Re: Greetings to all the Pholks

randyallen@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Hi everyone.
>
> I'm heading to my first gathering in CO(?) this summer, and I've been
> lurking in this group for a while, so I decided to put in my two cents.
> I have minimal experience with the Family, but what I have had is all
> gooood.
>
> I see a lot of black emotions coming out in people as they discuss
> different approaches to gatherings, etc., and I feel compelled to say
> that this type of conflict, well, it CONFLICTS with the modalities of
> All Ways Free, Peace, and the like.
>
> One of the most recent threads that grabbed my attention was a message
> about someone wanting to set up "fees for armbands" at their own
> version of Welcome Home.
>
> I see people responding by challenging this person's perceived notions
> of a Gathering, perhaps even in a derogatory manner at times, and I
> wanted to share a story before speaking to this type of bickering and
> finger-poking that I see here.
>
> I had the idea of joining the Army when I was younger, and it really
> opened my eyes to a lot of things that I might never have thought
> otherwise; ideas about peace and what it really means, people, and
> Babylon, seeing as how the military IS Babylon-Central!!
>
> Anyway, we were in the field for a little over two weeks while I was in
> communication school, and were eating MREs three times a day the entire
> time, and working nearly to death like the Army likes it...
> One day early in the exercise during lunch, the usual trading was going
> on: this guy liked the chicken a la king, this guy liked the chocolate
> bar and so on...well, there was a pack of cocoa drink stuff in every
> meal. Some people LOVED this stuff and practically lived on it in the
> field, and others DESPISED it with a passion. I was watching a fellow
> dood who was, like me, silly enough to do something as stupid as join
> the Army, walking around collecting cocoa packets from anyone who
> didn't want them.
>
> Next thing I know, there are Two guys, and they are standing on top of
> a table like a stock broker on the floor of Wall Street, shouting and
> tossing and catching food packets back and forth all over the place.
> There was a huge crowd at their feet, each vying for the item of their
> choice, trying to best the other. Everyone was really having a ball,
> and most of the time could organize a meal any way they wanted: extra
> desserts, double the entree of choice, you get the idea.
> The funny thing is, at the time, I just remember that I was happy to be
> able to choose my food instead of being stuck with what was in that
> scary brown plastic sac. However, the last day we were in the field,
> the two guys that had taken a stand on picnic tables for three meals a
> day for over two weeks STOOD UP AND BEGAN TOSSING ALL OF THE FOOD OUT
> OF THIS HUGE BOX THEY HAD GATHERED IN "PROFIT"! Not only was this
> really cool to all of us soldiers who scrambled about for the food like
> kids grabbing candy at a parade, laughing harder than we had in WEEKS,
> it also showed me a few things:
> 1. Those guys gave us choice in an environment where we had very little
> from which to choose.
> 2. The slave-labor became easier to accept because we all looked
> forward to "going to the market" at mealtimes. It was beneficial in a
> whole lot of ways...
> 3. Those guys started and economy within an economy, and not only made
> a HUGE profit (of MRE food), but then PASSED IT ALL BACK INTO THE CROWD
> for FREE!!!!
>
> Later on after we had returned from the field exercise and were more
> comfortable back in the barracks, I happened by those guys' room and
> saw a HUGE BOX of chocolate drink packets in a box in his locker.
> Apparently, he was one of those who LOVED it... So not only did they
> pass out a HUGE profit of food for free to the particpants of their
> exchange, but the one dood's apparently ulterior motive was to collect
> a ***-load of this choco-drink he loved so much...
>
> Those events had a profound effect on the way I view society, exchange,
> money, and business...
>
> My main point is this: No matter what is going on in the world, poking
> and prodding at folks who are different or contrary to your perception
> of correctness in the world accomplishes nothing but disrupting the
> very Peace we all seek, meditate on, etc...
>
> There are a lot of things going on around me with which I disagree, but
> no matter what happens, whether you're a soldier out in the field, or a
> hippie at a 'fest, everyone still has to provide for their basic needs
> everyday, and that should take up your time, not prodding at those who
> make you angry.
> If one weaves Peace into JUST the simple tasks of collecting your food
> and water and other basic necessaries, then all your interactions with
> people will spread that energy, and eventually truth and peace will
> overcome, well, modern day life!
>
> It IS possible for those with HUGE differences in opinion to live
> alongside one another. I've never been an activist for that very
> reason. I think activism promotes hostility and accomplishes the
> opposite of peace. I think Living By Example is the only "weapon"
> people have against the establishment. Modern life is filled with
> bull***, and if someone can have their perceptions turned, they just
> might "drop out" of that hypnotic state and start living by their own
> design.
> In the mean time, all people need time to work through it all. I feel
> sorry for the guy who wants to do a huge profiteering scam at the
> gateway to a Peace gathering, but if his intentions are dishonorable,
> then Karma will see to it that the Yang is added to his Yin and he will
> correct himself.
> But MAYBE, just maybe, he will be the guy that, like a couple of
> soldiers on a table, uses "profit" for the greater good, and will still
> have a handsome return for himself in the form of a little profit, a
> peaceful conscience, and a magnanimous spirit of working with each
> other, FOR each other.
> Live by Example, the best example you can manage for yourself, and if
> you see something you don't like, don't disrupt Peace: walk away,
> change the channel, turn the radio off, ANYTHING but sit around and
> start a fight or bad-mouth people for being who they are. If a couple
> of not-so-educated soldiers can bring abundance and peace and
> fulfillment out of a dirty, exhausted Army company eating freeze-dried
> food in the middle of the Georgia forest, then I think free souls could
> accomplish the same thing on a more global level by using those two
> MRE-bartering Soldiers as an example of what can be in society.
>
> Do not hinder your brothers and sisters when they travel down the wrong
> path. They are going that way for a reason, and if that reason is
> unjust, unfair, or in any way wrong for them and their people, then
> removing all the obstacles will help them reach the end of that wrong
> road faster, and back on the Right Road for them. The faster and better
> you can learn a hard lesson, the better all mankind can be, because we
> can then teach others true tolerance and Peace, and maybe, just maybe,
> mankind will be rid of this resource-gobbling, money-hoarding mentality
> and REAL LIFE will return to the people of the Earth Mother and the Sun
> Father.
>
> Be at peace,
> Randy

a very good tale. keep it up and keep the ideas alive. i hope to see you
at this years gather, if not before!

chuck b:-)


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