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The Middle Way

~ A journey between extremes

The Middle Way

Category Archives: Memorial

In Memoriam… And it’s time to get to work

06 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Change, Compassion, Ego, Emotional Intelligence, Fear, Healthcare, Heroin, Love, Medical Marijuana, Meditation, Memorial, Middle Way, Music, Open mind, Politics, Recovery, Sameness

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The last few years has been a tough ride for me personally. I lost a brother to an overdose. I lost my mother to cancer. I lost one of my oldest friends, and the best man in my wedding, to Alzheimer’s. There’s also a handful of other major events that would take too long to explain in this particular post. When I look back at every one of those losses, there is a fairly large gap in my blog post history. Who knows why? I suppose it’s one of the ways I don’t deal with grief, by simply ignoring any decent coping mechanism I have for processing it.

A week ago today, I lost one of the most influential people I have ever had the privilege to know and collaborate with. This time the loss is directly relevant to my spiritual well-being, as well as what I write about.

Brian and I met over a decade ago, when he was hired by a friend of his, who was also my boss. A lucky break for me since the same guy had been telling me that I would probably get along really well with his friend Brian. A suggestion that sparked one of the most pivotal relationships in my life.

He was more than just a friend. He was a mentor in a number of areas for me. At other times, he preferred to be the student. It was one the purest definitions of friendship I have ever experienced. For myself, I believe that’s because we recognized ourselves in each other.

Over time, we created and authored a number of blogs that discussed a range of topics. He was one of the few people I can honestly say was able to deliver criticism to me in a way that completely bypassed my defenses, and the need to defend myself from the criticism. He could bypass my defenses and deliver information in a way that made it easy to see his point, simply removing my normal need to save face.

I don’t write because I want to. On most days, it’s more of a need. But, when my ego flairs, writing the type of stuff I do can be painful sometimes. Based on what I know, I suspect that Brian had to learn how to reduce his own ego before he could help anyone else with theirs. I am a far better person today for having known him.

I haven’t used his full name for a few reasons. The first of which is that I haven’t sought any sort of permission from his family to compose a written memorial. But also because I think I knew him well enough to know that, the idea of anyone trying to memorialize him in any way, would have given him the heebie jeebies.

Over the years he pushed me hard to get over myself, and to finally realize some of the projects I wanted to work on. But, like most people, most of it’s blocked by whatever bullshit excuse for a fear that I’d given myself. Each time that he pushed, he was careful to do so in a way that was always most helpful to others, and less likely to focus accolades back on us. In other words, Brian showed me what humility was, from the inside.

…

Okay, so now after having written all of that nice stuff, it also appears that I have also acquired my own glasses-wearing, mustachioed Obi Wan-ghost, wandering around and bugging me that I’ve still got work to do.

You see, I am not trying to memorialize Brian so much as I am trying to write about the passing of a close friend as a way to exercise my own demons. And also to let people know that I plan to change directions with this blog for a little while, if that’s okay (and even if it’s not). This blog was never meant to be a political bitch session. That’s purely a side effect of our current political climate.

I have been working on a series of essays that discuss the current and ongoing change in status that cannabis is experiencing as medicine, as well as how that might affect people in recovery for things like alcoholism.

Because of some of the training I have, both personally and professionally, this is a topic of great personal importance to me. It’s also one that few seem willing to tackle. And it’s here that Brian recently applied his gentle pressure, for me to continue to explore the subject, so that we could continue to help others in whatever way works for them.

My secondary reason for this post is to ask help from the readers: If you know anyone who can be helped by this information, please share it with them, this topic must be a give and take. Like much of our political discourse these days, the medical benefits of things like cannabis are subject to media favoritism. And the popularity of certain methods and medicines, ebbs and flows on public perception. A perception that is largely informed by backdoor deals and lobbying efforts, usually designed to enrich someone else, somewhere else.

What we really should be doing is using the technology we passively browse, and instead push it to increase our own access to information. We need it to help us expand our knowledge of the truth, and about the real efficacy of our medicines, and our politics. And for many who are trying to recover from addiction, helping them to increase the quality of their own internal lives.

Having said all of that, I want to once more thank Brian for everything he was able to teach me (not always such an easy task). And to also let him know that I miss him, and that I love him. Something I’m sure he knew, but I don’t think I got to say out loud.

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The inevitability

25 Saturday Aug 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Compassion, Death, Dingleberries, Emotional Intelligence, Human, Memorial, Middle Way, Patriotism, Revolution, Trump-Hole

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Sadly, John McCain appears to be preparing to leave for his next mission. Like his politics or not, but this is a man who has given his whole life to the service to his country, and by all reports was the epitome of a good person. I think we all owe him more than we realize. I feel like it’s the end of an era. The era of politicians putting country before party.

That’s why I was so dejected when I suddenly realized that after Senator McCain’s passes away (hopefully a long time from now), it’s all but sickenly certain that Donald Trump will do something absolutely classless just so he can hog the limelight back to himself. Even if it’s bad press, it doesn’t matter to him. He has to have it. He damned sure can’t let the news cycle go to someone he disagreed with! Who cares if the man who is dying is a war hero who dedicated his entire life to public service, have you seen the way Trump humps the flag!

It’s like that old saying that I just made up: You never realize how much you enjoy the heavy silence of a church until your uncle in the back, decides to make fart noises with his armpits.

What the actual fuck, Trump?!

28 Monday May 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Dingleberries, Indivisible, Memorial, Middle Way, Patriotism, Revolution, Trump-Hole

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Your Memorial Day Tweet was the most rude, self-serving and disrespectful official Memorial Day messages ever. But your Facebook post should make even you ashamed. You really don’t get it, do you?!

— • —

Yes this is real. Check it out. How can anyone so clueless get this far in the world?

Official responds to shooting by calling for fewer school doors

20 Sunday May 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Change, Conspiracies, Dingleberries, Emotional Intelligence, Guns, Human, Making Sense of Guns, Memorial, Middle Way, Open mind, Revolution, Terrorism

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You don’t get to this level of batshit crazy overnight.

No… You have to spend years consuming a steady diet of nothing but mind-numbing-common-sense-destroying-absolutely-bonkers conspiracies and ideas.

You need years of believing that military exercises are the really the way The New World Order will secretly attack us.

You have to be willing to buy the idea that it’s possible there was a sex ring being run by a goddamn presidential candidate, who was doing it out of the basement of a pizza shop that doesn’t even have a damn basement.

You need to be willing to think the laws of physics cease to exist if someone performs a homosexual act, and therefore hail stones the size of truck-balls will fall in East Butt Munch, Missouri.

You have to be willing to overlook most of reality, and accept the idea that there is a parallel universe, and in it there’s a company where you can actually rent ‘actors’ to play high school students who are willing to get shot at?!

Only after lengthy vomit-inducing diet of this crap, could you really believe that MORE GUNS AND LESS ESCAPE ROUTES IS A GOOD FUCKING IDEA!!! Because, where else can they lay the blame that isn’t on fucking guns?! This time the school even had full active shooter plan, as well as a that NRA magic fix-all, “a good guy with a gun”!

— • — — • — — • — — • — • —

Texas’s lieutenant governor reacted to a deadly school shooting by suggesting schools have too many doors. “We may have to look at the design of our schools moving forward and retrofitting schools that are already built. There are too many entrances and too many exits”, Dan Patrick said during a press conference after a gunman killed at least 10 people at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas.
— Read on www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/texas-shooting-santa-fe-school-doors-dan-patrick-lieutenant-governor-a8358691.html

Love and Sacrifice

19 Saturday May 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Brain Droppings, Emotional Intelligence, Love, Memorial, Middle Way, Open mind, Patriotism, Sameness

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So I’m sitting here watching some of the royal wedding stuff, when they show both William and Harry walking along in uniform. And while I don’t totally ‘get’ royalty, I quickly grasped something completely different from this scene.

It occurred to me that, traditionally the British Monarchy has always laid their lives on the line for their country and crown. In fact, Prince Harry actively fought in Afghanistan through two tours, and was considered a high value target to the enemy. That is as real as it gets. And that is also a sacrifice that many of us understand all too well.

And while Americans like to think we are so much more advanced because we are no longer tied to those barbaric royal traditions, everything is not what it seems.

Sure, we famously spearheaded the ideas of the democracy. We developed radical ideas, such as, we would now trust in our citizenry to defend and run the country. We were no longer willing to trust some out-of-touch royal bum-sniffer, so removed from the struggles of daily life, that they have no clue as to what their subjects have to go through in their daily lives to survive. And worse yet, the same out of touch rulers think it’s only proper that they pass on this power to their clueless heirs.

Except, that’s not really what’s happening, is it?

Instead, as I watch Prince Harry gets married in his military uniform, I can intuitively conclude that this prince who is all the way over in Great Britain has far more in common with everyday people, than President Bone Spurs ever could, or even wants to. Because in America, political power will always get you out of military service, if you don’t want to go.

It seems as though our “representative government” went off the rails somewhere along the way. Instead, this morning millions of Americans spent the early hours of the day, fantasizing that they were somewhere, and maybe even someone else, at least for a few hours.

More death

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Change, Compassion, Conspiracies, Death, Dingleberries, Guns, Human, Islam, Making Sense of Guns, Memorial, Middle Way, Patriotism, Politics, Revolution, Terrorism, Trump-Hole

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At least 10 people are dead, and many more are injured in the latest school shooting in Texas.

I would simply like to ask the Russian funded NRA to tell us again how we aren’t good Americans because we don’t feel as though our children should be in almost as much danger attending school as girls were in Afghanistan under the Taliban… where both the good guys and the bad guys have guns. (Don’t be surprised if they are uncharacteristically quiet this time…)

And I will leave you with the words of this Houston lawmaker: ‘Y’all been sending thoughts and prayers for two freaking decades’ — Read on m.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/article/Santa-Fe-mass-shooting-Texas-Houston-thoughts-and-12925436.php

A family tree with some intertwining roots

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Brain Droppings, Change, Dandelion Break, Emotional Intelligence, Human, Love, Memorial, Middle Way

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At some point I’m pretty sure Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have had a talk that went something like this:

MM: “Oh my God, I’m so embarrassed that the media is dragging all of my family skeletons out of the closet where everyone can see them. I’m so sorry Hank!”

PH: “Oh no! Don’t give it another thought Love! Me Great Grandaddy once subjugated an entire continent! I mean c’mon, it doesn’t get much more bloody awful than that! And who knows how many of me own ancestors married their relatives just hold on to the crown jewels? I mean, the family jewels they should have been worried about were the ones that were producing the next generation of heirs. You can’t overshadow the Royal Family when it comes to embarrassing families m’love!”

a moment of silence…

14 Monday May 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Ego, Islam, Memorial, Middle Way, Terrorism, Trump-Hole

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I just wanted to take a moment to honor the scores of Palestinians that were gunned down by Israeli soldiers today while they were protesting the United States opening its new embassy in Jerusalem.

Donald Trump has blood on his hands, not that I think that bothers him. He strikes me as a guy who has 2 emotions: Rage, and conceit. The rest of us don’t matter.

What is most heartbreaking about the massacre is that it was done for no other reason than that Trump just wanted to pocket some future votes with his base.

And so, 55 were killed today. How many of them had families? Does the Dear Leader bother to think about the fact that he, without a doubt, to also dedicate their lives to hating, and killing Israelis and Americans for years to come.

Good work on helping to keep Americans safe in the world, you dolt.

Not all heroes wear capes

05 Saturday May 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in Change, Compassion, Conspiracies, Dingleberries, Emotional Intelligence, First Amendment, Human, Indivisible, Memorial, Middle Way, Patriotism, Politics, Revolution, Terrorism, Trump-Hole

≈ 1 Comment

If you’ve been following that “witch hunt” of an investigation into the whole Trump/Russia whatchamahoozit, then you know there was a meeting in Trump Tower back in June of 2016.

And you probably also heard about Don Jr.’s explanation as to why the meeting was no big deal. “They just wanted to talk about adoptions”, he explained.

Only adoptions? That’s odd…

If this meeting was the Russia’s only chance before the election to sneak in a “big ticket request” to the Trump campaign, why the hell would they pick the adoption of Russian orphans’?

Why indeed.

You may remember that back in 2012, Russia banned Americans from being able to adopt orphans out of Russia. There was a bunch of news stories at the time on the subject, but none of them really explained what it was all about. And what the hell do those Russian orphans have to do with the 2016 presidential election? Why did they target Donald Trump’s campaign with this request?

You’ve probably heard about the Magnitsky Act in the news, but do you know what that is? Do you know the whole story?

The person that really needs to tell this story is the man who lived it, Bill Browder. So at this point I’m going to ask you to click on the below link. It will take you to the webpage for “Stay Tuned with Preet”. On there, Preet interviews Browder on that story, and on how all of these things all fit together.

Take the time to give it a listen. Don’t only wont you won’t you regret it, you won’t be able to look at the Trump/Russia scandal the same way ever again. Share this with others. Get this story out. This is who we’re really dealing with.

The Death of Sergei Magnitsky

Farewell Karl Kassel

18 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by themiddlewaythrough in First Amendment, Memorial, Middle Way

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If I had to pick how I am remembered, it would be as a voicemail prize on a show about ridiculous news.

NPR Newscaster Carl Kasell Dies At 84, After A Lifelong Career On-Air : NPR
— Read on www.npr.org/2018/04/17/528656453/npr-newscaster-carl-kasell-dies-at-84-after-a-lifelong-career-on-air

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