TAROT ARCHETYPES: The Fool's Journey; a Metaphor of My Passage Through Life by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

The Fool's Journey

The Fool's Journey is a metaphor for the journey through life. Each major arcana card stands for a stage on that journey - an experience that a person must incorporate to realize his wholeness. These 22 descriptions are based on the keywords for each major arcana card. A card's number is in parentheses.

The Fool

We begin with the Fool (0), a card of beginnings. The Fool stands for each of us as we begin our journey of life. He is a fool because only a simple soul has the innocent faith to undertake such a journey with all its hazards and pain.

At the start of his trip, the Fool is a newborn - fresh, open and spontaneous. The figure on Card 0 has his arms flung wide, and his head held high. He is ready to embrace whatever comes his way, but he is also oblivious to the cliff edge he is about to cross. The Fool is unaware of the hardships he will face as he ventures out to learn the lessons of the world.

The Fool stands somewhat outside the rest of the major arcana. Zero is an unusual number. It rests in the exact middle of the number system - poised between the positive and negative. At birth, the Fool is set in the middle of his own individual universe. He is strangely empty (as is zero), but imbued with a desire to go forth and learn. This undertaking would seem to be folly, but is it?


The Magician and the High Priestess

On setting out, the Fool immediately encounters the Magician (1) and the High Priestess (2) - the great balancing forces that make up the perceived world. It is a feature of the material universe that as soon as we name some aspect of the experience, we automatically evoke its opposite.

The Magician is the positive side. He represents the active, masculine power of creative impulse. He is also our conscious awareness. The Magician is the force that allows us to impact the world through a concentration of individual will and power. The High Priestess is the negative side. She is the mysterious unconscious. She provides the fertile ground in which creative events occur. The High Priestess is our unrealized potential waiting for an active principle to bring it to expression.

The terms positive and negative do not imply "good" and "bad." These are human distinctions that do not apply in the tarot. The Magician and the High Priestess are absolutely equal in value and importance. Each is necessary for balance. We may view the negative as our Shadow, but without shadows, we cannot see the light, and without a ground of potential, we cannot create.

The Empress

As he grows, the Fool becomes more and more aware of his surroundings. As with most babies, he first recognizes his Mother - the warm, loving woman who nourishes and cares for him. He also comes to know Mother Earth, who nurtures him in a larger sense.

The Empress (3) represents the world of nature and sensation. A baby delights in exploring everything he touches, tastes, and smells. He cannot get enough of the sights and sounds that enchant his senses. It is natural to delight in the abundant goodness of Mother Earth who surrounds us with her support.

The Emperor

The next person the Fool encounters is the Father in the figure of the Emperor (4). He is the representative of structure and authority. As a baby leaves his mother's arms, he learns that there are patterns to his world. Objects respond in predictable ways that can be explored. The child experiences a new kind of pleasure that comes from discovering order.

The Fool also encounters rules. He learns that his will is not always paramount and there are certain behaviors necessary for his well-being. There are people in authority who will enforce such guidelines. These restrictions can be frustrating, but, through the patient direction of the Father, the Fool begins to understand their purpose.

The Hierophant

Eventually, the Fool ventures out of his home into the wider world. He is exposed to the beliefs and traditions of his culture and begins his formal education. The Hierophant (5) represents the organized belief systems that begin to surround and inform the growing child.

A Hierophant is someone who interprets arcane knowledge and mysteries. On Card 5 we see a religious figure blessing two acolytes. Perhaps he is inducting them into church membership. Although this image is religious, it is really a symbol for initiations of all kinds.

The child is trained in all the practices of his society and becomes part of a particular culture and worldview. He learns to identify with a group and discovers a sense of belonging. He enjoys learning the customs of his society and showing how well he can conform to them.

The Lovers

Eventually, the Fool faces two new challenges. He experiences the powerful urge for sexual union with another person. Before, he was mainly self-centered. Now he feels the balancing tendency, pictured in the Lovers (6), to reach out and become half of a loving partnership. He yearns for relationship.

The Fool also needs to decide upon his own beliefs. It is well enough to conform while he learns and grows, but at some point, he must determine his own values if he is to be true to himself. He must start to question received opinion.

The Chariot

By the time the Fool becomes an adult, he has a strong identity and a certain mastery over himself. Through discipline and will-power, he has developed an inner control which allows him to triumph over his environment.

The Chariot (7) represents the vigorous ego that is the Fool's crowning achievement so far. On Card 7, we see a proud, commanding figure riding victoriously through his world. He is in visible control of himself and all he surveys. For the moment, the Fool's assertive success is all he might wish, and he feels a certain self-satisfaction. His is the assured confidence of youth.

Strength

Over time, life presents the Fool with new challenges, some that cause suffering and disillusionment. He has many occasions to draw on the quality of Strength (8). He is pressed to develop his courage and resolve and find the heart to keep going despite setbacks.

The Fool also discovers the quiet attributes of patience and tolerance. He realizes the willful command of the Chariot must be tempered by kindliness and the softer power of a loving approach. At times, intense passions surface, just when the Fool thought he had everything, including himself, under control.

Hermit

Sooner or later, the Fool is led to ask himself the age-old question "Why?" He becomes absorbed with the search for answers, not from idle curiosity, but out of a deeply felt need to find out why people live if only to suffer and die. The Hermit (9) represents the need to find deeper truth.

The Fool begins to look inward, trying to understand his feelings and motivations. The sensual world holds less attraction for him, and he seeks moments of solitude away from the frantic activity of society. In time he may seek a teacher or guide who can give him advice and direction.

Wheel of Fortune

After much soul-searching, the Fool begins to see how everything connects. He has a vision of the world's wondrous design; its intricate patterns and cycles. The Wheel of Fortune (10) is a symbol of the mysterious universe whose parts work together in harmony. When the Fool glimpses the beauty and order of the world if only briefly, he finds some of the answers he is seeking.

Sometimes his experiences seem to be the work of fate. A chance encounter or miraculous occurrence begins the process of change. The Fool may recognize his destiny in the sequence of events that led him to this turning point. Having been solitary, he feels ready for movement and action again. His perspective is wider, and he sees himself within the grander scheme of a universal plan. His sense of purpose is restored.

Justice

The Fool must now decide what this vision means to him personally. He looks back over his life to trace the cause-and-effect relationships that have brought him to this point. He takes responsibility for his past actions so he can make amends and ensure a more honest course for the future. The demands of Justice (11) must be served so that he can wipe the slate clean.

This is a time of decision for the Fool. He is making important choices. Will he remain true to his insights, or will he slip back into an easier, more unaware existence that closes off further growth?

Hanged Man

Undaunted, the Fool pushes on. He is determined to realize his vision, but he finds life is not so easily tamed. Sooner or later, he encounters his personal cross - an experience that seems too difficult to endure. This overwhelming challenge humbles him until he has no choice but to give up and let go.

At first, the Fool feels defeated and lost. He believes he has sacrificed everything, but from the depths, he learns an amazing truth. He finds that when he relinquishes his struggle for control, everything begins to work as it should. By becoming open and vulnerable, the Fool discovers the miraculous support of his Inner Self. He learns to surrender to his experiences, rather than fighting them. He feels a surprising joy and begins to flow with life.

The Fool feels suspended in a timeless moment, free of urgency and pressure. In truth, his world has been turned upside-down. The Fool is the Hanged Man (12), apparently martyred, but actually serene and at peace.

Death

The Fool now begins to eliminate old habits and tired approaches. He cuts out nonessentials because he appreciates the basics of life. He goes through endings as he puts the outgrown aspects of his life behind him. His process may seem like dying because it is the death (13) of his familiar self to allow for the growth of a new one. At times this inexorable change seems to be crushing the Fool, but eventually, he rises up to discover that death is not a permanent state. It is simply a transition to a new, more fulfilling way of life.

Temperance

Since embracing the Hermit, the Fool has swung wildly back and forth on an emotional pendulum. Now, he realizes the balancing stability of temperance (14). He discovers true poise and equilibrium. By experiencing the extremes, he has come to appreciate moderation. The Fool has combined all aspects of himself into a centered whole that glows with health and well-being. How graceful and soft is the angel on Card 14 compared to the powerful but rigid ruler in the Chariot (Card 7)? [Note] The Fool has come a long way in realizing a harmonious life.

Devil

The Fool has his health, peace of mind, and graceful composure. What more could he need? On everyday terms, not much, but the Fool is courageous and continues to pursue the deepest levels of his being. He soon comes face to face with the Devil (15).

The Devil is not an evil, sinister figure residing outside of us. He is the knot of ignorance and hopelessness lodged within each of us at some level. The seductive attractions of the material bind us so compellingly that we often do not even realize our slavery to them.

We live in a limited range of experiences, unaware of the glorious world that is our true heritage. The couple on Card 15 are chained, but acquiescent. They could so easily free themselves, but they do not even apprehend their bondage. [Note] They look like the Lovers, but are unaware that their love is circumscribed within a narrow range. The price of this ignorance is an inner core of despair.

Tower

How can the Fool free himself from the Devil? Can he root out his influence? The Fool may only find release through the sudden change represented by the Tower (16). The Tower is the ego fortress each of us has built around his beautiful inner core. Gray, cold and rock-hard, this fortress seems to protect but is really a prison.

Sometimes only a monumental crisis can generate enough power to smash the walls of the Tower. On Card 16 we see an enlightening bolt striking this building. It has ejected the occupants who seem to be tumbling to their deaths. The crown indicates they were once proud rulers; now they are humbled by a force stronger than they.

The Fool may need such a severe shakeup if he is to free himself, but the resulting revelation makes the painful experience worthwhile. The dark despair is blasted away in an instant, and the light of truth is free to shine down.

Star

The Fool is suffused with a serene calm. The beautiful images on the Star (17) attest to this tranquility. The woman pictured on Card 17 is naked, her soul no longer hidden behind any disguise. Radiant stars shine in a cloudless sky serving as a beacon of hope and inspiration.

The Fool is blessed with a trust that completely replaces the negative energies of the Devil. His faith in himself and the future is restored. He is filled with joy and his one wish is to share it generously with the rest of the world. His heart is open, and his love pours out freely. This peace after the storm is a magical moment for the Fool.

Moon

What effect could spoil this perfect calm? Is there another challenge for the Fool? In fact, it is his bliss that makes him vulnerable to the illusions of the Moon (18). The Fool's joy is a feeling state. His positive emotions are not yet subject to mental clarity. In his dreamy condition, the Fool is susceptible to fantasy, distortion, and a false picture of the truth.

The Moon stimulates the creative imagination. It opens the way for bizarre and beautiful thoughts to bubble up from the unconscious, but deep-seated fears and anxieties also arise. These experiences may cause the Fool to feel lost and bewildered.

Sun

It is the lucid clarity of the Sun (19) that directs the Fool's imagination. The Sun's illumination shines in all the hidden places. It dispels the clouds of confusion and fear. It enlightens, so the Fool both feels and understands the goodness of the world.

Now, he enjoys vibrant energy and enthusiasm. The Star's openness has solidified into an expansive assurance. The Fool is the naked babe pictured on Card 19, riding out joyously to face a new day. No challenge is too daunting. The Fool feels a radiant vitality. He becomes involved in grand undertakings as he draws to himself everything he needs. He is able to realize his greatness.

Judgment

The Fool has been reborn. His false, ego-self has been shed, allowing his radiant, true self to manifest. He has discovered that joy, not fear, is at life's center.

The Fool feels absolved. He forgives himself and others, knowing that his real self is pure and good. He may regret past mistakes, but he knows they were due to the ignorance of his true nature. He feels cleansed and refreshed, ready to start anew.

It is time for the Fool to make a deeper Judgement (20) about his life. His own personal day of reckoning has arrived. Since he now sees himself truly, he can make the necessary decisions about the future. He can choose wisely which values to cherish, and which to discard.

The angel on Card 20 is the Fool's Higher Self calling him to rise up and fulfill his promise. He discovers his true vocation - his reason for entering this life. Doubts and hesitations vanish, and he is ready to follow his dream.

World

The Fool reenters the World (21), but this time with a more complete understanding. He has integrated all the disparate parts of himself and achieved wholeness. He has reached a new level of happiness and fulfillment.

The Fool experiences life as full and meaningful. The future is filled with infinite promise. In line with his personal calling, he becomes actively involved in the world. He renders service by sharing his unique gifts and talents and finds that he prospers at whatever he attempts. Because he acts from inner certainty, the whole world conspires to see that his efforts are rewarded. His accomplishments are many.

So the Fool's Journey was not so foolish after all. Through perseverance and honesty, he reestablished the spontaneous courage that first impelled him on his search for Self, but now he is fully aware of his place in the world. This cycle is over, but, the Fool will never stop growing. Soon he will be ready to begin a new journey that will lead him to ever greater levels of understanding.

THE PREDATOR WITHIN by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

We are prisoners of a PREDATOR!

What follows is the gist of Dan Juan's Final Lesson, the revelation of the Ultimate Secret, to Carlos Castañeda.

Before the nagual, the Guardian Spirit of the Shaman Don Juan, entered into the Active Side of Infinity, he imparted a secret knowledge to his apprentice sorcerer, anthropologist Carlos Castañeda—a secret knowledge so horrifying that he could not reveal it until he, himself, was about to cross that threshold into the unknown.

"We are prisoners of a PREDATOR!"

This predator which, of course, is an inorganic being, is not altogether invisible to us, as other inorganic beings are, I think as children we do see it and decide it's so horrific that we don't want to think about it.

The old shamans discovered that the entire universe is composed of twin forces, forces that are at the same time opposed and complementary to each other. It is inescapable that our world is a twin world. Its opposite and complementary world is one populated by beings that have awareness, but not an organism. For this reason, the old shamans called them inorganic beings.

If you pay close attention at night to the darkness of the foliage without focusing your eyes, but sort of look at it from the corner of your eye, you will see a fleeting shadow crossing your field of vision.

We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don't do so.

There is an explanation for this which is the simplest explanation in the world. They took over because we are food for them, and they squeeze us mercilessly because we are their sustenance. Just as we rear chickens in chicken coops, the predators rear us in human coops. Therefore, their food is always available to them.

In order to keep us obedient and meek and weak, the predators engaged themselves in a stupendous maneuver — stupendous, of course, from the point of view of a fighting strategist. A horrendous maneuver from the point of view of those who suffer it. They gave us their mind! Do you hear me? The predators give us their mind, which becomes our mind.

Sorcerers see infant human beings as strange, luminous balls of energy, covered from the top to the bottom with a glowing coat, something like a plastic cover that is adjusted tightly over their cocoon of energy. That glowing coat of awareness is what the predators consume, and when a human being reaches adulthood, all that is left of that glowing coat of awareness is a narrow fringe that goes from the ground to the top of the toes. That fringe permits mankind to continue living, but only barely.

There's nothing that you and I can do about it.

What I'm saying is that what we have against us is not a simple predator. It is very smart, and organized. It follows a methodical system to render us useless. Man, the magical being that he is destined to be, is no longer magical. He's an average piece of meat. There are no more dreams for man but the dreams of an animal who is being raised to become a piece of meat: trite, conventional, imbecilic.

The predator is not something benevolent. It is enormously heavy, gross, indifferent. You can feel its disregard for us. Doubtless, it has crushed us ages ago, making us weak, vulnerable, and docile.

The Predator's mind will say to you that this is pure nonsense, and then the same mind will agree with its own proposition, "Yes, of course, it is nonsense," you will say. That's the way they overcome us.

We are energetic probes created by the universe, and it's because we are possessors of energy that has awareness that we are the means by which the universe becomes aware of itself. The predators are the implacable challengers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN

HAPPY 28TH BIRTHDAY DAN.

Twenty-eight years old. What a wonderful age to be. In many ways I feel honored that God entrusted me, with my shit background, to be your Dad, and to make damned sure you didn't get any black marks on you.

Reviewing all your outstanding achievements and accomplishments, throughout your life, I can see in you the grade God has given me. You are proof that I made sure you got the very best teachers, in all things for you, especially in how to fight any kind of fight and how to win the fight every time.

When the other fathers conspired among themselves to "sic" their bully older teenage kids on you, when you were only 8 years old, they always did it in such a way that I could not interfere. That is why, to be fair, I would not let their fathers interfere when you started kicking the living shit out of their kids.

Let's face it, since they made the challenge, they could hardly beg their fathers to come to their rescue from you. Not with me around.

I have also seen you show mercy when you had your opponent in submission; like when you won the Junior Olympic Boxing Championship, for both New York and New Jersey, and when you saw that your opponent could not continue, you let him surrender, with honor, grateful for your compassion.

I wrote this some time back with you uppermost in my thoughts. What it lacks in poetic brilliance, I tried to say it "like it is."



The Fighting Man
by Dad

There is a man who walks among us, the most respected of us all;
He is not the politician nor the guy who bats a ball.
He is not the teacher or doctor, the scientist or the priest;
And certainly not the critic, that pusillanimous beast.
No! It is the Man of True Authority, the One we love and revere;
The One who reigns in His own Light, the One we hold so dear.
Cowards honor the diplomat, whose words inspire flight,
Substituting dishonorable wrong in place of honorable right.
We are for that Fighting Man, that One who is standing tall,
Whose courage, strength, and love for us brings Freedom to us all.
--

With all my love,
Dad

THE FIFTH GOSPEL by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

"I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land." - Ecclesiastes 10:7

Several years have passed between my first and second readings of Carlos Castañeda's "The Active Side of Infinity."

Recapitulation, i.e., reviewing the significant events of my life, has brought me face to face with my "Usher," The Experience of August 1973, when the Ally/Companion/Parasite/Foreign Installation became self-aware and realized that it was he to whom the Man/Prisoner/Host prayed as his god.

["When Buddy dies, he hits the ground and rots. But where do I go? All these years he's been praying to me as his god. I'm the one who's been restraining him. If it weren't for me trying to remain hidden, he'd be the King of the Beasts in the Natural order of things."]

Cognizant that it was he who kept the Man from his rightful role in the natural order of things as King of the Beasts, out of love, he cut the Silver Cord that bound them together and the Freed Man, Steve Savage, was loosed among the Symbiotes.

His mortality gave him absolute power.
When he dies, you all die!

"'Noli me Tangere' or I will destroy your abode and cast you out upon the 'Dark Sea' to wander upon the face of the earth forever as an Impotent Intangible." The foxes have holes; the birds have nests, but the Son of Man/Ally/Foreign Installation has no place to rest his head.

Thank you, Carlos Castañeda (Aranha) for this most important work. The Bell of Truth rings in every man. To those for whom this bell tolls, listen and read THE ACTIVE SIDE OF INFINITY. Practice discipline and cast off your yokes.

Join me as a Warrior on the Path. 

THE "MOTHER" CHURCH by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL, PICTURED HERE, IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF THE FEMALE FORM IN GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

All that exists is a metaphor of the first "Container-Contained" relationship; the "Ayn Soph" and the "Ayn" of "Ayn Soph Aur," the Male and Female Archetypes of the First Polarity, continuously manifesting themselves in ever-increasing complexity in a myriad of forms, whose absolute value, while remaining constant, appears as something else in its Relative Manifestation.

By way of numerical example: 2/4, 4/8, 25/50, 40/80, 60/120, 500/1,000, 10,000/20,000, ad infinitum, all have the absolute value of "1/2," the perception of which is obfuscated by relative magnitude.

By abstraction, Man unconsciously creates his existence/environment in his own image and likeness. Sound familiar?

The Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame, pictured above, is a classic example of Man algebraically transmogrifying the Human Female Form of the equation into its Architectural Female Form.

LET'S ENTER THE CATHEDRAL

As we approach the Western Facade of the Church, picture the structure as a supine female, i.e., lying on her back in the position she would be in if receiving a pelvic examination. The Two Towers, then, from the top down, would represent her knees and lower legs.

The center entranceway is an almost exact anatomical representation of the Vulva, including Prepuce, Meatus Labium Majus, Labium Minus, Vestibule, and Vaginal Opening.

The "Vaginal Opening"/Doorway leads into the interior of the Church via the Nave, which is the analog of the Vagina itself.

As you approach the Altar, you can see that the Nave is constructed in the form of a Cross. The major transverse part of this body of the church crossing the Nave, at right angles, is called the Transept, the analog of the Fallopian Tubes. One side is called St. Mary's; the other is called St. Joseph's. Earlier churches required that girls would sit on St. Mary's side; boys would sit on St. Joseph's side. These are the analogs of the Ovaries. Before modern medicine, it was believed that one ovary produced female eggs, the other only male.

The Altar Railing is the analog of the Cervix, both of which permit limited access to the Forbidden Zone, the Tabernacle/Uterus.

Crossing the Railing, entering the Forbidden Zone to the Altar, you encounter the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, the analog of the Uterus, the place where the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Communion, the "Ovum," is kept.

The bringing of the Sacred Host to the Altar Railing by the Priest is the analog of Ovulation.

The word "Host" comes from the Latin "hostia," which means "victim" or "sacrificial animal."

The "Host" represents the "Body of Christ," but not His "Life." It is unleavened bread, which means no yeast, no life, no spirit, to raise it up. It is Dead. It is lifeless. So too, is the Water only Water before Christ makes it Wine, i.e., "Blood."

The Host, "matter," "mater," Mother," "Ovum," is not transubstantiated, i.e., "Fertilized," until it comes in contact with Jesus, the Male Principle.

That Male Principle is the Life within us. Who is Jesus? He's Us. It is we who animate the clay, move the dirt, give it substance and form.

Going to Church, the Divine Brothel, and receiving Holy Communion is metaphorical Copulation and Conception. So be sure to give generously when they pass the Basket.

THE RESURRECTION by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

LA RESURREZIONE sculpted by Pericle Fazzini
(Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

This twenty-meter-wide brass and bronze sculpture behind the current Pope, Benedict XVI, is located in the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall which was completed in 1971.

The Official Vatican spin on this horrifyingly evil appearing sculpture, supposedly in the words of Fazzini, who is no longer among the living to confirm it, is that "Christ rises from this crater torn open by a nuclear bomb; an atrocious explosion, a vortex of violence and energy."

If this is, indeed, a modern depiction of the Resurrection of Christ, why then does it bear such a bizarre alien chthonic resemblance to a demonic, Satanic image?

(Ambiguous images or reversible figures are visual forms that create ambiguity by exploiting graphical similarities and other properties of visual system interpretation between two or more distinct image forms.)

Why is the word "Christ" noticeably absent from the name of the sculpture? Just who is it, really, that is shown being "Resurrected" here?

This is very reminiscent of both:

1. Scientology Doctrine:

"Seventy-five million years ago the emperor of the Galactic Federation, a despot named Xenu, solved overpopulation on his planet by freezing its inhabitants, shipping them to Earth in spacecraft resembling DC-8s, and dropped them into volcanoes in Hawaii and other places. He then detonated the volcanoes with atomic bombs and captured the suddenly-disembodied Thetans with an electronic device."


and, 2. The Book of Revelation, Chapter 20:

1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that, he must be loosed a little season.
-------------
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Are we about to see the flip side of who it was that died for us, that put us forever in His debt?

A MAJOR CHANGE HAS TAKEN PLACE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SINCE THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN PAUL I, SEPTEMBER 28, 1978.

Click on this link below and read:

FALSE PRETENSES TO OBTAIN YOUR SOULS

MYSTERIOUS IMAGE DISCOVERED IN "MURDERED" POPE'S VIDEO by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

Because the circumstances surrounding the death of Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul the First, are obscure, if not obfuscated, to say the least; and, because of an unexplained supernatural experience I had that connected me to this holy man, I continue to look for anything that will help me to understand why I have lived this mystical life.

Today, while reviewing the YouTube video, below, which I added to my Playlists sometime back, I discovered something so strange that I was moved to publish it here for you to see.

If anyone knows for certain what that image is, or has some idea of what it may be, please leave a comment.

Below the video are links to four related posts.

To see the image to which I am referring,

STOP THE VIDEO AT PRECISELY 00:58 SECONDS

The last days of Johannes Paulus I (Albino Luciani 1978)


"Pope John Paul I, Exiled to Anonymity" by Steve Savage


A certain smile, a certain face, can lead an unsuspecting heart on a merry chase


My Book Review of Lucien Gregoire's "Murder in the Vatican"

Below is the link to Amazon.com for those who wish to buy Lucien Gregoire's latest, updated 4th Edition. Here for the first time is the proof of how John Paul I, and those around him, fell victim to twentieth century capitalism as it was jointly embraced by the Vatican and the United States.

Murder in the Vatican: The Revolutionary Life of John Paul and The CIA, Opus Dei and the 1978 Murders

SPECIAL NOTE: click on "comments" and read the very interesting submission by Donald Lee Hardy.

"FOR WHOM DOES THE BELL TOLL?" by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

I don't see too many "SUPPORT OUR TROOP" stickers anymore. They're not really selling, except mostly online, and then only families and friends of those serving are buying them—the Law of Supply and Demand at work.

As far as American Flags go, "I mean fuggedaboutit." The neighborhood houses are all flying their Seasonal Flags.

Then again, who among us will dare to peep through the Keyhole on the Door of Apathy we've erected, trying so desperately to insulate ourselves from the "Great War" and to block the "Great War's" view of us?

In my "Spiritual Experience" (for want of a better name) where I saw the maddening, horrific violence at the Experiential Boundary where "Infinite-Force Existence" and "Infinite-Resistance Existence" meet, i.e., where Immortality is locked in Eternal Conflict with Itself, I "felt-knew" that the further one is removed from the "Front Lines," so to speak, the more blissfully unaware one is of what it is that is actually maintaining the structure-function relationships we perceive as Reality.

We are unmindful of the Heroic Warrior Beings on either side of "The Clash of the Titans," who are as on conveyor belts moving toward a ravenous, insatiable, fiery, all-devouring Mouth that is the Furnace of Hell. That "Meeting Place," that "War Zone," is the Destiny that patiently awaits all of us.

We have become as corpses on a ghost ship, lulled into complacency and indifference by the tintinnabulation of the bells on some unknown distant shore. Our tranquil sailing upon the River of Time's Cool Waters will soon turn into a nightmarish, desperate "Shooting of Molten Lava Rapids," as we are rushed headlong toward the Falls of Annihilation.

As we near the Brink, we will find ourselves no longer asleep, but awakened as Warriors, because that faint "tintinnabulation" which delighted us so long ago, will reveal itself as the Clanging Bell of Hell inexorably calling us to fight for our Being.

"Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

LESSONS I LEARNED FROM MY FATHER: A Fathers Day Tribute To "Dad"

"Tell us what lesson it is your father taught you that has influenced your life and helped you to become the man or woman you are today."

Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"
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A SON'S TRIBUTE TO HIS FATHER, STEVE SAVAGE "KING OF THE BEASTS'
by your son, Dan

(I did this as a poem to honor the poet.)

The lessons you taught me are too numerous to mention
So I’ll start with a few that came to my attention

As a young boy I knew I had
The strongest, smartest, most handsome Dad

Who carried himself with dignity and pride
I was lucky to have as my coach and my guide

You made sure if I stumbled I got back up
Because in order to succeed you have to be tough

Strength and Intelligence, Wisdom and Courage
You always taught me the power of these words

You encouraged me to do my very best
In everything I do and nothing less

A supportive father in all that I did
It meant so much, especially as a kid

Thank you for being at every game
Even the practices cheering my name

I learned what it is to be a great man
By watching you write your daily plan

Praying to God for my actions each day
For Guidance and Understanding to show me the way

So that I could live an honorable life
Good to my children and kind to my wife

Now I can see what I have become
Because the son is in the father, and the father in the son

When I am a Father I hope I can be
As great a Dad as you are to me

The greatest Father a son could have
Thank you so much, I love you Dad


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MY FATHER
by Jaci Anton

YOUR LOVE HAS TAUGHT ME RESPECT AND STRENGTH FROM ALL YOU'VE HAD TO GIVE;

YOUR LESSONS OF LIFE AND DAILY STRUGGLES HAVE TAUGHT ME HOW TO LIVE.

YOU'VE BORNE SO MUCH THROUGHOUT THE YEARS AND STILL YOU STAND YOUR GROUND;

THROUGH MY TIMES OF NEED I AM THANKFUL JUST TO HAVE YOU AROUND.

YOU'VE SHOWN ME HOW TO DEAL THE CARDS WHEN LIFE PUTS ME TO THE TEST,

AND ALWAYS KEEP MY HEAD UP HIGH AND NOT SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST.

THE YEARS HAVE MADE ME INTO WHO I AM TODAY,

I THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE YOU GAVE AND HELPED TO LEAD THE WAY.

I WISH YOU ALL THE LOVE MY HEART CAN HOLD,

BEYOND THE DAYS WHEN I, TOO, GROW OLD.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO MY FATHER, DONALD G. ANTON.

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MY FATHER
by Matt Anton

My Dad taught me the powerful lesson of not letting others influence your life.

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MY FATHER
by April Doring

My father; Walter R. Winston served in the United States Army for twenty one years. Throughout his service he accomplished great feats and endured many experiences.
Walter R. Winston was living in Syracuse, NY at the age of eighteen, before he entered the United States Army in 1949. Unlike in today’s military, he didn’t have his GED until after he was signed up into the Army. Winston went to basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky. During the Korean War; Walter volunteered to go over to Korea twice, but his request was never accepted. Instead; in 1950 they sent him over to Germany, where they were still recovering from World War II. Walter was assigned to a post at the iron curtain; which he had to patrol. While patrolling, the first people to crash through the iron curtain came through. They took these people to their post where they stayed, soon more people came through. After a while Walter and his fleet couldn’t even eat at their own mess hall because of all the people who came through the iron curtain. For his first four years in the military he was in Germany. In 1953, his father was pressuring him to get out of the military and come and work with him and his company. He got out of the Army for one year to work with his father; painting. In 1954 he re-enlisted back in to the Army and was sent to Iceland, but not before he met my mother, Yvonne. Yvonne and Walter didn’t marry until 1956; after his year tour in Iceland. When he returned to the states to marry Yvonne, he got assigned to Fort Dix as a drill inductor for the basic military training. During his time as a drill instructor in 1957, Yvonne had their first child - me. He was an instructor for one year, and then re-enlisted out of the infantry and into electronics. He was sent to Fort Monmouth for electronic school for nine months. He graduated top in his class and they gave him his first choice of station; Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, they couldn’t use him in Massachusetts so he was sent up to Loring Air Force Base in Maine. While in Maine; Walter and Yvonne had their first son in 1960. After their son was born they left Maine and went to Fort Heath, Massachusetts, and stayed there for four years. Then in 1964 the whole family went to Germany; where it was more restored at this time. They stayed in Germany for two years, and in 1966 they went back to Fort Monmouth. Walter was assigned as an instructor for the basics of electronics. He developed a program and put the lessons on IBM cards that were then inserted into computers. By developing this, students were able to come in and learn the lessons on the computer. In 1971 Walter retired and then joined the post office for twenty two years. He is now officially retired and resides in Neptune, New Jersey.

The story of my father’s time line through his military career is both interesting and intriguing to me. My father has accomplished a lot in his life, and during an important time in history. The two most important tasks were the patrolling of the iron curtain and the development of his program on the computers. Not every one in the military gets to witness people crashing through a wall built by the government.

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MY FATHER
by Hank Fey

I guess the greatest thing I learned from my father, Henry Fey, Sr., was how to be a decent person and being able to make friends easily. Something he could not do. He was an extremely intelligent man who gave his knowledge out in little pieces as though he was giving away his life. I learned most of what I wound of doing for a living in the basement of our west Philadelphia row house. Watching him make toy trains out of tin cans or building radios and playing with his lathe when he was not there. Most jobs around the house he would start, than become supervisor as he showed me how to put down a porch floor or thread some pipe. I guess I will never forget how great the anticipation of setting up the Christmas tree and trains were every year. Something everyone in our family still does. As I look back now I learned a hell of a lot more than I thought I did, My father passed away just after I got out of the service a time when we were just getting to really know each other.He had to be doing something right to raise four kids who all turned out to go on to good careers and have children who turned out fine and have his very creative mind right down though the great grand children.

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MY FATHER
by Joe Gillam

My Dad was a storybook guy. A WW II vet who went back to college after the war. Supported us and put himself through The Ohio State University School of Vet Med by cutting wheat in the west in the summer. He took his mustering out money and bought a couple of trucks and combines and headed west. He got school permission to be back late for the fall quarter so he could finish the season.

He would start in Texas, then follow the harvest north all the way to Canada. His half way point would be Cheyenne, WY. He plotted his route so he would be there for the big rodeo, "Cheyenne Days". And, to tighten up his purse a bit he did calf roping and bronco busting. Always walking away with some prize money.

He graduated, but never practiced Vet Medicine a day in his life. His love was farming. He took his funds, and along with the help of both of my grandfathers he bought a farm.

We grew up on the farm in a small Ohio farm community. Didn't even have keys to the house in those days. Old skeleton key locks and the keys had been gone for many years.

He was 5-09 but tough as nails. In those days we had house to house deliveries. The laundry man, about 6-04, got out of line one day with my mother. Dad told him to leave and the fool drew back for a swing. When Dad was done with him we carried him to his laundry truck, threw him in, and it sat there for over an hour until he came to.

The big event in those days was high school basket ball. My Dad had been on the state champ team in school but was too short for OSU. We would go to the games and as the teams warmed up us kids would hang around the foul lines waiting to catch a ball and throw it back when the team was warming up. Dad hollered to me from his bleacher seat about 10 rows up to throw him the next ball I caught. I tossed it up to him and he did a swish shot from a good sixty feet. My hero.

We were looking at some cattle to buy one time and a steer broke and across the field. Dad jumped on some guys horse, chased the steer and jumped and wrestled it to the ground. Just for the hell of it!

He taught me to drive, balance a check book, do math, read and work on the farm. We didn't have three cross words in our whole life

I still don't know if he was my Dad or my partner. I think of him every day, and father's day is so special to me. Not for what my kids do for me, but I will take a long walk alone and relive those years when I was Oh So Lucky.

Thanks for letting me live it again............Joe

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MY FATHER
by John Gonzales

I wish I could send something, but in all actuality I'm like many of the others whose fathers were non-existent. In all my life I lived with my father for 5-6 years. Even as an adult I tried to learn something from him but found that he was a self centered person who only thought of himself. His sole words of encouragement that I can ever recall were, "You're young, good looking, born here, speak English, you have it made." So he was never someone who I could look up to.

Like many others I took the experience of not have a positive role model to become a good, proud father to my own kids in spite of what I lacked as a child. I take the time to talk to my son and daughter, tell them I love them and to let them know that I may not be perfect but I will always be at their side. I've often thought of influential people in my life and I can honestly say that no one person stands out. I've been an observer to see the type of behavior I would want to emulate. Fortunately I've observed good examples that I was able to learn from, and the bad examples that I had the foresight to discard.

That is a good way of looking at things and it lends to my own philosophy of learning from others mistakes. That was the lesson that I did learn from my father, to be the best father as humanely possible to my own children. You're right, I didn't say hate, because I don't hate him. Hate is too strong an emotion to toss around carelessly. That is one emotion that only serves to destroy oneself and those that should be truly loved. In spite of everything, a person has to look at themselves and ask, "what difference can I make in this world and with the ones I love.

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MY FATHER
by Don Hardy

My Dad passed away in 2000. I'd like here to relate a few of the ways he not only influenced me but also everyone who knew him.

Robert Dale Hardy grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming but migrated to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas when he graduated from High School. Shortly after arriving he managed to find a job as a ditch digger with the Power Company. He was soon promoted to apprentice lineman but was unable to go further as he was drafted for WWII. He met my Mother around this time and they were wed before he left for the Army.
Dad spent a short time in the Infantry and then was accepted to OCS. He spent time in the China Burma India area and rose to the rank of Captain. By 1944 he was back in the U.S. and assigned to the Signal Corps School at Fort Monmouth, N.J. I was born while he was there. (Twenty Eight years later I was also assigned to the 241st MP Company at Fort Monmouth as a Staff Sergeant)

My earliest memories were of him after he was discharged and back working for the power company. During the war, the power company was unable to get material so in the early '50s they went into a total rebuild mode, tearing out all the old poles and cross arms, etc. He made a deal to get several loads of poles and cross arms dropped on an acre of land he bought and from them he built our house. His normal day was up before the sun, walk to work, climb poles all day then come home, eat, pick up his hand tools and lantern and walk to the house. He built that house by himself with hand tools. The poles and cross arms were cut with a cross cut saw. He'd do this every day, six days a week and would have worked on Sunday if Mother hadn't objected. He was in a hurry because he was certain that he'd be recalled for Korea because among other things he was a Chinese linguist. He wanted Mother and I to have a house to live in if he had to go.

When I was about ten or so, the men in town decided to build a little league ball park. One fine Saturday morning we drove in his pickup over to the site and found several young engineers from the power company and Highway Department, all wearing white shirts and ties, sitting on the partially constructed bleachers with slide rules out plotting how to stake the fence. The fence was to be built in an arc, 400' from home plate. Dad got out of his pickup, looked at the suits with disgust and grabbed a steel stake, eight foot two by four and a coil of wire plus a bundle of wooden stakes and mallet. He then proceeded to drive the steel stake in the center of home plate and tied the end of the wire coil there. He'd measured out the wire so we uncoiled it out to 400' and using it as a huge compass began to drive stake at eight foot intervals along the proposed fence line using the two by four as a spacer guide. It took us less than an hour to finish and as we walked back towards the suits one of them said, "Oh, Bob! Here's the plan for where to stake the fence." He said he'd already taken care of that chore and suggested that they go dig post holes. Of course they all figured out somewhere they needed to be out of the sun and we dug two foot holes and set 4X4s all day. Dad went on to become an electrical engineer by taking ICS courses and sitting for the state board exam. He stayed with the power company for 40 years retiring as Distribution Superintendent for the Laredo, Texas District an area about the size of Oklahoma.

Throughout his life he continued to amaze me with his grit and intellect and I learned many, many life lessons from him.

In 1996 he was diagnosed with a form of fatal cancer and they told him they could keep him alive for a year or so with chemo treatments. (He actually made four more years) He drove home and started work on a three room addition to his house in San Antonio. The chemo made him feel like he had the flu for ten days out of each month and he had very little energy but he got a lawn chair and set in the middle of his last project. He only felt like working about ten or fifteen minutes out of each hour but he use the rest of the hour trying to figure out how to make his work minutes more effective. I offered to help but he wouldn't hear it. He said the project was keeping him alive and in fact died within a year after he finished.
I couldn' figure out how to fit this in but still wanted to tell the story. In '67 I was an MP Platoon Sergeant in Asmara, Ethiopia. My platoon was alerted that we needed to prepare to go to Aden to assist the American Embassy folks evacuate. This was about the time of the Seven Days War and we evidently were the nearest troops with a Combat MOS.

In the midst of packing our combat gear and loading magazines for our weapons mail call came. To my surprise I got a letter from him. I'd been in the Army for a while then and never received a letter from him. It just wasn't his way. I knew nothing was wrong as back then you got bad new from the Red Cross so I wondered what the hell was going on. When I got the letter opened out came a note in his scrawl, "Boy, get yourself circumcized, they are heading your way".
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MY FATHER
by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

There is no Birth Record of my Father, DAKOTA JIM. At the age of one year, in 1912, He was abducted from His Father by His Mother. He was then abandoned by her in Hill City, South Dakota, in the Heart of the Black Hills (Paha Sapa); the Mystical Badlands of the Great Oglala Lakota Sioux Indian Nation, to someone my Father referred to only as "Uncle Harry."

Although He was of Welsh-English descent, it was here, in the sacred tribal lands of the Black Hills, that He was initiated in the Ancient Ways of the great Lakota Sioux Warriors whose ancestors include the Legendary Warrior Chiefs: Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake), Red Cloud (Makhpiya Luta), and Crazy Horse (T‘ašunka Witko).

The middle initial "F" in His name stands for "Frieborn," but it could just as well have stood for "Fear," because he was Fear incarnated as a Man. He had a Fierce Countenance, a powerful arresting stare, that caused whomever it was that fell into his gaze, to cringe in submission like a dog before an Alpha Wolf.

The whole house would shake from his presence whenever he entered it. I, and whoever it was who was there with me, at the time, shook in resonance along with everything else around us that cowered before Him, not daring to look up at Him lest, God forbid, our eyes should meet.

No one ever dared to challenge Him or disrespect Him in any way. He was a Dangerous Man; a Living Cage of Flesh and Bone whose Prisoner was a barely restrained Ferocious Beast, the Spirit of the Great Wolf. Everyone knew it was there, but it was revealed to no one but me. He did not like to be touched, and especially would not allow anyone to put their hands on Him with intentions to do harm. If anyone dared to do so, I don't believe He would have allowed that Disrespecter to live — knowing my Father as I do.

He was the Strongest, most Intelligent, Moral, Principled Man of anyone I've ever known. He was the Unwritten Law.

He loved my Mother and was faithful to her.

The last enemy on the Path of the Warrior is Aging; the unyielding, unrelenting desire to quit, to give up. In its War of Attrition against the Warrior, it tragically robs Him of His Substance, His Dignity, His Grace, His Power, His Magnificent Presence, until only the virtual image of who He was remains as a projection of His Self Remembrance.

I visited Him in the hospital the night He died, in 1981, the last of our family to see Him conscious. He was 69 years old. It was late and the last train was to leave at midnight. When I told Him I had to leave, to go home to Anna and Danny, and that if I miss the train, the next one wouldn't be until morning, He said to me, "You can go now. You've done your duty."

I don't know why I was unable to accept the Final Scene that was being played out before me or why I insisted to Him, as I prepared to leave, that it was not a "duty;" that I was there because He was my Father and wanted to be there with Him.

Before leaving, I told Him I loved Him, words that I had somehow, in recent years, summoned the courage to begin saying to Him, kissed His forehead, and left.

He must have known that His time was at hand and didn't want to openly ask me to stay; though I see now, through today's eyes, that was the choice He hoped I would make - the choice I so regret for not having made.

That decision to leave weighs very heavily upon me to this day.

He lost consciousness soon after I left that night; His body kept alive, His Spirit shackled, by a life support system that fought to keep Him in His Past. I was alone in the room with Him before they removed the respirator. Because hearing is the last sense to leave the Body, I bent down, kissed His forehead, and whispered in His ear that if He wanted to continue to live within me or my sons, he could — and He does.

I was unable to stem my flow of tears at His wake because that Chief of Chiefs, who was my Father, who taught me the Master Lesson, solely by His Example, had died. I was now the senior male of our kind.

That Master Lesson I learned is:

"Honor thy Father in all thy ways; remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed."

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MY SIX FATHERS
by Roger Whiles

June 24, this year I will be sixty-one years old, older and wiser than when I came into this world. My father was fifty years old and my mother was forty-one the year I was born and by then they had moved the family to Cincinnati. The family consisted of my four older sisters, who were all married except one, when I appeared on the scene. Mom and Dad were from a spot in south central Kentucky called Bethel Ridge. Not long after I was born my Dad slipped on some ice while carrying me into the house. Turns out this was the start of his fight with multiple myeloma, or bone cancer as it’s more commonly known. Dad fought this battle until I was in my sixth year. He was in and out of the hospital, going here and there for treatments and doing his job as a life insurance salesman. Dad was also part of a gospel quartet that sang at our church each Sunday and also on the radio each week. He kept me by his side as much as possible; always introducing me to everyone he met. Then that day came in 1954, when my oldest sister tenderly took me in her arms and told me that our Dad would not be coming home. He was now in a place of no sorrow or pain, he is with God. When I was in my late thirties one of the elderly ladies of the church told me that she remembered listening to my Dad sing on the radio. What a blessing that was thirty years after his death. Don’t feel sorry for me, because I have been blessed with five other men that included me in their families.

There was the gentle giant, as I like to call him, Thomas Ranshaw. A Marine who saw battle in the pacific during the big war, he could make you shake in your boots with just his voice. Yet he had the gentleness to comfort a six year old boy that had a nightmare about his deceased father. He had the kindness to include me when he bought his two sons baseball gloves. He had the willingness to work with me and teach me how to throw a baseball. He also had the compassion to take me to church with him. By now I understood more and, as a result, accepted Jesus into my heart as my Savior. This giant went on to be with the Lord in 1980, but not until he touched many more souls through his Sunday school lessons and activities.

There was the business one, George Frentsos, who married my youngest sister shortly after our father passed. He was very different from the others; he had a college degree and was of Greek descent. What a different view he had of events. My mother and I lived with them in a duplex home for several years after Dad died. From him I learned the value of things, how to save money, and how to cut the grass of a big yard quickly, how to work. He took me to my first professional baseball game at the old Crosley Field. He went on to be with the Lord in 1989, leaving behind six great boys; I mean young men, some of who held world records in swimming.

There was the one I call the Good Samaritan, Jack Klette, who was married to my third sister. He came into my life as I was hitting my teens. It was a time when I needed to develop respect and character, which I was not doing, even as a saved individual. He was the voice of understanding and guidance that I needed. He taught me a trade, he showed me how to be understanding, and he taught me by example how to be a loving person. He taught me the game of golf and some day I will beat him. When he went on to be with the Lord in 1983, there were as many young people at his funeral as older because he was always willing to listen not only to his children and their peers, but to all of us.

This brings me to my only surviving brother-in-law, George Kessinger, the quiet one. He retired to Florida after driving Roadway trucks for twenty years in Ohio. He has led by example all of these years, as my other brother-in-laws have passed he has been there for support. When my “Good Samaritan,” Jack Klette, became ill with cancer George helped him get around and they became a golfing twosome to beat. When he retired they allowed my mother to move with them. When she passed he was there providing her care and attention. He taught me to shoot trap or skeet when I was a teenager. He, like my other brothers-in-law is a veteran, a man who in his late teens and/or early twenties served this country in a war for mankind. He continues to show me how to live my life on a daily basis.

There is one more father I must identify, a person that I have only known for my last thirty-seven years, my father-in-law, John Hood. He has taken me into his family, worked with me on home projects, and provided me with day-to-day advice. He has been with me at the birth of both my children, and helped me give my daughter away at her wedding. He has shown me how to garden and how to do house repairs.

So, you see I truly have been blessed by having the “fathers” that I have had. There is a little of each of these men in me and I’m proud of it. My biggest hope is that these men are as proud of me as I am of them. Yes, I would have loved to had more time with my father, but that is not the hand I was dealt. I believe that God dealt me a great hand, a hand that let me share in some great men’s lives.

It does take a family to raise a child and you my never know the impact that your actions will have. I believe that memories are made with actions, and without any action there will not be memories. Happy Fathers Day to all that read this, and God bless you.

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MY FATHER
by Bob Young

My Dad, Harold Young, was a farmer for most of his life and worked for Shell Oil repairing and installing service station equipment and bulk plants. Not a very big man in height, but a strong man anyway. He was a very gentle man who liked to play catch in the yard on a summer day to wind down. He worked hard all his life and had little to show for it other than our home which he paid off. Back in the fifties we went through the recession but he always provided for us.

One day when we were working together, he got to talking about someone who had cheated him on a job he had done for them. He wasn’t happy about it by any means, but took it rather stoically.

He told me to treat everyone as I would want them to treat me. To treat my elders with all the respect that an elder deserved. To treat a man with the respect I would want him to show me and to treat a lady like a lady. Of course he added, you would learn from this, not all elders were truly worthy of your respect, not all men were trustworthy, and not all ladies were really ladies. But, until you found out differently, you treated everyone, with the respect and kindness you yourself would want. And never blindly accept anyone just on first appearances.

He also told me it was not hard to be that type of person, but it was easier to fail to live up to be that person.

So all my life I have treated people like I would like to be treated until they gave me a reason to treat them otherwise or to be leery of them. As a cop of 34 years, I tried to up hold that and when I was a sergeant with the Sheriff’s Office I told the Deputies who worked for me that that was what I expected out of them.

I found I didn’t have to be condescending to others, just treat them like I would want to be treated by them. It has gotten me through all these years, and when I meet up with the Ould One soon, I want to tell him I remembered what he told me and did my best to live by it.

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Letters of Despair from American Families Who Suffer and Hunger in Cold Silence by Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"

Since the current (Bush) Administration has been in office, 5 million Americans have slipped into poverty, 8 million have lost their health insurance and 3 million have lost their pensions. Yes, in the last seven years median household income for working-age Americans has declined by $2,500. Our country, for the first time since the Great Depression, now has a zero personal savings rate and, all across the nation, emergency food shelves are being flooded with working families whose inadequate wages prevent them from feeding their families.

In his concern for the collapse of the American middle class, and in order to try and break through the complacency and isolation inside the Washington Beltway, United States Senator, Bernie Sanders from Vermont, read e-mails he had received from throughout America on the floor of the Senate. They describe the decline of the American middle class from the perspective of those people who are living that decline.

They speak about families who, not long ago, thought they were economically secure, but now find themselves sinking into desperation and hopelessness. They tell the stories of working families unable to keep their homes warm in winter; workers worried about whether they’ll be able to fill their gas tank to get to their jobs; and seniors, who spent their entire lives working, now wondering how they’ll survive in old age. They describe the pain and disappointments that parents feel as they are unable to save money for their kids’ college education, and the dread of people who live without health insurance.

We have at times had to choose between baby food and heating fuel.

"We have two small children (a baby and a toddler) and felt fortunate to own our own house and land but due to the increasing fuel prices we have at times had to choose between baby food/diapers and heating fuel. We've run out of heating fuel three times so far and the baby has ended up in the hospital with pneumonia two of the times. We try to keep the kids warm with an electric space heater on those nights, but that just doesn't do the trick."

By February we ran out of wood and I burned my mother's dining room furniture.

"I am a single mother with a 9 year old boy. We lived this past winter without any heat at all. Fortunately someone gave me an old wood stove. I had to hook it up to an old/unused chimney we had in the kitchen. I couldn't even afford a chimney liner (the price of liners went up with the price of fuel). To stay warm at night my son and I would pull off all the pillows from the couch and pile them on the kitchen floor. I'd hang a blanket from the kitchen doorway and we'd sleep right there on the floor. By February we ran out of wood and I burned my mother's dining room furniture. I have no oil for hot water. We boil our water on the stove and pour it in the tub. I'd like to order one of your flags and hang it upside down at the capital building...we are certainly a country in distress."

We also only eat two meals a day to conserve.

"My husband and I are retired and 65. We would have liked to have worked longer but because of injuries caused at work and the closing of our factory to go to Canada, we chose to retire earlier. Now with oil prices the way they are we cannot afford to heat our home unless my husband cuts and splits wood, which is a real hardship as he has had his back fused and should not be working most of the day to keep up with the wood. Not only that he has to get up two or three times each night to keep the fire going. We only drive to get groceries or go to the doctor or to visit my mother in the nursing home three miles away. It now costs us $80.00 a month to go nowhere. I have Medicare but I can't afford prescription coverage unless I take my money out of an annuity, which is supposed to cover the house payment when my husband’s pension is gone. We also only eat two meals a day to conserve."

The pennies have all but dried up….Today I am sad, broken, and very discouraged.

"I, too, have been struggling to overcome the increasing costs of gas, heating oil, food, taxes, etc. I have to say that this is the toughest year, financially, that I have ever experienced in my 41 years on this earth. I have what used to be considered a decent job, I work hard, pinch my pennies, but the pennies have all but dried up. I am thankful that my employer understands that many of us cannot afford to drive to work 5 days a week. Instead, I work three 15 hour days. I have taken odd jobs to try to make ends meet. This winter, after keeping the heat just high enough to keep my pipes from bursting (the bedrooms are not heated and never got above 30 degrees) I began selling off my woodworking tools, snowblower, (pennies on the dollar) and furniture that had been handed down in my family from the early 1800s, just to keep the heat on. Today I am sad, broken, and very discouraged. I am thankful that the winter cold is behind us for a while, but now gas prices are rising yet again. I just can't keep up."

I don't go to church many Sundays, because the gasoline is too expensive to drive there.

"As a single parent, I am struggling everyday to put food on the table. Our clothes all come from thrift stores. I have a five-year-old car that needs work. My son is gifted and talented. I tried to sell my house to enroll him in a school that had curriculum available for his special needs. After two years on the market, my house never sold. The property taxes have nearly doubled in 10 years and the oil to heat it is prohibitive. To meet the needs of my son, I have left the house sit and moved into an apartment near his high school. I don't go to church many Sundays, because the gasoline is too expensive to drive there. Every thought of an activity is dependent on the cost. I can only purchase food from dented can stores… I am stretched to the breaking point with no help in sight."

At the rate we are going we will be destitute in just a few years.

"Due to illness my ability to work has been severely limited. I am making $10 an hour and if I am lucky I get 35 hours a week of work. At this time I am only getting 20 hours as it is "off season" in Stowe. It does not take a mathematician to do the figures. How are my wife and I supposed to live on a monthly take-home income of less than $800 dollars? We do it by spending our hard earned retirement savings. I am 50 and my wife is 49. At the rate we are going we will be destitute in just a few years. The situation is so dire that it is all I can think about. Soon I will have to start walking to work, an eight-mile round trip because the price of energy is so high it is that or go without heat. As bad as our situation is, I know many in worse shape. We try to donate food when we do our weekly shopping but now we are not able to even afford to help our neighbors eat. What has this country come to?"

I am just tired….I work 12 to 14 hours daily and it just doesn't help.

"I am 55 years old and worse off than my adult children. I have worked since age 16. I don't live from paycheck to paycheck, I live day to day. I can only afford to fill my gas tank on my payday thereafter, I put $5, $10 whatever that I can. I cannot afford to buy the food items that I would. I am riding around daily to and from work with a quarter of a tank of gas. This is very scary as I can see myself working until the day that I die. I do not have a savings, no credit cards and my only resources are thru my employment. I have to drive to work as there are no buses from my residence to work. I don't know how much longer I can do this…. I am concerned as gas prices climb daily. I am just tired, the harder that I work the harder it gets, I work 12 to 14 hours daily and it just doesn't help."

Some nights we eat cereal and toast for dinner because that's all I have.

"I am a working mother of two young children. I currently pay on average around $80.00 a week for gas so that I can go to work. I see the effects of the gas increase at the grocery stores and at the department stores. On average I spend around $150.00 per week at the grocery store and trust me when I say I don't buy prime rib- I buy just enough to get us through the week and I can't afford to make sure we have seven wholesome meals to eat every night of the week - some nights we eat cereal and toast for dinner because that's all I have. My family has had to cancel our annual trip to the zoo, and we make less trips to see our families in another town due to the increase of gas. The price of gas has created a hardship for most average Americans. We have less money to pay to living expenses which have also increased. It seems as if it's just a rippling effect. I am really scared of what the future holds for me and my kids because I just simply cannot afford to live from day to day. I am getting further and further in credit card debt just trying to stay afloat."

I am now living out of my car.

"As a student and a part time employee working for just above minimum wage I have found it more and more difficult to survive under these conditions. The drive to school and work require me to use roughly 30 percent of my paycheck just to go where I need to, to make it through my day. When school is in session I am lucky to get about 170 dollars a week and with gas prices at their current all time high I am continually finding myself under hardships because of it. Recently I had to vacate my apartment because I could not afford to pay rent and I am now living out of my car. This too seems like it may not be able to last that much longerbecause I am encountering difficulties in making my car payment. I can remember when gas prices were a little over a dollar and I dream about life taking that turn once more. Because of the gas prices I have found nothing but an extremely low budget for food, I was forced out of my home and now I might lose the one thing that is allowing me to continue my schooling and keep going to work – my car. I am struggling to understand why prices continue to rise and I see no end in sight."

My mortgage is behind, we are at risk for foreclosure, and I can't keep up with my car payments.

"I am a 31 year old wife, mother of two. How has this affected me? My husband drives 35 miles to work, that is a one-way trip. He is putting an average of $80 a week into his gas tank. No, he doesn't drive an SUV or a half-ton work truck. It's a small pickup truck that he needs as he builds houses. The kicker is that he never puts more than half a tank in, because we can't afford to fill it. I drive 15 miles one way, and put about $40 a week into my 30-miles-to-the-gallon car. Again, I never fill the tank - ever! We have even contemplated having my husband quit his job because he isn't making much more money weekly than he spends on gas! We could move to an area that is closer to our jobs, but because of the market, we cannot sell our house fast enough, or for a fair price. Meanwhile, my mortgage is behind, we are at risk for foreclosure, and I can't keep up with my car payments. My parents, both in their 60's, are back to work so that they can make ends meet, and struggle to come up with enough gas money so they can get to doctor's appointments. They are opting to close their house up for the winter, and stay with my uncle so they don't have to put oil in their furnace. I can't tell you how many times we had to fill our little gas tanks with kerosene or diesel because we ran out of oil and couldn't afford the $380 it would cost us to put a mere 100 gallons in. Needless to say, we are way behind on all of our bills, we are still playing catch up with our winter expenses. People that I know that have never struggled with money, are now frequenting our local food shelf so they can feed their families staple foods!"

We are barely staying afloat.

"My family has been hit so hard by this economy, we are barely staying afloat. We have remortgaged the house 4 times in the last three years to pay credit card debt. Now we are trying to tap into our annuity to pay more credit card debt. The debts on the credit cards are all for bills. Mostly grocery, oil and the mere cost of living. My husband is a union carpenter and they just changed our fantastic insurance plan to a terrible one with barely any coverage. I have none of my doctors on it and I suffer from painful nerve damage. I am not eligible for social security disability and I am unable to work. We had a dream to own our own home, and that dream came true seven years ago. I am afraid our dream is slipping through our fingers and it won’t be long before we lose our home, the way things are going."

Does anybody have a solution? Does anybody in Washington care?

"We are retired, 70 and 65 and living on Social Security and some savings. We use wood to offset the price of being warm. Our last oil fill up was nearly $700. How can we continue to make ends meet? My gasoline cost $239 last month. Food and everything else we buy is going up every week because of gouging from oil companies. We are worried about the national debt and the trade deficit. What can be done to bring them down? Does anybody have a solution? Does anybody in Washington care?"

Memorial Day Tribute

After only four days into his first tour of duty in Iraq, on Valentine's Day 2005, young 1LT Daniel Burch Anton, an Army Ranger Platoon Leader, witnessed the death of his closest friend, SFC Dave Salie, a legendary Army Ranger. As Dave's Commanding Officer, it became incumbent upon Dan, who was, himself, only 24 years of age, to deliver Dave's eulogy before the 17, 18, and 19-year-old kids of his command.

Operation Iraqi Freedom suddenly became a nightmarish reality, a war with heart-wrenching consequences. Baptized in Grief, all the boys of Bayonet 2-69 became men the day Dave Salie died. On that day they became "Warriors."

Four months later, in June 2005, Dan was called upon to deliver another difficult eulogy. The day before Fathers Day, he had lost another of his closest friends, 23 years old 2LT Noah Harris, a Georgia "Bulldog," a scholar, All-State Wrestler and Football Player, whose achievements and accomplishments had him on the fast track to becoming, one day, Governor of the State of Georgia - perhaps beyond.

Both eulogies are reproduced here to honor these beautiful boys this Memorial Day—two of our Sons of America who marched so bravely, so trustingly, into the "Valley of the Shadow of Death."

Steve Savage "King of the Beasts"
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Eulogy for SFC David J. Salie
by 1LT Dan Anton, 22 Feb 05


SFC David J. Salie was killed by an IED, Improvised Explosive Device, Valentine's Day, February 14, 2005, Baqubah, Iraq.

"I’d like to read to you a quote by Samuel Johnson: 'It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.'

Anyone who has ever met Sergeant Salie could immediately tell what a great American and strong leader he was. His physical demeanor was only dwarfed by his Warrior spirit. When I first met Sergeant Salie I had no idea he was going to be my Platoon Sergeant. We were a brand new company at the time just trying to get off the ground. When the two of us were eventually paired up I only hoped that we could establish a solid, professional relationship. What I found, however, was more than just any platoon sergeant. He was a professional, a mentor, a confidante, and a friend.

The two of us would often talk in our office…or his office as he liked to point out to me. 'Platoon Leader’s don’t have offices, you’re just renting here.' he would say. It was during these talks that I realized Sergeant Salie’s heart was even bigger than he was. He spoke quite often of his wife and kids and it was very obvious what a great husband and loving father he was.

He also spoke of his experiences from prior deployments and there was no other choice but to admire him for the type of person he was. Sergeant Salie had the role of a family man and the spirit of a true patriot. He embodied what the Warrior Ethos truly means. Serving our great country is what he loved to do. If there was ever a mission where he had to stay back he would always try to find a way to come along.

It wasn’t long ago that Sergeant Salie kept asking me about being able to get out and do some combat patrols. He never liked it when he had to stay behind. On one of the patrols that only I was going on he said, 'If you can’t take me as a platoon sergeant what if I’m your RTO?' (Radio Telephone Operator)

Sergeant Salie loved being in the fight and there was no one better for the job. He was truly a soldier of God fighting the good fight.

Many things entered my mind after seeing what happened to Sergeant Salie on that fateful day, but one thought that stuck out was the thought of how I was going to fight this fight without him here by my side and how would his family get along without him? It wasn’t ‘till later that I realized I wouldn’t be fighting it without him because I know he’ll be watching over us just as he’ll be watching over his family.

I’m sure right now he’s getting tired of watching and he’s bugging God to let him come back here so he can get back in the fight which he loved so much.
God bless you Sergeant Salie and God Bless your family. We’re all going to miss you."



Eulogy for 2LT Noah Harris
By 1LT Daniel B. Anton, 25 June 05


2LT Noah Harris was killed by an RPG, Rocket Propelled Grenade, June 18, 2005, Baqubah, Iraq.

"Anyone who knew Lieutenant Harris would tell you that he had an addictive personality. He was the type of guy who could walk into a room not knowing anyone and come out being everyone’s friend. He was more than just a friendly guy, though. He was also dedicated in everything that he did. He was dedicated to his profession, the mission, his family and friends, and to his men.

I remember back to when Noah first came to 2-69. The other Lieutenants in the Company commented that it would be funny if he ended up coming to Bayonet so that he could give me some competition in the gym. They would kid with me about that constantly until I think I almost started to not like Noah before I even met him.

Eventually, Noah did end up coming to Bayonet Company and we were lucky to have him. What I found in Noah was more than just a fellow Lieutenant or a gym partner. He was a true friend, whose ideals and morals were in line with my own. We bonded instantly and became close friends. We shared many good times together. I always remember being in a good mood when he was around. He seemed to have that effect on everyone around him.

Noah came from a very supportive and loving family, and I know that had a great influence on the man he was. He was the epitome of quiet professionalism; always being modest while possessing all the tools needed of a great leader. I know he conducted his personal life in the same way he did his professional life. He was always selfless and eager to help others. He was the first person who came to me after losing SFC David J. Salie and offered to be there if I ever wanted to talk. That was just the type of person Noah was.

When I first heard that Noah had passed I was overcome with anger. I couldn’t understand why someone with so much potential and youth was taken from us. I know he would have been great at whatever he wanted to do. His drive was limitless and his dedication was unmatched. That is why he was such a great Platoon Leader who always led from the front. He earned the respect of every single man in his platoon and they were willing to follow him anywhere.

I trust that in all things God has a plan, whether we understand that plan or not. I know that Noah Harris was doing something he truly believed in. He knew the risks of this profession and yet he remained intrepid in the face of danger.

It would be selfish of me to want Noah back here with us because I know he is in a better place. His spirit is still with us though, and he will be a guardian on our shoulders. Luckily, Lieutenant Harris will now have Sergeant Salie to keep him squared away.

Thank you, Noah, for being the great man that you were, and for being my friend. You will always be in my prayers. I will miss you Lieutenant Noah Harris, My Brother in Arms."

PrayFor Our Soldiers Still Fighting This War


Also, let us never forget the 50,000 Heroes whose names are carved upon The Wall in Washington, D.C. Please follow the link below:
50,000 Names Carved In The Wall