The Auction

 There I was, standing amongst a complex of metal clad agricultural style buildings being asked, “What do they do here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it is a school.” I answered my eyes moving forward, back upon the auctioneer and what was up for bid.

It was not too long afterward that a young Amish man came up and told me exactly what they do there. It was a metal shop, a dry goods store and a hardware store. They were downsizing, the hardware store closing hence the auction.

And what an auction; trailer upon trailer, three auctioneer trucks, and when I left after five they were still going. I was there from 8:30am, the beginning.

Which begs the question, “Can an auctioneer lose their voice?”

But what was this. I was standing amongst people that let no misunderstanding, misconception go without being corrected. A pleasant experience of coming across good character.

Would you expect anything less but to find people of character in communities that live real lives, centered on a faith in God?

Insights into the interior of Wisconsin… I found the billing for this auction not listed on the Internet, nor broadcast over the radio but on a local grocery store’s billboard as I passed through central Wisconsin. Amongst the fliers for fishing competitions and events at the local rod and gun clubs was posted the notice, “FREE COFFEE AND DONUTS, 7:30 TO 8:30”

In terms of a story, as whole boxes of goods were auctioned off, moving goods at a near unimaginable pace, that long used scenario of a whistle blower being chased and desperate to hide their evidence from their pursuers could not be ignored.

The true benefit of attending events new and unfamiliar is of course the personal experience that expands your understanding of the human condition.

Can you find a starker contrast, stepping away from people looking at screens all day seldom leaving their chairs, than spending the day amongst people making a living based off the land and hard work? Is it a surprise that God is unfamiliar to the former but not the latter?

I was happy I went. Not to much time to write today.

“What did I buy?” you ask.

Some very useful goods.

Thank you for reading.

Always a good read here.

Ignorance

 “Romeo and Juliet”

It is all about the ignorance. Of course any remake disregards the heart wrenching tragedy that makes “Romeo and Juliet” the best known story of any outside of the Bible.

A tragedy universally recognized; and to understand why is wisdom.

I guess people cannot handle tragedy these days. They believe no one should die.

Stay inside so nothing happens… and guess what happens.

One could say Adam and Eve were ignorant. Absolutely ignorant of the intentions of the serpent. I would say ignorant of who they were as God’s children, rulers of all creation, that they would actually believe the deception.

“Oh right Mr. Snake, little servant being. We own it all and you’re trying to tell me God, our Heavenly Parent, is keeping something from us, we His children, His heirs?”

Hard to understand the power of ignorance in a storyline if you belong to a generation that knows everything. Not to mention the significance of the potential ramifications of ignorance.

A truly human story? Chuck full of ramifications and consequences; the most emotional powerful story points of any drama arise from ignorance.

Occam’s Razor? The simplest explanation? It is all ignorance, a deception for some nefarious purpose.

Okay, like always I am most contemplating the condition of our current society.

Do you write a story to meet the expectations of the current society or a social class? I guess you can, or you could attempt to create something known as literature: a lasting artistic merit such as “Romeo and Juliet”.

Ignorance, lies, deception, all too common since the garden.

It will never be left all behind, if the truth we cannot find.

So did I begin March with the laying out of topics for each of my blogs?

I actually did, but with the melting of the snow, the softening of the ground, preparing for the awakening of Spring I have been just too busy to get out but this one post.

Thank you for reading.

Regrouping

No contemplating life, none of the metaphysical today, just a quick post as we transition into Spring. Several transitions going on.

Will I keep writing?

Cannot see how I can stop. I will try to keep a diary, as it is prescribed as valuable to a life of faith. Have kept some journals from time to time and have my blogs, but I lack the power of daily reflection put down on paper.

My December post highlights how beneficial the practice of writing can be.

It is good to write one’s life story.

But what about everything else?

The first week of every month I will title and outline a post for each of my blogs. So I should have more than one blog post a month, though some posts may take a long time to develop to my satisfaction.

Poetry, the sagas based on Chuck Hammer, and my short stories will be the focus for any additional endeavors. My short stories are most likely to be put up for publishing. Competitions may be an option as I do not see me getting large numbers of works put together.

Never got to any kind of writing conference.

Will also review all my Internet accounts related to my writing. Sometimes I think the Internet actually holds us all back.

I find the writing/poetry classes on Masterclass a valuable asset.

Then there is what spell check does to a sentence.

Of course creating a working schedule with my wife, and how much time it takes to manage our multiple income streams, will determine a lot.

Thanks for reading.

Pandora

 I have read a bit of science fiction. Grew up on “Star Trek” and the “Foundation Trilogy.” …It is all getting a bit boring; exploring the darkness of space.

Are writers stealing ideas off each other or simply working off the same theoretical science?

Watched a show called “Pandora”. Super soldiers held in stasis in cargo containers. Think I read that somewhere before, attention Ryk Brown, or is it “The Dune Trilogy”. Does “Star Trek Discovery” owe a certain author credit for battle tactics?

“Pandora” was just full of rip offs.

In a Master Class on writing I have been taking, an emphasis was put on understanding the fables of old as archetypes in story telling. The concept is that it reflects embedded elements of the human psyche that ring true, strike deep chords in one’s heart.

Like Pandora’s Box, the source of all evil and suffering in the world plays out over and over; the suffering and heartache of any subscribed scenario never diminishing.

Are we all doomed to a tragic existence? The product of a terrifying fall?

Salvation and liberation are available to all, as mankind has been lifted out of the darkness step by step. The elements of the process repeat as so many things do in life. The light grows ever brighter.

So what can one say, when climbing out of a life of tragedy, of the unspeakable, one finds they have been betrayed from every direction imaginable?

One says “Hello” as they find themselves in good company.

Good stories; literature comes from the space within.

Thanks for reading.

The Power of Writing

 Is the pen mightier than the sword? Not today’s topic at all.

I recently saw a video listed on YouTube, titled something along the lines, in relation to, expounding on, under the general theme of, how writing is beneficial in organizing your thoughts or brain or something. I did not watch the video.

I started blogging in 2006. “No Sanction”; intended to be a type of sword, and that still is its intent. It was not my first blog, though I had previously thought it was.

I have a tendency to speak truth to power on all my blogs. I question if that is always a good thing.

Funny story, my first blog, centered on my most loved chosen profession of architecture and planning, “Global Imprint” was started months prior to the aforementioned in 2006 because of an opinion piece of mine printed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

I was replying to an article on some planned development in Waukesha county. The paper liked my perspective, at least that was my initial impression, and asked permission to print my letter to the editor so to speak.

The problem was it read so terribly in print. The reply window through which I created my opinion piece on the newspaper’s website, was not big enough to show even a full sentence. Due to a format that hindered any potential to edit, the state of print in which my opinions appeared would have sent any of my past English teachers into a comma. I had no choice but to find a way to correct my errors, not to be misunderstood, my intelligence misrepresented, on a topic near and dear to my heart.

So I started a blog to put forward the edited revised version; to make a better impression.

And here we are now.

“A Dog’s Life”; was started in 2007 over my pursuit of fitness and the appeasement of a long denied desire for competition. If I knew then what I know now I may have given the blog a different title. But it fits I must confess.

I investigated my faith life through my personal writings on “From the Inside”.

“Poker Facades” (entailing another extension of my competitive nature) and this blog, my relationship with God our Heavenly Parent acting as a sounding board, spurred me on to contemplate and evaluate activities and story creations that have not been traditionally considered part of a life of faith.

After all that what has writing done for me?

On a generic level, especially when taking time to step back, to review and to edit, every single grammar lesson I had been given in my youth has come back to me in vivid detail. The horror. I recognize mistakes and problems with my writing more and more frequently because a person in the past, who believed in the proper use of language and its importance, did their best to bore those lessons into my brain. I somehow actually must have been listening.

So the practice of writing opens our mind’s memories to the expanse of time bookended by conception and future.

In the sense of wording, the practice of writing makes you a better communicator. It increases the comprehension with which you present your own thoughts; it enlightens and promotes creativity.

These are my own observations, arising from my personal experience with now fifteen plus years of writing, including works of fiction (see sidebar for links to purchase) and a touch of poetry.

Now we approach the essence of the journey writing takes one on; the path of self realization and the growth that comes with it.

Particularly in works of fiction, one cannot help but adventure through the ins and outs of one’s life, the foundations of one’s imagination and world view.

Which brings me to the point of this contemplation. More than organizing one’s thoughts, beliefs, desires, perspectives, world view, the origins of our imagination and creativity… writing, trying to get out what is inside, opens many doors; reveals many truths to those willing to look inside.

From a humanistic perspective, something I distain, some would call this therapy.

I call it digging into one’s own mind, freeing oneself from the shackles of the world around us; a world that condemns humankind to the imprisonment which ignorance enforces upon the lost.

Know thyself. The truth shall set you free.

God Bless.

Thank you for reading.

Happy 2021!

I encourage you to write in a fashion fitting to yourself. We spend a lot of time on our annual Christmas letter to family and friends for example.

The chronology of my blogs.

“Global Imprint”                        2006 June

“No Sanction”                           2006 September

“It’s a Dog’s Life”                      2007 May

“From the Inside”                      2008 March

“Poker Facades”                       2009 June

“Versus, Haikus and Memoirs”  2009 June

What’s with June?

Okay, I’m done now.

Thanks again. Really done.

I should try to spend a whole week on developing a post rather than just the better part of the waking day.

Yeah. Done.