Meet Your Maker.
ILLUMINATION.
My name isn’t so important… not yet anyway. But I am an American, and that part is. I was born to a mother and father who provided what we prosaically called a “comfortable” life, and made me believe at a young age that they did not lie, and that there was no question to which they did not have an answer. Whenever I was sick, my mom had the medicine, and whenever I needed something done, my dad had the plan.
I was eighteen before I realized that my parents actually had no idea what they were doing. Unlike others my age, this didn’t fill me with anger, I had plenty of that already. Instead, it filled me with empathy, and a need to make my own mark, in service of something greater. With a gun to my head, I couldn’t’ve told you at the time what those words meant, but it didn’t’ stop me from taking the leap.
What’s a boy to do?
There’s nothing more dangerous than someone with a purpose. There’s nothing more destructive than someone who’s had that purpose taken from them. For years, mine involved like-minded individuals doing like-minded things, in effort to score for the home team. But, like all crises, mine became existential and I found myself questioning everything, including my willingness to breathe anymore.
The absurd was upon me, and a reckoning was afoot.
ENLIGHTENMENT.
The time had arrived for my soul to be torn apart so that the tick tick boom of my guts could be splayed before the alter and burned to purity. They say pain is the touchstone of spiritual growth, and I was groping that motherfucker for all she was worth. But, pain is necessary. Survival, on the other hand, is far from guaranteed.
What came out in the wash is that I am a warrior, holistic, and true - flawed, and human - but, teachable and willing. I walk in purpose, embracing the battle, deploying the methods I’ve earned, in as many dimensions as will have me, protecting those that need it, violently so, if necessary… with love, gratitude, and in service.
If you’re here, then you know these are not contradictions. They are sacred bedfellows. There’s so much more to say, and far more to do. But, we will say and do those things together.
Names are nothing. Missions on the other hand… well, that’s whole different can of ammo.
Keep your eyes open and your aim true, my friends.
Yours truly,
Just Another Hippie With A Hand Grenade.
“In this world there are people that f*ck & people that get f*cked… and I like to f*ck”
— Buddah?