Just shy of Santa Barbara, the team finds itself well minded and vigorous.
Buellton had proven itself hospitible and we were able to feast at the local Senior Center, where the local folk gather once a month to appreciate one another. Community Solidarity that swells beyond the limits of class distinction is coming to the forefront of my observations.
I have recently been manta-izing this thought:
The smaller the town the bigger the heart and the bigger the city, the smaller the heart.
And I ruminate on this all the time. On the one hand, it is an attractive type of thought, yet like all things unifies, reveals a negative truth, and though the truth, as we are reading it to be (at the time) may be distasteful to one's conceptions, we must still utilize that energy.
This will be covered in the piece I am working on now.
So, we got a ride into town, by a really nice fella (thanks MIKE MK64) and we have feasted for 2 nights, and covered some ground. Now it is up to the OTHER ONES (note: not "the other").
As usual, we will see what this town is like, together, Liberty and I....
A small exceprt from my forth coming pamphlet, called.....
Re-Greening Veterans:
An approach to Post-deployment Life and the radicalization of US Armed Forces Veterans
It is time for the men and women who have returned home from the military to think about the role they played by supporting US militarism, and the opportunities to heal themselves from the “damage” they may have done or suffered. One of the things that this author had to endure after service was the sort of shocking realization that America appeared far different that it had prior to my departure. The difficulties of post deployment life vary from each individual, and for many who may have had an unremarkable service record, such as myself, the difficulties and stress of military life had a negative impact on my development as a young person. The constant “existential stress” of my particular unit and duty stations (in Honduras and Germany respectively) created a very agitated state of mind, and consequentially, the many disciplinary problems I encountered only cemented a latent mistrust and disdain for authority.
This paper is not written for the patriotic veteran getting 100% from the VA and still waving a flag, thinking America is still just apple pie, football and Mom. This paper is for the fuckwit, the loser, the bum, the startled kid coping with nightmares he thought the video games and movies would have prepared him for. It is for the veteran who is lost in the bureaucratic no-mans’ land of the VA that refuses to consider that it is not just combat that wrecks peoples minds, but simply the militarization of ones life, the forced halt of normal teen development, or the unfortunate veteran who suffers from PTSD from a training accident or some incident that prevented them from graduating boot camp yet still irrevocably damaged their lives.
This paper is written by a veteran who as yet does not qualify for VA benefits because my time in service is not an officially recognized combat period, even though I was shot at by other human beings, and my return fire may have killed other human beings. You see, the “Drug War” I was involved in was eclipsed by the bombing of Panama. The Establishment doesn’t consider the period of the “Cold War”, they considered it peace time. Yes, the 15 years between Viet Nam and Desert Storm were the only period of peace in our country. Not quite.
There is never peace, anywhere, with the US government running amok from the sands of the Middle East to the cities of our own nation, with violent police crack downs on peaceful anti war demonstrations and movements, with unending racism and poverty, the only peace we can hope to achieve is within our selves, and we can turn this inner peace into outward expressions of love and beauty, and POLITICAL POWER.
Through the techniques of Direct Action and community organizing we can participate in the struggle to get our nation back on track domestically, and reduce the hellish footprint we leave wherever our abused and abusive military might has planted a flag in OUR name.