Greyhound

 "I can feel their goodness" I remarked. Their tender, witty, intelligent, tired, odorful selves, selfing along, unaware of my smiles and admiration, I humble and almost embarrassed of their intermittent awe and respect for me. I met an ex-military 20-something who told me all about Kuwait and the Constitution. Talked a good deal with a young amiable (yet mild) Cherokee person coming all the way from central California to Fort Smith, AK, whose grandma practices ancient medicine and who loves heavy metal. A black bus driver who whooped and hollered more than all the passengers put together, and was so kind. A middle-aged lady from Denver in a wheel-chair who loved helping others in her small way. A woman just offered me the rest of her snack after hearing me talk about hunger over the phone with a friend. I found finally and for all the goodness of women and men from all of America. More to come, but this would make a perfect ending

My (then) new friend (turned new love) had made the journey east from Arizona a week prior via greyhound. She gladly spoke of how those who ride that bus are often poor and don't have much, but they have been through so much hardship that the friendships you make on that bus can become lifelong, because they will have your back when need be, and they have compassion. She says she remembers almost no like interactions while riding an airplane, what an insight. I definitely understood that within the first two hours. I also saw the weakness and fragility of humankind. I also remembered a platitude that I had bucked against in the past: that those with money are usually far more moral than those without. Think about how much crime is associated with cities and poor neighborhoods. Think about how homeless are treated like criminals. We in America, and many other other developed nations live in a mindset (which I am confident is shaped by those who everything to gain by preaching such repugnant ideas) where if one isn't consuming or selling, they are of no use to society, and thus deserve exile. You may have heard it as ," if you aren't going to buy anything, please leave," or " you need to get a job so you can contribute to society." As if our income determined our outcome! It is the same mindset that lost trust in some of those I visited in California. Comments such as "why are you bicycling all those hundreds of miles?! Don't you have a car? Its hard for me to be comfortable with that. There seems to be something strange about that," as if low expenditure of money was the product of vice rather than virtue! We are trained to distrust those with little money. "They must be on the run from the law," we might be tempted to think were we to be fooled by those in financial power who would have us worshipping (or otherwise being distracted by) their god The Economy -- all simply because that individual chooses to lay low and have little to no fluid assets. 

I must be upfront and relentless about this, for that is the nature by which the antithesis has been shown me. Of those who would ask how tough it was to do all this in the coldest season, I would reply briefly:

It was the warmest winter of my life.

 As I finish my journey west (far removed from the post date, i finished mid-February) I close this chapter with timeless wisdom that has been written upon my heart since my first motion of this kind in the autumn of '09

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your Heavenly Father knoweth  that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

Lord, I Would Follow Thee

Hello gentle readers,
I wanted to express a few of the thoughts in my mind as of recent.
I found myself in New Mexico, and came to love Albuquerque, the winds blowing the desert grasses along the rolling highlands at the foot of the 10,000 foot mountains, the snow having just been blown away by the sun. I feel my life has begun anew. I feel like the mountain flower, the Acony Bell

Well it makes its home mid the rocks and the rills
Where the snow lies deep on the windy hills
And it tells the world "Why should I wait
This ice and snow is gonna melt away"

 I placed my tent for later, and took a bus back to the northwest side of town. I was talking with the driver, who said that this is a beautiful state. I got to thinking that everywhere I go, that is the consensus: "This land is beautiful!" and if we can almost everywhere say that about the land, why can we not say that about those who eat from, breathe in, and take into their eyes that very earth? While I tend to remain neutral here as far as religious parties goes (though the assumed consensus of common ground is a belief in Jesus Christ), I wish to express some words from one of the leaders of my Church who has since passed. Howard W. Hunter says

After his father became ill, Vern Crowley took responsibility for running the family wrecking yard although he was only fifteen years of age. Some customers occasionally took unfair advantage of the young man, and parts were disappearing from the lot overnight. Vern was angry and vowed to catch someone and make an example of him. Vengeance would be his.

Just after his father had started to recover from his illness, Vern was making his rounds of the yard one night at closing time. It was nearly dark. In a distant corner of the property, he caught sight of someone carrying a large piece of machinery toward the back fence. He ran like a champion athlete and caught the young thief. His first thought was to take out his frustrations with his fists and then drag the boy to the front office and call the police. His heart was full of anger and vengeance. He had caught his thief, and he intended to get his just dues.

Out of nowhere, Vern’s father came along, put his weak and infirm hand on his son’s shoulder, and said, “I see you’re a bit upset, Vern. Can I handle this?” He then walked over to the young would-be thief and put his arm around his shoulder, looked him in the eye for a moment, and said, “Son, tell me, why are you doing this? Why were you trying to steal that transmission?” Then Mr. Crowley started walking toward the office with his arm around the boy, asking questions about the young man’s car problems as they walked. By the time they had arrived at the office, the father said, “Well, I think your clutch is gone and that’s causing your problem.”

In the meantime, Vern was fuming. “Who cares about his clutch?” he thought. “Let’s call the police and get this over with.” But his father just kept talking. “Vern, get him a clutch. Get him a throwout bearing, too. And get him a pressure plate. That should take care of it.” The father handed all of the parts to the young man who had attempted robbery and said, “Take these. And here’s the transmission, too. You don’t have to steal, young man. Just ask for it. There’s a way out of every problem. People are willing to help.”

Brother Vern Crowley said he learned an everlasting lesson in love that day. The young man came back to the lot often. Voluntarily, month by month, he paid for all of the parts Vic Crowley had given him, including the transmission. During those visits he asked Vern why his dad was the way he was and why he did what he did. Vern told him something of their Latter-day Saint beliefs and how much his father loved the Lord and loved people. Eventually the would-be thief was baptized. Vern later said, “It’s hard now to describe the feelings I had and what I went through in that experience. I, too, was young. I had caught my crook. I was going to extract the utmost penalty. But my father taught me a different way.”

He also said that " Those who are filled with the love of Christ do not seek to force others to do better; they inspire others to do better, indeed inspire them to the pursuit of God." I think about that statement, "people are willing to help." I just spent a few days with a family, and each of them were so willing to be kind and assume the best in me. I learn of others I am returning to from back home, how a new friend of mine says that they have nothing but good to say about me. She also tells of her experience riding a Greyhound as opposed to flying:

When you ride the airplane, people don't want to talk to you, they are in their own world. Some of the best friends I've made are on that bus. You talk with some of them, and their lives are so hard, yet they are so willing to reach out and understand you, and they will have your backs

 Indeed, "A friend loveth at all times. And a brother is born for adversity."
I played one of my favorite hymns at church today, which is Lord I Would Follow Thee. One of the lyrics hit me, it sings:

Savior, Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can't see

I think of how we are all fighting a hard battle. We need each other. It took my most of my life to figure that out, but all things are new, and I'm looking forward to what's next.