November 09, 2015

More it's not all bad

I want to give a shout out to one of my heroes who happens to be my main yoga teacher, a brave woman who served two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Korea and has suffered for her service. She credits yoga with saving her life. This news story highlights her efforts to bring the healing benefits of yoga to other veterans.

I'm not a veteran but am a lifelong martial artist. The highest compliment I can give to anyone is that he or she has  what is called in Japanese "bushi no nasake"--the tenderness of the warrior. This she has. "The bravest are the tenderest; the loving are the most daring."



November 08, 2015

Life lessons from the VFD

On a longish drive through the country, the Spousal Unit and I were talking about life lessons we learned during our brief buy happy tenure on the local volunteer fire department. Here's my list:

*Candles are evil, conscious beings who want to burn down your house. Really. Unless you're a church, beware. I've seen several fires and much devastation caused by pretty candles.

*Four-wheelers are in the pay of Hades, god of the underworld.

*Try before you pry. In the VFD we had all kinds of cool tools to cut our way into buildings or vehicles. But that doesn't mean we have to use them. Try the simplest thing first before you break out the hardware. Politically speaking, don't assume you have to work at the margins. Sometimes they forget to lock the front door.

*Don't risk a life to save a thing; only risk a life to save a life.

*There is no end to desire. I remember conversations with our guys who were lusting in their hearts for a ladder truck, even though my town is pretty much a two story place.

*Four year olds are right. Firetrucks are cool.

MAKES SENSE TO ME. Here's an op-ed on how WV needs to make it a priority to put its indigenous population back to school.

WANT TO READ SOMETHING WEIRD BUT COOL? Try this.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED