Paul's Perambulations a personal blog

October 12, 2007

What we lose with war.

Filed under: Peace,Politics — admin @ 3:05 pm

“The fact is that every war suffers a kind of progressive degradation with every month that it continues, because such things as individual liberty and a truthful press are simply not compatible with military efficiency.”

— George Orwell,   Homage to Catalonia, 1938

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”  – Voltaire                                                        

“The great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it.”

“The art of leadership…consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention.” 

Adolf Hitler (both from Mein Kampf)

August 17, 2007

Zen and Backpacking

Filed under: Recreation — admin @ 11:40 am

Getting set for backpacking can be almost Zen.  What’s important in your life?  Do you focus on being prepared for every emergency and carry a fair bit of medical equipment?  Do you focus on nature’s capriciousness and prepare for sudden changes in weather?  Do you carry pounds and pounds of water, because water is what’s essential and natural sources may be inadequate?   Or do you go superlight and trust to speed and agility under those circumstances to get you through?

I could go on.  But look in someone’s pack, and I think you would learn a fair bit about the person.

July 19, 2007

Risk Taking, Not Thrill Seeking (re Backpacking Donut Hole Trail)

Filed under: Family,Recreation — admin @ 6:18 pm

The phrase above is how Fran described herself in her response to my ad on match.com five years ago (see Comment below).   Sounds good, although I may not have fully understood what I was letting myself in for.  I could hardly have preferred it the other way –Thrill Seeing But Not Risk Taking.  That might be eating cotton candy on the boardwalk and riding the roller coaster.  Blaaaa. 

Monday evening we returned from a three-day backpacking trip on the Donut Hole Trail in Sproul State Forest.  I got my dose of “Risk Taking, Not Thrill Seeking.”  The area where we hiked, and the Donut Hole Trail in particular, are described as follows:  “North-central Pennsylvania features the most isolated and expansive forest lands between New York City and Chicago. The experienced backpacker looking for an isolated trail will appreciate the lonely Donut Hole Trail…maintenance may be a problem…with inconsistent blazing…stinging nettles…expansive isolation, deepwoods experience, and the opportunity to witness wildlife” (quoting from Backpacking Pennsylvania, by Mitchell — the backpackers’ bible).  We can confirm that Mitchell speaks the truth.  We were lost twice and (more…)

July 10, 2007

Edith Wharton

Filed under: General — admin @ 10:40 pm

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.“

July 2, 2007

Eating off the land

Filed under: Family,Recreation — admin @ 11:12 pm

Yesterday we went for a walk along Darby Creek near our house, looking for dinner. We found it in the form of such plants as nettles, plantain, daylilies, spicebush, etc. Although these items are usually described as weeds and wild flowers rather than food sources, they are in fact edible if correctly selected and prepared. See the dinner that resulted. (more…)

May 25, 2007

Away from it all, with solo backpacking

Filed under: Recreation — admin @ 4:05 pm

I recently spent three days backpacking  the Tuscarora Trail on Blue Mountain.  I saw no one the whole time and had a great time.  It was pleasant and natural, and everything went well.  But it is curious some of the comments that I received.

  1. “Weren’t you scared?  Someone might attack you.”  Well, the most dangerous part of the trip was the drive getting there (northwest of Carlisle, PA), and next would be doing the errands that were required in preparation.  Why do folks see nature as so inherently scary,  absent the protective veneer of  “civilization?”  A few expressed concern about bears, which is a minimal risk compared to daily life.
  2. “No cell phone. Oh no!”   Somehow, cell phone communication equals civilization and makes everything Okay.
  3. “You didn’t talk to anyone the whole time?”  Well, there was no one else there.  “Didn’t you at least talk to the animals?”  Folks know that I’m a talker, but that doesn’t mean that I hallucinate or discuss things with Mr. Box Turtle.
  4. “Everyone needs a break from their spouse sometime.”  No, that’s not why I went backpacking.  I’d have loved if Fran could have come, but she had to work and I had a bit of free time between submitting semester grades and graduation.  Fran was supportive, and I’d have felt the same for her if the situation had been reversed.

Pictures are available at www.Sheldontimes.com

April 12, 2007

What say you?

Filed under: Peace,Politics — admin @ 10:43 am

This was my posted response to a NYTmes article about the proliferation of hidden cameras in stores (In Bid to Sway Sales, Cameras Track Shoppers) and how this has become acceptable as good business practice:

I sometimes laugh (or cry?) when I recall the concern folks once had about the future as depicted in Brave New World and 1984. That was dictatorship, control, and the Soviet Union (for the ‘50s and ‘60s). Now it’s happening here, and most everyone takes it for granted. A half century ago, there would have been outrage. How truly these books now appear to be predicting our future. Details differ (changes in technology and where the power resides), but the trajectory is unmistakable (post #49). 

Here are some other ideas for consideration:   

We are citizens of the world, and our country is this earth. 

“America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.”  John Updike

“Yes, we love peace, but we are not willing to take wounds for it, as we are for war.” John Andrew Holmes

Does good always triumph over evil?  Only because the winners get to tell the story.

April 11, 2007

Unsuitable for jury duty

Filed under: Peace — admin @ 9:34 pm

The following story serves as a reminder that a particular witness can continue to be a witness far beyond the event itself.  Yesterday I spent the whole day at Media Court House undergoing jury duty selection for a murder trial.  When the judge and attorneys queried me about my answers to some of their form questions, my explanations may have helped de-select me, as follows: (more…)

April 7, 2007

Peace and Photography

Filed under: Peace — admin @ 5:38 pm

Here’s part of an email that I sent Fran regarding this year’s Good Friday demonstration at Lockheed Martin, followed by her reply. In reading this, we should remember that there are many ways that we can contribute to peace.  Each person has their own gifts, which should be used as best they can.  I am grateful that Judith has chosen to use her gift to work for peace in this manner:

Hi Fran,

An interesting thing happened at the demonstration. A lady approached me and gave me her card, Judith Joy Ross. She is some sort of artist and photographer,with a gallery in Bethlehem, PA.  Her plan is to create a photography book of peace activists. She was carrying a huge wood camera that looks like my antique one, except bigger and heavier. There was a suitcase for the film – it takes flat 8×10 separately-cased wood sleeves of b&w film. I signed a release, and then she took much of her film case on me. I was holding a large gong, which I rang at the reading of each name of a Pennsylvanian solder killed in Iraq. Have I acquired the look that I feel? You can google her at “Judith Joy Ross” and see what you get. 

. . . . . . Fran’s Response . . . . .

Oh, Sweetie, she does amazing work. Had a write up in The New York Times just last year; exhibitions and permanent displays at major museums. Wow!

April 5, 2007

NPR interview on not paying taxes for war

Filed under: Peace — admin @ 10:31 pm

I was recently interviewed about my war tax resistance for a JusticeTalking episode on NPR. I had initially questioned my role in doing this interview, because I  felt that the heroic actions of some of my friends represented a more powerful message than my own civil disobedience with the IRS via war tax resistance.  I came to the conclusion that this was an opportunity for me to (more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress