Sloths – Path Without End

“Yinney” Chapter 32

March 20, 2019 Path Without End

28e223c9-f4f7-4ee2-9d62-2504d88782fe_rw_1920 At one a.m. Clara finally surrendered to going to bed with the stipulation Rachel wake her if anything important happened. Clara had an early rise for work, whereas her mother worked the evening and night shift. So after an exchange of hugs and words of concern for Frank, Rachel was now alone with the TV and her fearful thoughts.

Normally she would be in bed now too. But it would be useless tonight, she would only toss and turn. So she watched the TV intently, even as it repeated itself over and over. She saw no sign of Frank. The hours slowly ticked by, until finally the reporter confirmed Central park was now under police control. The stone building had been gassed, the gangs broken up and arrested, and yes there were fatalities. No names were given yet, until families could be notified.

Rachel was exhausted. She wanted to go to bed, but her worry was growing even more. Why hadn’t Frank called by now to confirm he was alright? He would have to know she would be worried. The fact he had not called yet, was reason for even more concern. But slowly without realizing, she drifted off to sleep on the couch, with her phone nearby.

Six a.m., and she only been asleep for an hour or so when her cell phone began ringing. At first it sounded as if in a heavy fog, and very far away, but slowly growing louder until she finally realized she had fallen asleep and needed to get the phone! But her brain did not want to work and her body did not function. Fumbling to hit the buttons she hastily answered, “Hello…Frank? You okay?”

The voice that answered was not Frank. “Mam,” he began, “this is Frank’s partner, Sam. He told me to call you if anything ever happened. Franks in the hospital.”

As Rachel remained silent, Sam could hear her breathing and decided best to just lay it out there. So he kept on talking, “He’s alive… but it’s not good. He took a bad fall. His back has some serious damage. He’s been unconscious, swelling on the brain. Their prepping him for surgery right now. I’m not leaving till he comes out of surgery. But he would want you to know. Do you have any questions? Do you need a ride to the hospital or anything?”

“No…” she answered. “I can get there. Thank you, Officer Sam.”

“You’re welcome, Mam.”

Rachel disconnected the call, slowly slid off the side of the couch onto the floor, buried her face into her hands and began weeping. She was exhausted, emotionally spent, but as soon as she could pull herself together she would tell Clara the bad news, and then she would be on her way to the hospital.

Frank was unaware of anything going on. He felt no pain, did not know his body lay on the bank of a small stream for a couple hours before he was found, was unaware of his ride in an ambulance to the hospital, and did not know he was being rushed into surgery at this very time. The extent of his injuries were not yet known, but the swelling of his brain had to be treated immediately, and there was spinal cord damage. One doctor estimated his odds of living about fifty-fifty, and his odds of walking again not that good.

Frank was mostly unaware of anything. He was sleeping in darkness and feeling nothing, not even the passing of time, except when there was a flash of light. At random times there would be a flash of something, like light, and a picture! Light flashed, he saw a tree over hanging a lagoon! In his unconscious and injured state he did not try to ponder what he saw, it was as a dream, it just was. Light flashed and he saw a tree, then he saw a lagoon, and it was as if in a jungle.

Time passed by and he was unaware of the passing before light flashed again, and there was the tree again, and something else, a sloth?

Frank was still in surgery when Rachel arrived at the hospital and quickly found Officer Sam. Frank had spoke of him as a fine man, but she and he had never met. He knew she had to be Rachel the moment he saw her enter the waiting room.

Walking over to her, he softly asked, “Rachel?”

“Yes, I’m Rachel. Any word?”

“No. Not yet. He’s still in there. His sons have also been notified and they are on their way. All but one. He’s got to book a plane. Can I get you a coffee or anything?”

“Yes, coffee would be good, and if you can tell me anything at all, about what happened to him?”

“Sure, lets get that coffee first, and find a seat,” Sam went to a coffee machine, put a card in, punched some buttons and waited on the coffee while Rachel spotted a place to sit. Soon he was joining her with two cups of hot coffee, cream and sugar.

“Well,” he began, “here’s all we know. Frank was found unconscious on the ground and almost in a stream of water. It appears he had gone over the side wall of a stone bridge. He must have been in a tussle with somebody. He fell in a bad way. Another officer was found on the bridge, his neck broke. We don’t know if the two are related or not. Frank and I got separated in the chaos. I didn’t see a thing, I’m afraid. And I feel terrible I wasn’t there to help him.”

Sam went silent at that point and Rachel gave him an understanding look as she reached to touch his hand. “Frank always spoke very highly of you. Said you were a good man and he was lucky to have you as his partner. Whatever happened out there, I’m sure he doesn’t blame you.”

Rachel saw tears in Sam’s eyes as he thanked her for her kind words.

Two more hours went by before Frank was wheeled out of surgery and into a special room. Sam helped identify Rachel as someone very close and should be allowed to be at his side when he awoke.

“If he awakes,” a doctor corrected. “His injuries are very serious. we’re hoping he does’t slide into a deep coma, and if he avoids that, then we don’t know if he’ll ever walk again. I’m sorry. I wish I had better news, but we just don’t know. Only God knows at this point.”

Rachel nodded her head that she understood, thanked the doctor for all his efforts, and settled in by Franks bed to wait. There lay the man she was afraid to love. Now it was likely his police days were over. How would Frank deal with such a change in his life? Was she meant to help him through such a time as this? All she knew was she was here for him now.

As morning was birthing thousands of miles south in the Amazon jungle, Yinney was singing his morning song…

Rising morning sun, I greet you. Singing morning birds, I thank you. Gentle cooling breeze, I welcome you. Great and mighty tree, I hang from you.

Predators may lurk jungle below, but our ways are higher in the trees. Our ways are touched with cooling breeze. Our ways invisible in the leaves. Our ways are blessed in peaceful flow. Our ways are blessed with S-O-U-L.

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“Yinney” – Chapter 5

January 22, 2019January 30, 2019 Path Without End

Rising morning sun, I greet you. Singing morning birds, I thank you. Gentle cooling breeze, I welcome you. Great and mighty tree, I hang from you.

Yinney finished singing his morning song. Time was flying by and it was now day six in his search for his 7th Day Tree, which would become the orbit of his life, the center of his purpose. He had a good feeling about today. Sloths normally did not travel nearly so much. Once his tree was found, life could slow down even more. Time may be quickly passing, but he stayed in the beauty of slow.

He had spent several hours meditating about the Predator Cities Lu-Lu had told him of. That was a couple days ago, but he had not been able to get it off his mind. This was important. Not to be feared, but to be aware. It’s always good to be aware.

Today he chose a very tall tree to sing his morning song. He climbed very high. He wanted to see if he saw any signs of this race of people known as man. These people had no love for slow. They saw no glow in slow to be desired. What Lu-Lu described was very evil in its’ hungry ways. If these predators came to his jungle, all would be in danger, even Jag!

A sloth’s vision is not very good, but as he stared out as far as he could, all looked normal, no sign of a new danger today. With his mind satisfied, and having sang his morning song, he was ready to find his tree! Today he hoped would be the day! It would not be wise to still be searching tomorrow, for the urge could hit at any time, and then what would he do? He would need to poo!

As Yinney took one last look around, everything upside down, he thought he saw something reflecting through the tangle of jungle below, and it was not far away. Could he get to the reflection today? He rotated his head to see right-side up, but seeing things right-side up always gave him a headache, so he soon rotated back to his topsy-turvy world. “There, that’s better,” he said.

Normal speed for a sloth in trees was 13 feet per minute, and a max speed of 15 feet if they were in danger. This tree was very tall and he was very high. Even thinking of being so high on a springy limb and hanging upside down would make most people nauseous in their stomach, but not Yinney, he was a slow and methodical aerial acrobat.

He did not feel dizzy at all as he hung so high and looking about. He was use to upside down. Even his fur grew in the wrong direction from so much time upside down. He strained his eyes looking for the glint. There it was again! Could it be what he hoped? Might there be a tree close to it, possibly even overhanging? He had to find out; his spirit pulled that way.

Unfortunately, Yinney’s eyesight being what it is, he had misjudged the distance. As his body grew more weary, it finally became obvious he would not make it today. This meant he would be in the 7th Day and still looking for his tree. The urge would come, there was no doubt. Whether morning, noon, or night he could not say, but his heart was sure that reflection held his tree. He simply had to see.

So as he moved slower and slower, finally coming to a dead stop, he reached for a nearby leaf. This would be his meal before sleep. The casual observer probably would have said he stopped an hour ago, but he had actually progressed another ten feet during that last hour.

Yinney was a three-toed brown throated sloth of the old ways. He only ate leaves. He only pooed every seven days, and always at the bottom of the same tree, which became the sacred 7th Day Tree his life would revolve around.

As a leaf eater, energy always had to be conserved because a leaf diet does not provide much. Yes, Yinney was conservative by nature, a minimalist, leaving a very small footprint in the earth, but also a very special footprint. He was able to eat a poisonous leaf no other creature could.

God had given sloths such a slow digestive system, it took a whole month to digest a leaf! In this slow process not even poisonous leaves hurt him. He ate them all the time, and that made his poo special! Only his poo carried the nutrients of such a leaf to the ground to feed the chosen tree. This was part of his mission, his purpose, his holy task in life. Tomorrow he would know his tree, and hopefully before the urge to poo.

So as he slowly chewed his simple meal, he considered his day’s journey, and the glint of a reflection he saw from high in the tree that morning. This sparkle had become his guiding star. Now he was risking still searching even into day seven. But he was close, very close now. He was sure of it. Tomorrow would be an exciting day! And hopefully he could hold his poo!

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“Yinney” Chapter 4

January 22, 2019January 30, 2019 Path Without End

Dorothy was bored. Dorothy was lonely. Dorothy was restless. Dorothy was gaining weight. Dorothy was Jerry’s wife.

Jerry was gone to work as usual, and both children were at school. She flicked off the flat screen after watching the latest episode of finding homes for lottery winners. She would have a fine home like that someday, but what to do today?

Rising from her sofa and opening a closet door, she looked at herself in the full length mirror. “Hhmmm, I don’t like what I see, Dorothy,” she scolded herself.

She considered turning on some music, but had done that all week. Looking outside it was a cold nasty day. She didn’t enjoy reading, had tried that, too, but it just wasn’t her thing.

Once again Dorothy was drawn to her bulletin board where she had stuck an add torn out of the paper. Her local L.A. Fitness was running a special if you joined this month. The special included a personal trainer for the first six weeks. Time was running out. She looked around at the quiet house. It felt dark like a cave. It was a cave she spent too much time in alone. She needed to get out, make some adult friends, live a little. It was time. She would do it, and no better time than right now.

Grabbing her keys, purse, and jacket, Dorothy headed for the door. No looking back. This was her answer. She needed this. The fitness center was only a fifteen minute drive away. She was there in no time; and signed up even quicker after one of the trainers showed her around.

She couldn’t help noticing how fit the trainer was. His name was, Kevin. Mmmm, Kevin,” she thought. He was hot. So were a few of the guys working out, she noticed. Jerry use to be that way. But those kind of thoughts were for days gone by. Weren’t they? Of course they were! “Get your head on straight, Dorothy. That’s not why you’re here.”

Many many miles south, Lu-Lu had just finished describing to Yinney what she called Predator Cities, and the danger they posed. “They are so hungry!” she added. “They are always on the hunt. They never seem to be full or satisfied.”

Sloths are prone to lots of meditation. They spend a lot of time “not moving”, but a lot is moving on in the inside, in the soul. Yinney knew he only had four days left to find his 7th Day Tree, but now he wanted to ponder this new knowledge Lu-Lu had revealed to him. “Thank you, Lu-Lu, for a great revelation I did not know. I will meditate on your words. Will I see you again?”

“You most likely will,” she affirmed. “I like this neighborhood. I still travel around from time to time, but I live a more settled life now. I’ll be seeing you, Yinney. Good luck finding your tree,” and away she flew.

Yinney did not move. He was on his way deep within, deep in thought, as he pictured these ugly, dirty, noisy, hungry cites Lu-Lu had so vividly described.

Jerry, on the other hand, was not bored at all, and never one to meditate, he was in his element at the mill. He had been on the phone making calls, selling lumber, wheeling and dealing, and laughing all the way to the bank. Now he was very much enjoying himself as he read some very interesting statistics on the Internet.

“I am definitely in the right place at the right time!” he shouted while quickly jotting down some numbers on scratch paper. “According to this,” he continued out loud, “the average square footage of U.S. homes have nearly tripled since 1950! The average in 1950 was 1000 sq. ft.. By 1970 it had risen to 1500 sq. ft.. 1990 it grew to 2,000! And present day is almost 3,000! And all this in a time when the size of the average family has dropped tremendously! How in the world do you account for that? That doesn’t even make sense! Most families do not exceed two children, and yet? Hhmmm. Ha! Whatever the reason, it’s all good for me!” Rejoicing in his good fortune he hit the computer button and decided to check on his workers. They had a big order that needed to be completed soon, and he was hoping not to pay overtime.

The clock was ticking for one and all, as time always does. Time is a river always flowing forward. Dorothy saw her life flowing by in the mirror, asking if her best days were gone? Yinney knew he only had four days left to find his sacred tree, but went into meditation anyway, for what good is a sacred tree if one does not live in a sacred way? Jerry was worried about his bottom line. He saw time as money! Time that would cost him “time and a half” if his guys didn’t get a move on! And so it was on planet earth as a simple sloth named Yinney needed to find his tree to poo.

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“Yinney – Notice”

January 22, 2019January 22, 2019 Path Without End

three-toed-sloth Just a quick notice for my night people who may have missed chapter 3 coming out this morning. If you’re following “Yinney the Sloth who needs to Poo”, don’t miss chapter 3! The story is really starting to take shape. In chapter 3 Yinney sings the “Sloth Sacred Morning Song”, and a bird called Lu-Lu shows up with a dire warning!

“Yinney” Chapter 3

January 21, 2019February 13, 2019 Path Without End

Note to the reader: I know it’s not normal to write a story, as like a book, on a blog site. It’s a bit awkward to land on chapter 3 and need to scroll down to chapter one if you want to get the whole story, but for some odd reason I’m doing it anyway. This story actually starts with an article I wrote on 1/19/19 titled: “Do No Harm”. I highly recommend going to the trouble of scrolling if you want to get the full impact of this very simple story of “Yinney the Sloth who needs to Poo”. This story is quickly growing and there will be much for you to Enjoy.

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Chapter Three

Another day was just beginning as Yinney sang his sacred morning song. It was a cheerful little medley that bounced about like a fluttering butterfly. Only a sloth of the sacred ways could sing it properly, but you can try if you like. The words flowed out of his heart with great respect and gratitude, which was how his father had taught it to him. It was one of the few things he remembered of his father.

Rising morning sun, I greet you. Singing morning birds, I thank you. Gentle cooling breeze, I welcome you. Great and mighty tree, I hang from you.

Predators may lurk the jungle below, but our ways are higher in the trees, our ways are touched with cooling breeze, our ways are invisible in the leaves, our ways are blessed with peaceful flow, our ways are blessed with S-O-U-L.

(Repeat as much as the Spirit moves you.)

It is hard to explain how a sloth sang that last word, “SOUL”. Perhaps only a sloth can do it. But it was beautiful, and the word hung in the air for a spell, as if supernaturally empowered. It hung in the air much like Yinney himself hung from his limb as he sang. Perhaps that is part of the magic of the song? If you climb into a tree and hang from a limb like a sloth, looking at the world around you upside down, and sing this “Sloth Sacred Morning Song”, perhaps you will get the proper sound of that last word, too. It’s worth a try, don’t you think?

Suddenly, Yinney’s morning was interrupted by the sound of a brightly colored bird. Her feathers were the bluest blue!

“Oh that was lovely!” the bird said. “It has been so long since I’ve heard that song sang by a sloth of the sacred ways. Hi! My name is Lu-Lu!”

Yinney was not sure what kind of bird Lu-Lu was? She had the rich colors of an Amazon bird, but mostly males wore the bright colors. Lu-Lu was somewhat different in that respect. Her blue was so rich in it’s radiance! But all that aside, he appreciated the compliment and said, “Good morning, my name is Yinney.”

And so the morning of his third day started in this very way, with only four days left to find his sacred tree, his 7th Day Tree. But there was no hurry, for Yinney knew that even this might be the Spirit ordering his steps to finding just the right tree. The Spirit worked in mysterious ways, weaving a path easily disturbed by selfishness, rudeness, failure to recognize and appreciate simple blessings, such as a chance encounter with a bird like Lu-Lu. In some ways Spirit life was like walking on water, not dirt.

“So where is your sacred tree?” Lu-Lu asked. “Is this it?” Obviously she was “knowing” in the ways of his people.

“No. This is not the one. I am on my journey to find my 7th Day Tree. This is day three. I have four days left.”

“Ohhhh,” Lu-Lu said. “Well, I would tell you you better hurry up, but I know that is not your way. Yours is a way of faith, a way of peace, rest, and trust. A way of contentment which is very much in danger these days.”

“Yes,” Yinney agreed and added, “You’re talking about Jag the neighborhood bully, right?”

Lu-Lu was silent for a long moment before answering very carefully, “True… Jag is a great danger around here. I have seen him rip more than one poor peace-loving creature to shreds!”

Yinney winced at the thought as Lu-Lu so bluntly described the event. “Be very careful where and when you poo, Yinney,” she warned.

“But Jag is perhaps not the worst of it,” she continued. “At least he is not a threat to the jungle itself.”

Yinney blinked slowly three times. When a sloth is in deep thought, sometimes they blink a lot. This remark triggered three blinks before asking, “What do you mean, Lu-Lu?”

“Oh, I forgot, you don’t get around much, do you,” then she chuckled.

“Well, my soul travels much,” Yinney corrected, “the search for my sacred tree fills me. It will become my center. My world will revolve around the 7th Day Tree, and I will bless it with my poo. I eat poisonous leaves no one else can, and the nutrients of my simple ways gives a tree strength no other tree will have without a sloth of the old ways choosing it. And the things I need knowledge of, somehow finds its way to me, perhaps through such a messenger as you.”

“Spoken like a true sloth of the old ways!” Lu-Lu blurted out brightly. “I like you Yinney. My wings have taken me many places, and let me enlighten you as to the greatest threat of all! Have you ever heard of ‘Predator Cities’?”

(This story of Yinney began on 1/20/19 and belongs to Don Allen, alias: Grandpa White Feather.)

“Yinney the Sloth”

January 20, 2019February 13, 2019 Path Without End

I have been inspired to try something. Grandpa White Feather is the “Story Teller” in this family, and I have a story I want to try. So for the next few articles they will be small chapters of a character I’m introducing: “Yinney the Sloth”. We will see if people want the story to continue, or not. The story will also be an analogy for messages of deep meaning for our modern times. I hope you enjoy. I think I could really enjoy developing a whole world around this character. Here we go. (Oh! To fully appreciate what this story shall be, you might want to read the article just previous to this one, “Do No Harm”.)

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“Yinney the Sloth”

Chapter One

Yinney was born in the jungles of South America, the Amazon Rain Forest, during a very hot summer. All summers were hot in the Amazon, but as a sloth, he never gave it much thought. Today was just another day of hanging out high in trees while a slight breeze caused the motion of the swaying limb.

He enjoyed the swinging little branch, the gentle movement relaxing and soothing. In this way Yinney could move without moving, and sloths loved that. To move without moving. Such was the life of a sloth. He felt in motion and yet he was wasting no energy.

Everything moves slow for a sloth, very slow. His people were masters at the beauty of slow, a treasure under appreciated by most other peoples. Sloths considered the wasting of energy very rude. “How rude,” they would say, and all would do a slow nod in agreement. One nod would be enough. Two nods a waste.

But today Yinney was on the hunt! Now for a sloth to hunt, the prey must be very slow indeed. As a mater of fact, it is better if the prey cannot move at all. This was true of his hunt today for he was in search of a tree! A very special tree, and they cannot run away.

As vegetarians, sloths really never hunt in the way predators do. Yinney ate leaves. Delicious green leaves. He never had to kill anything! But down below, in the jungle, lived many predators who would love to eat him if they could. It was very dangerous on the ground, his mother had instructed, and this was one reason the tree would be very special, and he would bless the tree with his very own fertilization once it was found.

Yinney’s mother’s name was Minney, and his father was Dinney, but he mostly remembered his mother. She taught him everything a sloth needed to know and now shared her territory with him as he headed out to live his own life in the trees. His mother told him, “Yinney, you must find your special tree within seven days, because you know what happens every seven days!”

“Yes, mother,” he had answered. Yinney knew in seven days he would need to poo. That is a polite way of saying he would need to go to the bathroom. Yinney the sloth would need to poo! And that meant going to the ground, the most dangerous place in the world for a sloth! He knew his time to find a special tree would pass quickly, but he would never hurry or rush, for the beauty of slow was the sacred way of his people.

Minney had warned her son that their territory was the hunting ground of one of the worst bullies around, a jaguar named Jag! And Jag considered a sloth pooing to be easy prey, and indeed they were. She taught her son the bathroom was the most dangerous place, because Jag, and others, were always looking for easy prey. They lived hungry all the time. You could see it in their eyes, never satisfied, always looking for something to kill!

But sloths were peace loving, respected the sacred, and had no weapons to fight. Even those long claws they had were simply to hook tree limbs and hang all day long high in a tree, invisible to the world below. Their claws were for peace, not fighting. There claws were for living in the high places, the refuge of great trees forming a green canopy, a world of its own throughout the Amazon jungle.

“Jag is very strong and fast. He is a great hunter. He has sharp claws and teeth. If he ever finds you, he is a killing machine!” his mother warned.

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(As of 1/20/19 this story of Yinney belongs to Don Allen, alias: Grandpa White Feather.)

“Do No Harm”

January 19, 2019January 20, 2019 Path Without End

three-toed-sloth The more I study the sloth the more I kind of of feel sorry for this fella. It seems the sloth is no threat to anyone. He lives by a code of “Do No Harm”. He just wants to live a peaceful life in the trees and eat leaves, even poisonous leaves! Can you believe poisonous leaves do him no harm? I guess you could say the sloth is a complete pacifist.

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The sloth is not equipped to fight, to slow for flight, and basically try to remain unnoticed, in other words, HIDE! However, they have one problem. They have to POOP. And all a sloth wants to do is poop in peace, but predators, mainly jungle cats, see a pooping sloth as easy prey. And they are. It is estimated that possibly 50% of sloths die on the ground, and they mainly come to the ground once a week to poop!

Now I have learned the sloth is very good in trees and also water. They are great swimmers. Due to their slow metabolism, they can actually slow their heart rate and breathing to such a point they can stay underwater for as long as forty minutes! But they are horrible at moving on the ground. This is their greatest point of vulnerability.

Now this eating of poisonous leaves and the once a week pooping thing actually is pretty interesting and you could say interrelated. Would you believe they are able to eat these leaves because they are so slow! The beauty of slow? Speed kills? The sloth can eat poisonous leaves and not be harmed because they have such a low rate of metabolism it takes a month for them to digest a single leaf! A month!

They have a very sophisticated digestive system, allowing them to live on very little food. Hence, one of the reasons for their slow metabolism and very slow lifestyle. We would move slow too if we were living on so little. All the sloth wants to do is eat leaves, have a baby once in a while, hang out in trees, be left alone, and poop! Is that asking to much? In a world of predators it certainly is.

What does it mean to be a pacifist? What does it mean to be nonmaterialistic? Was Jesus a pacifist? He certainly didn’t have much stuff to protect. If someone were being attacked by another person, would Jesus fight to save them? Would he physically strike an attempted rapist? Hhmmm.

I had an interesting conversation with my friend Jason, when we were having church at a Tea/ Coffee shop. We were talking about the “Border Wall”. Would Jesus build a wall? Would Jesus put a lock on the front door of his house? If someone broke into his house to steal his flat screen TV, would Jesus fight to stop him? Hhmmm. Scripture would seem to indicate he would not.

Like the sloth I don’t want to fight anyone. I just want to hang out in my tree, eat some leaves, (maybe not poisonous), or a cookie, and poop without someone attacking me! Here’s the deal. Because of their very slow metabolism, which is one of their gifts, the sloth really eats very little. They don’t eat much. They don’t NEED much. Most animals cannot even survive on these leaves, but the sloth can. Also, due to these unusual factors, the sloth only has to poop one time a week! But they make a slow journey back to that same spot every time! It’s always at the bottom of the same tree. Which puts them on the ground where they are most vulnerable, and we can also say the most “exposed”, if you know what I mean.

Can you imagine at the speed a sloth moves, and if he poops in the same place every time, then I would think he spends his whole life making trips back and forth to the bathroom! I mean, if you move that slow, then you could only get so far out from the bathroom before turning back around to begin your journey back. Right?

I’ve always been a simple man with a simple plan. I just want to live and let live. I want to be fair with people. I want to have enough, but I’m not looking to be rich. I live in a world of predators who want to be rich no matter what it cost others. And I know I have been taken advantage of many times in the years of my life. I bought a cheap house but spent way too much in interest, and still trying to pay it off. If I had been more wary of worldly ways, I would have known, but pardon me for trusting.

When I worked as a truck driver, I paid every month for health insurance that when I finally needed it, at age 58, for back surgery, it left me with a huge bill. Was it the doctors, the hospital, the insurance? How did I end up still owing so much money when I paid for coverage all these years? And at a time I could no longer earn as much? I also was denied workman’s comp. My company sent me to a doctor of their choosing who said my back problem was simply the result of growing older. The back breaking work I did for the company was not the cause. I was going to need a lawyer if I wanted to fight this. But it’s simply not my way. Frankly, knowing how this world works, I had no desire to sink to their level, and I flowed on. Just let me poop in peace, please.

Now as to the conversation Jason and I were having about the wall. I suggested, the moment we decide we want to have “stuff”, we make a choice not to be a pacifist, because if you have “stuff”, then their are predators who want your “stuff” if they can get it. So you have to put a lock on your door. You have to build a wall. You have to be willing to fight. You have to become a predator too, or let others come in and take your stuff.

Even now illegal aliens are getting a whole lot of our stuff. Our country is so far in debt we cannot afford a good national healthcare system like some other countries, and yet we are bleeding money in many other ways because of debt, and people taking advantage who are not even Americans. We can’t take care of our own due to thieves and the high price of money hungry people. Why does medicine have to cost so much for an American? Americans suffering because they can’t afford what is cheap in other places. And what can we do about it? We are easy prey all day long.

News has reported over 4 Billion dollars being lost to illegal aliens claiming lots of children, many who are not even in this country, yet they get the tax benefits of all these children they claim. IRS has been aware of this for at least ten years! They have not fixed this problem. And yet I bet if I failed to pay taxes on my very limited income, they would be all over me. What is this crazy upside down world we live in? But I’m the sloth. I’m easy prey. I guess the illegal alien is not.

So would Jesus build a wall? People want to come here because we have a lot of stuff. Even with all our debt there is still a lot of money in this country. I don’t have it. You may not have it. But it’s here. There are those who have it, and those willing to do whatever to get it. In this world of killers I have learned to live in peace. In spite of the jungle surrounding me, my garden is full of joy. They can’t get blood from a turnip as they say, and I don’t have much that other people want. I like it that way.

My simplicity is one of my gifts. I can go underwater and hold my breath for forty minutes while the world passes by. Ha! I don’t dread crossing to the other side, the fear of death, I’ve made peace with it, so this world actually has very little power over me. Like the Apostle Paul said, he had reached a spiritual place in which the only reason he was still willing to be here was so he could continue helping others, not for himself, but for others. No, Jesus would not build a wall, but Jesus didn’t have stuff either, and we do. So…? Hhmmm. No easy answers.

So many of those popular rich people and Hollywood stars who shout so loud against the wall, and yet they live in personal high security. High security they have intentionally put around themself, choose to live within, choose to pay money for, because they want it, say they need it, but I guess you and I don’t. They want to poop in safety, but what about you and I? They are not a pacifist as they may claim to be. They are only brave because their stuff is safe. They pay people to fight for them, that is not a pacifist. Just because their hand is not holding the gun, their finger did not pull the trigger, does not mean they are nonviolent. The blood is on their hands too, maybe even more so.

“Do No Harm.” These people love to say do no harm. Okay, just let someone try to take their stuff and watch how quickly the predator comes forth. Yes, if I had my choice I wish we were a world of slow eating sloths, but we are not. Still, in spite of this world, my peaceful river still flows towards a destination, and I have affected more things along the way than a wolf would think this sloth could do. I may seek to do no harm, but that does not mean I have no purpose or ambition. I plant gardens and fight jungles, in my own little way. Selah.