the feeling she ignored my desires then I actually looked at it, liked it, and realized she was much more comfortable with it. I had to actually look at myself and see I was becoming possessive and overly demanding,. After a good personal self butt chewing I was able to let it go and put myself in check. THis is something we all need to do, take a good look at how we treat and show our love for those we love and do not suffacate them, Allow them to be themselves, after all that is the person we should have fallen in Love with.
Listed below is a good perspective on the military retirement and this is not just real but vital to the defense of our homeland !
of you will make it, meaning the USA will never have to pay a dime in retirement to 94-percent of you. It is a cruel deal for those who don’t make 20 years; however, it is a sweetheart deal for the U.S. taxpayer. For the troops who do make 20 years, they will have played ‘you-bet-the-best-years-of-your-life,’ and won.” Returning to 2011: Today, due mainly to better battle-field care, 17-percent of the force is making it to the 20-year retirement mark. Even so, 83-percent who have served will never see a dime of their pay that was “deferred” for their retirement. To make the system more “fair,” the Obama Administration proposes to “vest” a reduced amount of retired pay at 10 years of service. Guess what many of those with ten years of service and facing almost certain assignment or reassignment to Afghanistan or Iraq will do? Answer: Take a reduced retirement and leave military service. In 1986, Congress reduced military retirement by 20-percent, undermining retention and readiness so badly that by 1990 Congress had to reverse itself. Predictably, the proposed Obama scheme will devastate retention rates while, at the same time, destroying a system that is more than “fair” to the taxpayers. Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.
Lastly there will be a commissary case lot sale from OCT 7,8, and 9. Don’t miss the opportuinty.If you have an identification card take advantage of it, if we use it it will continue to be and if not we will loose it!
Well, just in case anyone wanted to know, i am still peddling my book Welcome Home Vietnam, it can be purchased on line through amazon.com or barnes and noble.com or at the Makuu market on Sunday directly from me the author or Hilo market on Wednesdays.
WIth much Aloha, Chuck
Seeking Paradise!
I am amazed at how many folks seek a place called Paradise only to find Paradise is only Paradise until you live there. Whatever baggage we carry travels with us. Paradise is a state of mind, not a place.
It is kinda like the old man who searched his whole life for the meaning of life. When he was very old he found he had one more mountain to climb to the peak. Having exhausted all other avenues, he climbed to the very peak of the mountain knowing this was surely the last chance and his last journey to find the meaning of life. Just as he gets to the tip of the mountain, the very peak, he sees a altar, on the altar is a book. He crawls over to the altar and before he can open the book he dies. Years later, a young climber comes across the body of the old dead man, his hands are locked onto the book, as he is slumped over the altar. The young man pries the book from the old mans hands and begins to slowly open the book. As he opens the book he sees that it is a book of mirrors! The old man had searched his whole life trying to find something that was within him all along.
How sad the moral of the story is. He searched so hard and so long trying to find something that was in him and never actually lived life. Sadly enough many of us are like that, we seek so hard looking externally for something that is internal. To truly live that Paradise we need to purge ourselves and flush out the adversity of the past or no matter where we travel we will carry the negativity with us and never find the peace we seek or the paradise we desire. Remember: Oz never gave nothing that was not already there. We have within us all the tools we need but too often we never break them out because we do not realize we have them inside.
New Book Sheds Light on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Through Real Life Stories
Death is often welcome for soldiers who returned from Vietnam because it appears to be the only means of peace within. Knowing that each day could, and in all probability, will be his last, the soldier’s thought process becomes distorted and his animalistic instincts take over and allow for total abandonment of inhibitions. These soldiers answered the nation’s call and they paid the price for the freedoms we as a nation hold dear.
They are also the ones who continue to pay the price for the combat experience and that part of us that died in country.
Had some thoughts last night whaile I was attempting to sleep so I thought I would send them out and share for August
There was this young sergeant in VIetnam that was seriously wounded one night as we were hit hard by enemy forces. This was my Team Leader and my Mentor. As he lay there in severe pain he held my hand and looked up and me and told me that no matter what happens he hoped I would always have just enough. I thought at that time how strange this was for him to say and I really did not understand at the time what he was saying and what he meant.We were from the same geographic area back in the world ( America).
THe medical evacuation helicopter picked him up and I never heard from him again, I sadly enough never heard if he lived or died, I asked, but information was hard to come by in the bush! (Jungles of Vietnam). I fortuantely or unfortunately contingent upon you personal perspective went on and finished out my tour of duty, we served thirteen month tours.
I never thought of the words from my Team Leader or Mnetor until after my tour of duty and a few years later in a rare moment of clarity. THen it hit me like a ton of bricks! Just enough!
I wish you just enough to food to be full but not too much to get bloated and feel sick from overeating therefore forgetting the joy of the food. Just enoughfriends to be able to be a friend and not feel overwhelmed. Just enough adversity to allow me to appreciate the good times. Just enough good times to not feel beaten down by the adversity of the world. Just enough love from another to not take it for granted. Just enough of all my needs and some of my wants not to abuse it and get too comfortable and to where we forget what is going on around us.
I began to realize that when we get too comfortable we loose sight of those who are suffering around us and we begin to take the gifts we have for granted and soon we loose what good fortune we have because we throw it away.
Years ago, there use to be these government funded Mental Hospitals, this is where they housed and treated the folks that had disabilities. Of course given our government overseers they somehow managed to place the mentally retarded in these hospitals as well. Then along came the eighties and the federal government stopped the funding of these hospitals and in the streets went all these folks, Many were Vietnam Veterans and they were on Lithium, prozac and the likes and walking the streets as virtual zoombies, unitl the medication ran out. Then the penal system began to fill up. Aside from that the point i was going to bering up is that these mentally retatrded were constantly smiling, they had nothing and often times sit around half naked, completely oblivious of the presence of others. I began to suspect that just maybe they were the real intelligent ones, maybe they had some special insight or something, life was always good for them even if they were teased and taunted, they just smiled that deep down smile that went all the way to the soul.
As the years passed and I began to mature, I finally started to understand that I would never equal the Master, that sergeant from so long ago. We the student can never equal the Master no matter how far we take whatever the gift, art, skill or what 3ever the Master taught us. We can never equal the Master because had the Master not given us the key to open the wisdom we would never had waked the path and there would have never been the beginning to our success!
If you missed the book signing for Welcome Home Vietnam By Col. Chuck Sanders at Still Life in Hilo on the twenty-fifth of July from1-3Pm don’t fret, we are currently working on a couple others in the Hilo and Puna area of the Big Island Hawaii. I am very THnakful for all those who support me on this book, as all proceeds go to the non-profit to allow us to better serve those in need!