One hundred years ago today, my hero was born – my Dad! In fact, he was a hero to many. Today I pay tribute to him.
Growing up he was a hero to his baby sister, who later said Dad saved her life when he brought home a goat and milked it to provide for her. My grandmother didn’t have enough milk, and she was intolerant to the cow’s milk. Being the oldest of five, he was probably a hero to all of them, and he gave them all pet names: Puck, Jim (my aunt), Rossy, and Dimpy (who thrived on goat’s milk).
Later he was a national hero, one of so many who went overseas during World War II. As part of the Forestry Corps he was perhaps not on the front line, but he was plenty close enough to the action. I recently received a treasure: a package of letters that he had sent to his sister ‘Jim’ during the war. What a great snapshot of history! Here’s an excerpt:
Christmas is over. They sure put on a good dinner for us, better than could be expected. Gave the boys a shot of rum and one hundred cigarettes as a Christmas gift, gave all mine away including the rum. Gordon Carbert, letter home January 3, 1944
Dad was always generous! He taught me many lessons, including generosity and helping others. He was a shining example of the Golden Rule (treat others the way you would want to be treated), which I have tried to live by. That was before they talked about the Platinum Rule (treat others the way that they want to be treated). Either way, he was always kind, helpful, and generous.
While I was growing up, my Dad was my Hero. He had been a bronc rider in the rodeo circuit, and even rode at the Calgary Stampede. He made friends wherever he went, and never forgot a face or name. He was a natural networker!
Today he would have been 100 years old! We said goodbye to him 9 years ago, but it seems like yesterday that I was sitting down with him to drink coffee and play cribbage. I am fortunate that my children also got to know him, he was a hero to them as well.
While I walked my pilgrimage across Spain, my Dad was with me, more than I thought he would be. As I walked through fields of grain, past haystacks, cows grazing, or through villages with John Deere tractors parked outside of homes, I thought of my Dad. My Hero.
Buen Camino!
Once again, Arlene, in case you haven’t seen it yet (how can that be? I bet it’s been 1/2 hour, at least, since I commented on the blog post you published prior to this one), I indicated I would be sending the bulk of my comment pertaining to the journey I took reading all your 2020-21 written works of art.
I’m extremely happy I did that because I discovered several blogs I had somehow missed, and of those I did read and make comment on, there is important information about you and your pilgrimage I let slip by me the 1st time through.
Before embarking on my Camino de Los Arlene Laskey, I realized how little I knew about you. During one of my 7pm calls with my mm partner, John F, I journaled that we both agreed that besides being a busy, giving, and happy person, you are quite intelligent with a mind as open as the Grand Canyon. On the surface, that might sound like an exaggeration, however, who wants to stay on the surface when there’s so much gold to find underneath?
Besides that’s how I might describe the mind belonging to me. As I’ve told so many so often, in the mid-1980s I was attending my 1st year of Life West Chiropractic College West, when I spent all three days of my Thanksgiving break writing a book report on the “Tau of Physics” by Fridgeouf Capra. While doing that I decided to come up with the 3 most important principles everyone should know, understand, and practice to make the most out of life. The first two of those were Oneness and Love. The third came several years later during my renaissance period, having already received my doctorate and treating patients at Gary Forest’s Office in San Leandro, where I currently reside. That #3 0f 3 is Multi-perceptual Viewpoint. Obviously, Carlsbad Caverns might work as well. LOL
Besides what I just noted, I knew you lived in Alberta, Canada, seemingly quite comfortable on your own, and most likely a white. Your secondary could be any of the 3 remaining, with yellow, aside from your fun loving spirit, the least likely. (to be continued)
Wow, thanks so much Loren, you are so thoughtful! I also like your 3 principles! Yes I am White with a healthy side of Blue, while my Yellow and Red are under-developed:)
Once again, Arlene, in case you haven’t seen it yet (how can that be? I bet it’s been 1/2 hour, at least, since I commented on the blog post you published prior to this one), I indicated I would be sending the bulk of my comment pertaining to the journey I took reading all your 2020-21 written works of art.
I’m extremely happy I did that because I discovered several blogs I had somehow missed, and of those, I did read and make comment on, there is important information about you and your pilgrimage I let slip by me the 1st time through.
Before embarking on my Camino de Los Arlene Laskey, I realized how little I knew about you. During one of my 7pm calls with my mm partner, John F, I journaled that we both agreed that besides being a busy, giving, and happy person, you are quite intelligent with a mind as open as the Grand Canyon. On the surface, that might sound like an exaggeration, however, who wants to stay on the surface when there’s so much gold to find underneath?
Besides, that’s how I might describe the mind belonging to me. As I’ve told so many so often, in the mid-1980s I was attending my 1st year of Life West Chiropractic College West, when I spent all three days of my Thanksgiving break writing a book report on the “Tau of Physics” by Fridjof Capra. While doing that I decided to come up with the 3 most important principles everyone should know, understand, and practice to make the most out of life. The first two of those were Oneness and Love. The third came several years later during my renaissance period, when I spent a lot of time reading books focused on the realm of higher consciousness, such as those authored by Ken Keyes, and because I was religiously practicing at least 2x/day, I became proficient in my ability to meditate. I had already received my doctorate and treating patients at Gary Forest’s Office in San Leandro, the city where I currently reside. That #3 0f 3 is Multi-perceptual Viewpoint. Obviously, Carlsbad Caverns might work as well. LOL
Besides what I just noted, I knew you lived in Alberta, Canada, seemingly quite comfortable on your own, and most likely a white. Your secondary could be any of the 3 remaining with yellow, aside from your fun-loving spirit, the least likely.
Since it’s now time for a break (“how can that be?” might be asked, with my entire journey still ahead of me.)
Well. the answer is quite simple. Of all your posts, this particular one about your dad resonated inside of me more than any of the others. When the question was raised during the time spent with Mark, I wrote down that my dad is my hero. Interestingly, in many ways, your dad and my dad were paradoxically quite different and yet much the same – including being the hero in our lives. Although my dad never did anything criminal, I can envision him fitting in while playing a small part in the movie “The Streets of New York” He could easily be the guy your dad gave the 100 cigarettes. Yet the fun-loving joy they spread with their out-going personalities (my dad’s radiating to a greater or lesser degree depending upon the amount of etoh he consumed) is a beacon we can both look back upon and feel a sort of joyful pride.
Born in 1917 (did someone say “pandemic?), he would be 104 on August 23 of this year. He died of lung cancer at age 73 in 1991. That’s one year less than my current age. A cigarette smoker his entire life, this is the disease he feared the most. When my grandmother, mother, and sister, 2 ½ years younger than me, rented a cabin for a week at De Smits Resort in Guerneville on the Russian River, my dad, who worked as a Lithographer for the American Can Company in San Francisco, would drive us up and back, and spend the rest of the week at our home in San Lorenzo, alone. During one of these annual summer vacations, my dad, who appeared uncharacteristically troubled, suddenly showed up mid-week. He had failed dismally in an attempt to quit smoking. His words are so vivid, I could have heard them just a few minutes ago. He said that without smoking, “Life had no meaning“
Although I knew that the surgery and radiation treatment he received subsequent to diagnosis had almost no chance of success in dealing with a very aggressive squamous cell carcinoma since this occurred during my 1st year with Dr. Forest, I also knew that alternative care offered the greatest potential for success; yet I knew so little about what was available, to voice my feelings on the matter without confidently telling him what he could do instead, I thought I might wind up destroying any remnant of hope the placebo effect accompanying any treatment, orthodox or otherwise, had to offer.
As disturbing as this was, my interest in alternative treatments for cancer did not kick into high gear until 2014 when Fawn Christianson, who along with Steve Serna, was my mm partner at the time, introduced us to Elizabeth Orchard, inventor of plasmotek. Plasmotek is a special kind of metal that when small in size can be worn as a necklace or attached to a cell phone. Larger chunks are used to protect vehicles, homes, buildings, and even land areas as large as a vineyard. In every case, the plasmotek metal device uses photon energy to protect the wearer from the harmful effects of electromagnetic fields generated by electric devices of all types, including the toaster, the electric shaver, the microwave oven, as well as the modem, the smart device installed in some homes to measure the amount of electricity used, cell phones, blue tooth devices, etc.
During one of our weekly online Plasmotek gatherings, Elizabeth, who resides in her Australian homeland, introduced us to her very noteworthy Australian friend, named Dr. Pete. We learned that Dr. Pete is the only Dr in the world, who has had 100% success in his treatment of cancer. Not just any particular kind of cancer, mind you, all kinds – all kinds sharing one very significant clinical presentation, they all involve people with 4th stage cancer, having run the full gamut of orthodox cut, burn, and poison, and told to get their affairs in order, because there was nothing more that could be done. In other words, sent home to die.
Although I, along with my two mm partners, began to use Dr. Pete’s cancer treatment protocol as a prophylactic, it was while still in touch with Dr. Pete that I learned that the reason Joe, a good friend, and fellow chess player, had essentially disappeared for a year, was due to the fact he had been diagnosed and undergone the usual treatment for throat cancer. Although they supposedly got it all, he had suffered a stroke and some other horrible things in the process. When a follow-up CT scan revealed what I already knew simply by looking at this ghost of a person, — almost unrecognizable, compared to the robust 250 pounder I had etched in my mind when he was healthy. Although Joe’s wife, who is a nurse working for Sutter, reluctantly declined to resume chemo and let me take control of his treatment, my initial optimism was in for a reality check.
The vegetable slurry composed of 20+ vegetables ground to a very thick soup-like drink using carrot juice instead of water plays a major role in Pete’s protocol, yet because of Joe’s condition, he could not swallow any of it. By the time my persistent efforts resulted in the discovery of the amazing website, “Cancertutor.com,” along with the even more amazing informational products offered by Ty Bollinger, beginning with “The Truth About Cancer – A Global Quest,” followed by the two TTAC Symposiums – 2016 & 17 – as well as “The Truth About Detox,” “The Truth About Pet Cancer, and “The Truth About Vaccines,” I was told Joe was back on chemo and my presence no longer welcome.
The Rife Machine I ordered arrived the day after I learned he had passed. First, while applying my training as a guide, and then while performing the newly created duties of a Blog Rover, I concurrently spent the next two years relentlessly watching the videos I had accumulated while letting my eyes devour all the material available on cancertutor.com.
Unfortunately, while I’ve been given a couple of opportunities to share what I know – one involving a former Neothink colleague, who, like Joe, was told he had throat cancer, and another involving the wife of a new acquaintance, who was told she had 4th stage pancreatic cancer, despite my efforts to break through what I call “The Mythology of Oncology.” I wasn’t given much in the way of direct personal contact, which would have provided a better opportunity to plead my case. As a consequence, both individuals wound up as passengers on the chemo train of death.
At this point, please forgive me for going off on a tangent, I had not intended when beginning comment section Act Six, Part Two.
I want to end by saying how lucky my sister and I were in being a product of my dad’s second marriage after he, as did your dad, return after serving our country during World War II. He spent most of his remaining years as a Chief in the Naval Reserves. Similar to your dad, my dad had a very warm, outgoing personality that served him well, whether it be attending meetings of the East Bay Pigeons Club – yes, one of my dad’s numerous hobbies was raising, training and racing, racing homers. I imagine you’ve seen groups of 20 to 30 pigeons circling their home loft after being sent skyward for their daily exercise; or whether it be as a very active member of my grade school’s Dad’s Club, or volunteer to help out with the leadership of Boy Scout Troop 626, or tending bar part-time for the Alameda Elks Club. After he sponsored my Elk’s membership, I got to show off my open tournament handball play on the one court they have on site.
The time we spent together in our later years usually involved bowling or golf. Regarding the former, his ability to accurately send his straight ball what seemed like 100 mph down the alley resulted in a higher than average, average, while his love of the latter would send us onto the fairways at first light, when the greens were still so wet with dew collected during the night that water droplets sent into the air by the spinning golf ball, were rendered more sparkly and more noticeable by the bright morning sunshine. The path the ball took as it rolled toward the cup looked a little like the tracts left by snails after visiting one of your favorite garden vegetables.
Our earlier years spent together often involved some of his hobbies like stamp collecting, coin collecting and archery (he made his own arrows) and because of the voluntary nature of my participation, they rubbed off on me without much encouragement to become my hobbies as well. Others such as grinding, and faceting gemstones to make jewelry, and first and foremost his ability to paint, left my right handed, left-sided brain in awe of his left-handed, right-sided brain’s artistic creativity and talent. I’m guessing you might recall how some of my early Polos featured many examples of his painting talent via the abstracts hanging inside my RV.
In my home growing up, it was my mom with her gallery of cliches to choose from probably responsible for imparting the words and the wisdom inherent in the “do onto others as you would have them do onto you” version of the Golden Rule. Other versions such as the Platinum, which emphasizes the need to know others better, especially when dealing with different people, such as those having different ethnic backgrounds or raised in a foreign land were acquired elsewhere. Still what comes off as kind, generous, forgiving, grateful, etc. is generally seen the same positive way, and makes our own personal preferences a worthy barometer of how to treat all others.
There is also The Silver Rule – “Do not do onto others what you would have them not do onto you.”
Oh, I almost forgot, because of my dad’s gregarious, adventuresome nature, he got along well with just about everybody, and so he loved to travel. After his retirement, he devoted a lot of time planning trips to faraway places, and he and my mom took plenty.
Since I’m using a Word document to compose my comments, I accidentally re-posted my first comment as the first part of my second. Sorry about that 🙂
Arlene, thanks for talking about your very special father. From your blog rover friend John
As a nurse, Arlene, I’m certain you need to get up to speed regarding the use of Ivermectin in the tx of Covid-19. Here’s a link for some of the latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMhZi3aC5As
Thanks Loren, I will check.
Thank you John, I am honoured to share a bit of his story.
Thanks Loren, I meant to reply to this sooner. That’s interesting that your Dad was in the Naval Reserve – so was I! I met my husband there, so I guess it was a pretty good experience:)
You’re just full of good experiences, Arlene! 🙂
Terrific, Arlene! The MATH+ and MASK+ protocols are where it’s at. 🙂
Thanks Loren