My Empire of Everything - Poem on the Saturday Morn

    It was Saturdays like this, when I awoke or gravitated to the computer

    In Virginia, in Arizona, later in other places

    I did so in California, with no direct television to hamper

    The thoughts and verses, poetic but more prosaic

    

    Waxing on the Empires of my life and soul

    I lay and lie in my bunk, a poor man, yet rich many times over

    Surrounded by others and their wealths and growing empires

    I the eldest, I feel the most blessed

    

    Ranging in fields and cities, blocks and stores

    Of the state capital, my native home state

    Close but far from the cradle from which I hail

    Some say I am obsessed, possessed, overly emphatic of the things 

    Indiana - a part of my empire

    

    Now I have been paid to be here again

    Not to go to the land of hazard pay now, 11 years after,

    But to return to my family and the peaceful burbs of the 

    Greater Capital

    The world knows it after the nomenclature of our first great general

    towns an streets and a state named for him

    I have family and empire in the far state, too

    My boys will go there after the Uintahs of the Rockies,

    Where Teddy Roosevelt used to roam...

    I do not shoot, I do not game, I do not skin captured animals of prey.

    I capture and skin others things.

    I undress the mind, the thoughts, the memories of time and 

    All the empires.

    Michener shows me the Cape of Good Hope and its entrails

    Songs and artists and comedians, officers and teachers share with me

    Their pieces and portions of their kingdoms and realms

    

    All my empire, my world and worlds.

    Yes, on bright and sunny Saturday mornings such as this,

    I wax and wane on the state of the states, 

    I fail an Arabic test once again, in a different place

    Down the hall where hometown heroes and guardians of the state,

    My state, my initial empire

    Are posthumously revered in pictures and tributes

    Some non-combat deaths, most due to hostile acts of our enemies

    Of shares and overlapping empires.

    We share the beaches, the seas, the icebergs and their rivers of glacial ice and snow

    The whales and dolphins cavorting and traipsing,

    Like otters I have witnessed on the other side of the continent

    This my empire

    The Internet, my devices, on which I write, peruse, share

    Extend my knowledge and awareness of the empires galore

    The ever-reaching universe of ideas and powers.

    

    Annie Dilllard does this, did this.

    My daughter, now lettered, if you will, absorbs it too

    Thankfully, happily

    This all of our empire

    The outdoors and indoors

    The treed forests

    The creeks, the glades, the hills

    Talking to my sheriff deputy of Virginia just now,

    A man with whom I have shared some troop time

    Looking at the streets and boroughs, even, at least one

    Trailer park

    Keeping the peace

    These are my empires

    Hoosier

    California Gold

    Missouri ranges

    Virginia rivers

    Florida beaches, and why not South Carolina and Mexico?

    The Middle East, the centers of Asia,

    Moving down to Cape Horn

    An icy island in the North Atlantic

    All that and more,

    Even some Texas.

    Thank you Michener, thank you Dillard, 

    Thank you Lucas,

    For the Shadows and Valleys 

    of our incredible Empire

    Unending, everchanging

    And always the same.

    Remembering the Lost Ones and Remembering not to Join Them

    The older we get the more people that we know personally that have lived and died; we also know more people that have taken their own lives. Sad but true.

    Since December of last year, 2022, I have discussed my colleague and friend Nicholas, who died in that sad fashion that we know and often times plagues us, that of suicide. Every time it happens to someone that I know it triggers a lot of emotions, memories, and thoughts. A lot of people have put a lot of time and effort into campaigns and messages to counter the phenomenon and awful acts of people harming themselves, ultimately resulting in early graves, lives cut short. The rest of us are left to question, ruminate, and stave off similar feelings of apathy, depression, guilt, or hopelessness.

    I just remembered recently that a co-worker from a group died by suicide around 2015. I did not know him well. When I learned of his death back then I thought about some of the interactions that I had with him prior to his passing, which were few. I could picture him walking outside after a brief interchange where I tried to get to know him a little and show some outreach, for lack of a better word. That is how I try to be with people that I work with and that I am associated with. I have held an ecclesiastical position of the priesthood for most or all the years of my life since I was twelve years old. I am commanded by my ultimate Master and His priesthood leaders and disciples to be kind, friendly, and look out for others. My parents and many people of the community, priesthood, church principles or no, have urged the same thing. Be good. Be social. Be a friend.

    Another former friend died by suicide. His name was Ben. I believe that he was alone and felt down. Others after his death regretted that they did not know that he was so close by. I was not far away either, and I wish that I had known of his proximity.

    It can be hard to reach them all. We cannot, I know this. Some people do not want to be "reached". 

Letter Number 16; Began 11 October 2021 Thinking about Money, Power, Life

 Financial Mavericks and Dirt Peasants

Over the years the study and analysis, perhaps the sociology and psychology of economics, within the world of money and power, has been of keen interest to me. The subject brings up a lot thoughts and feelings, many of them hard to qualify or harder to quantify. Many people try and have tried to understand human nature enough to propose their own ideal ways of wealth, or the study of limited resources. I am by no means an expert in such matters, but with my own way of understanding and perceiving power, wealth, opportunity, I wish to add my voice to such things. I feel that even in the process of writing about these subjects I can discover or enlighten myself about these vital issues. Putting pen to paper, as I explicate, explore, and share, I think that I might arrive at some unique or perhaps insightful assessments in regards to how are world is, a planet of people with greater or lesser powers, authorities, freedoms, and privileges.

Some people equate higher wealth with power and freedom. This can certainly be true for many men and some women, and even in some cases children, in our greater world. Those have-nots look at the “haves” as having life easier, that the cards have been suited for the wealthy, the rich, and that the poor and hard laborers are not given an easy suit in order to lives and survive. In the United States and many other modern countries and regions there is a core belief that no matter at what stage economically one starts, through brains and hard work, tenacity and ambition, and perhaps some luck, that one can surge forward and even become extremely successful and wealthy, resulting in freedom and “power”.

Horatio Alger is a name bandied about in such a case, where “rags to riches” stories truly occur. Talent, smarts, relentless effort, dedication, synergy, or a dozen other terms describing dynamic ideas and business acumen resulting in financial or superior productive outcomes is a reality of life that we see in individuals and groups or organizations the world over. And yet there are the majority who do not enjoy such, plus there are those that suffer extreme poverty. Marx had his answers to such dichotomies, as well as hundreds or thousands of other planners, philosophers, and economists. Many politicians, business magnates, city managers or government workers believe that they have the tools to implement such systems of sharing and growing the wealth. We all have opinions, some more informed than others, some more convinced than others, some more adamant than others. Most of us stick to a lane that works, or maybe only partially works, and we follow through life and find some modicum of contentment and achievement through those means. Most people in the United States and elsewhere tend to flourish more as they age, but certainly not all of us. There are plenty of examples of failure and ruin later in life. Death can arrive earlier, too, which outcome is somewhat final for the individual involved, and sometimes for the many who surround the lost one. It depends. Sometimes the passing of a person can bestow much greater resources to others. Most find this ideal.

Ideal or no, we all are thrown in this mix of competition and quest for stability or fortune. What do we do? I feel like I could wax on about this formula with personal anecdotes or observations for a long time, comparing some who studied and advanced in degrees, others who worked hard in the fields where they knew that they flourished, others who tapped into the right markets or systems to allow their business to grow and expand, others who may have invested wisely or serendipitously, and on. Sometimes talent wins the day, like with artists that accomplish notoriety and acclaim, or athletes or other either famous or otherwise successful entrepreneurs.

_____BIG BREAK IN TIME: Now November, Almost the End of 2021____________

Where do these thoughts leave us? I’ll re-read this, possibly for the third time, and try to finish it up. Tomorrow, 3 November, the night of my next Arabic class.

Nope! 6 November. I told my wife about this letter, that I need to finish and send.

Typy typy and click click click.

Move on.

Poverty is all part of the human condition, and governments try to assure that all of us are protected and kept living, to some degree or another. Even China and Iran care about those things.

At the end of the day some of us work harder, are luckier than others, get the right break.

I guess that we can agree that all these factors vary greatly, that all of us need a combination of all these things to make it, to advance, to live freely, to live as we wish or please.

I am grateful to be in or of the United States where we have extraordinary chances and powers to be involved and take part in these processes.

May it ever be so.

THE END.

Heh.