Fine Art

“If I had to boil it down into one sentence… that would be to treat your neighbor as you want to be treated,” say today’s stranger now friend, Steve.

Words that roll off the lips of so many of us, and words that are fundamental to the hope that many of us share. And at the very core of the sentiment is the reason that 365 has made it this far, only three days from the completion of its first year.

And Steve is one of those guys who has earned the chops to make the statement. You see, he has walked the walk of the rich and of the troubled, a life history that to the day of our meeting is challenging him to find who he is in settling into being a contributor to our world.

How did I meet Steve. Some of you may remember Pappy, another story of man facing demons of past decision and of growth to a higher place; and a man who is now a very important part of my life in continued friendship. A friendship that transcends all implications of class distinction and has grown beyond that of any assumed stereotypes. You see, Pappy is an ex-con and past gang banger; and now in his late fifties, with a history that would have destroyed the very soul of many, he has arisen to be a light to those who know him. And it is through Pappy that I am privileged to meet Steve.

No, Steve is not homeless, comes not from a gangster background, or showcases any body markings. He is a regular guy in many ways. A guy who most would pass by as a person living a charmed life – clean clothes, groomed dogs and a nice car.

“Then how does Steve link to Pappy?” you ask.

To answer, I’ll let Steve’s advice explain, “I think there is more goodness than bad out there. The bad gets the press… you know… like especially now, being political season, going into a presidential election. We keep hearing all this negative stuff about our candidates, or you learn about just how full of crap they all are.

“I’m prejudice… I want to believe all the good for one candidate and I want to believe all the bad for the other candidate.” Steve calls this observation, “Kind of interesting.”

“Kind of interesting,” a very curious summation in evaluating the hottest of issues, “Who will be the President of America.”

We’ll not get into that… my blog is not a political forum, and although we often reveal the outlooks of many on the subject, I wish not to allow it to become a place for debate of judgment toward the many strangers that we can now so openly call “friend.”

But what makes Steve special is not his political views, it’s his faith in self and in humanity. You see, Steve has seen the bottom, once a millionaire in the dot-com days, he has seen his wealth dissolve – stood by his wife in her battle with brain cancer, only to find chemical dependency and a failed marriage as the result. Steve has borne pains that are real, and through his courage to openly expose his past does he inspire those of us who are “regular” to realize there is more going on than one may realize.

So, how do Steve and Pappy connect? Pappy is very ill, looks like cancer, and for months Steve has been taking care of all of Pappy’s medical issues: helping him to find medical treatment, resolving his financial aid and securing his Federal/State insurance benefits. Even without enough money to meet his own needs, Steve regularly gives Pappy a few bucks here and there.

Now, I don’t want to make Steve out to be a saint in any way, or to make any innuendo that he is more charitable or a better person than any one of us. What I am saying is this, we are all connected. For Steve and I, it is through our concern for Pappy.

“I just watched Robert Downey Jr. in the Sherlock Holmes movies…” Steve visualizes as he speaks of the films antagonist, “…the whole reason for the world war that Sherlock Holmes stops is, as the villain says, ‘I don’t care who goes to war, I just want to supply the bullets and the bandages.’ He doesn’t care if he is hurting them or fixing them. He just wants to make the money.”

“Then there are other people who have a passion, that when there is a war, they’ll be the ones with the bandages, not out to make money, but to do good.

“I’m trying to not name names, but…” he shifts gears.

“…that’s what the answer seems to be… if you want to boil it down into just one sentence, ‘Just treat your neighbor as you want to be treated.’

“The other one would be, seeing that I am a dog person, ‘I always hope to be the person that I think my dogs thinks that I am.’

“I guess by nature that I am a positive hopeful dude…” Steve reflects as he looks ahead, “…so speaking about the U.S. – I hope in five years we are not in war any longer. We can’t be a nation of prosperity when we are spending more money than we bring in, paying for war. So, that’s killing us.

“Killing the 98 percent… killing the 99 percent…”

This grabs my attention,“Your saying the 1 or 2 percent are the wealthy?”

“Yeah… I don’t know… I’m forty-eight, you don’t become forty-eight without having good times, bad times, ups and downs. And Looking back to the best of times it seems that I was part of a collective great thing that was going on. There was a lot of prosperity… and there was a lot of enjoyment out there… enthusiasm for the country… maybe even for the world.

“If we want to get global… I just said, I hope in five years the United States is not in war. But it’s not looking good that our planet isn’t going to be worse off than it is today… in five years. If you just take a look at what is being shown about what we are doing to our planet, and it doesn’t seem like the people that say, ‘It’s not happening…’ Like they don’t say, ‘That’s not happening.’ They just say, ‘That’s not going to cause what people say it will cause.’

“Everybody agrees that the icecaps are melting… but they are in denial that it is raising the temperature of our planet… our oceans especially. And without our oceans, we don’t survive.

“It just seems that those 1 to 2 percent, the biggest of the biggest companies in the world make money from producing energy. And there is just too much money in the stuff to stop destroying our planet. So I don’t know… how do you turn that around?

“But just for me, in my own little world, I have high hopes. I hope to be married with a family for the first time… developing a legacy… making enough money to pay my basic bills, that’s a stressful place to be. So if I could just turn that around a little. I don’t need a lot, but it sure would be nice.

“I think maybe for most people who have got themselves into my situation… to be debt free with a little safety net is a good start.”

Steve has ridden the top of the financial wave, making boatloads of new technology money, has weathered illness of a spouse, only to see the end of a marriage, and has sunk to the deepest despair in chemical and alcohol abuse.

But sitting, shaded from the heat of another hot summer day, I find wisdom of well-earned knowledge in Steve’s council.

I have to ask, because I know there are many in similar situations, “Steve do you mind if I publish the fact that you are recovering from dependency issues, and if so, what advice do you have for anyone battling addiction?”

He gladly accepts… “Get to a meeting… go every day when you don’t want to go, until you want to go… get there early and stay there late… and find somebody that tells your story and then go introduce yourself to that person…

‘They say get in the middle of the heard. It’s like… which animals get eaten in the jungle? It’s the ones on the fringe of the heard. The Antelope in the middle of the heard never gets eaten by the Lion, or Lioness. Just get in the middle of it.

“The Lion is the temptation, right?” I clarify.

“Yes…” Steve bridges to the realities of living with dependency issues, “It’s rough out there… there are a lot of reasons for people like me to drink and do drugs. It’s really painful out there right now… for me financially. For others it could be some other issue. And many times you just get to the point where you say, ‘I can’t do it anymore.’

“I’ve been to a lot of funerals this years, so if that’s your thing… I get it… I understand.

“Candidly, the only answer is to develop a relationship with a power greater than yourself. So that might not work for you… maybe God does not work for you. But in AA, we have a small book and a big book covering what we call the twelve and twelve. Step one is only four pages. The chapter in the big book called, ‘We the agnostics…’ there is a whole chapter, its like forty-seven pages. So if you have a problem with the God thing… you are in a much bigger group than people who believe.

“But you’ve got to find… because it is very clear that left to our own devices we will drink… absolutely drink… it’s too painful not to.

“That’s what I’ve been focusing on in the last twelve months is that relationship. I’ve been going back to Temple, that’s structured… it works for me… but mostly it’s my own perception.

“It’s my own perception” Steve concludes. And perception is a perfect word to finalize this post. For I see it remarkable how three people with uniquely different backgrounds such as Pappy, Steve and myself have found ground together, land that is stable, fertile with compassion and growing fruits of understanding.

Pappy, Steve, I can definitely say, our paths will cross again my friends. Your histories are rich and your transformations are inspiring.

After listening to my explained history of 365, Rabbi Mentz looks into my eyes… “You’re on a journey to find yourself.”

I cannot disagree, and in doing so, a peace fill my heart. A peace that I’m sure we all looking for. It’s that feeling of purpose, that joy of knowing that the path has meaning, and a freedom to accept the very things that frighten us. Those hidden dreams, un-faced secrets and desires for a better self.

And although Rabbi Mentz’s observation is directed specifically at me in beginning our conversation, the premise is universal. We are all on personal journeys. Some of us are aware of the course, while others of us are invisibly flailing our arms in grabbing whatever exterior source that says, “You are OK my child.”

Whatever the case, Rabbi Mentz accepts people for who they are and truly believes that all can become the full measure of their creation.

Rabbi Mentz is to the point and holds no contempt for anyone, or to any faith. And although he calls good, good and evil, evil, he is a true advocate for the sanctity of human life. Proclaiming of the consequences of both good and evil acts, thoughts and deeds.

In him is a deep conviction to his faith, a faith that with a blend of sincere compassion… married to a bold charisma, he challenges us to seek a greater light in all that we do, in inspiring us to take hold of our roots, of our healthy ambitions and of a trust in a loving G_D. For in his eyes can be seen a wondrous dream. A vision not for self-gain or of tribute from the many. But rather, of a hope for a united humanity, a wish for every human being to live free and able to feel of the happiness that all have right to enjoy.

Rabbi Mentz… thank you for allowing me the privilege to present you to the congregation of 365, the podium is yours my friend.

“’First thing I would say to everybody is… always look for good… in everybody. But do not allow evil to exist. If there is evil… like a cancer, the greatest love you can have for humanity is to get rid of that evil. If they are rapists, if they are robbers, if they are terrorists, and the greatest love you can have for humanity is… is to get rid of it.

Now there are two ways of getting rid of it. There is killing them, or there is educating them…

…Abraham opened up a tent for education, and that’s how he taught the whole world about G_D. He never lifted his sword… he never shot a bullet… but he did allow people to come into his tent and hear.

And through his brilliant arguments he transformed thousands, and became the greatest PR agent against paganism and for the word of G_D.

So, if I had something to say to the world… it would be to always look for the good in everybody… and believe that they can be transformed. But do not be hoodwinked… that just because they are evil… we have to be good to them, because if they are going to be a cancer to you… they are going to kill you.

The second thing I would say to the world… Is do not underestimate the power of any single human being; every single person is created by G_D, and there is a potential good in them.

Another thing that I would say to people… Never look for the light at the end of the tunnel. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. You’re dead when you’re at the end of the tunnel. A lot of people go and say of other religions, ‘Suffer, go through the tunnel, because when you die you will go to heaven.’ Is that why G_D put me into this world… to look for the end of it… into the tunnel.

What G_D really did was, he put light in the tunnel, but it’s just concealed… and every action that I do reveals that light. Because it is there that G_D put you… to transform the darkness into good.

The last thing that I would say to everybody is… The Messianic promise that G_D has is not just for the ones who agree with me… The proof… The All Mighty created Jews and Non-Jews. Not everybody has to be Jewish… Not everybody has to live and practice as I do.

Allow people to be the best that they can be… and work in unity. Follow G_D’s law for the Non-Jews. And Jews should follow G_D’s law as created and commanded for the Jews. Together we can make this world a better place.

Finally… If I had the podium to speak to the world… You’re only put into this world for a few moments. Instead of looking at the world for what you can get out of it; become a partner of G_D, and make miracles with him. Because every single moment in your life… there is a person… there is an opportunity to leave a footprint… to show how this world is so much better than it was three minutes ago. That’s what I think I would say.

The world obviously is going to be moving any which way it wants to, because it is not us who makes this world run. No matter how much man plans – G_D laughs… and throws in a LOT of new plans for us to work with.

So where is the world going to be in a hundred years from now? It makes no difference what I say. Because like I say, man plans – G_D laughs.

The question is… where we will man be in a hundred years from now… in the world that G_D is now laughing at.

And I think it is to recognize that in everything that goes on in this world, there is an opportunity to make this world a better place. And, that’s what I would like to see humanity become.

Instead of looking into ourselves and saying, ‘This is for me.’ Is for people to say, ‘Wow, this world is an awesome place, and I can go and play in G_D’s garden, and I can transform this world into a bigger and better place.’

How do I get the weeds out? How do I make it, that in everything that we do, is only going to be in a better way? And, if a new challenge comes about, we have been programmed by our choices to just go and say quickly, ‘Let’s make it better!’

The world is getting there. For example, two hundred years ago, if there was a hurricane somewhere… no one cared. If there was a disease somewhere… no one cared… I just hope that my country doesn’t get it.

 Today there are countries that band together, countries that will go into these places… feed people… tent people. There are people that get Aids in Africa. There are countries that give billions of dollars to fight Aids… Malaria…

…You ask me, ‘Where is this world going to be two hundred years from now…?

Before I reveal Rabbi Mentz’s answer, I must tell you a little more about myself. And in doing so, I still hold true to my stance in keeping my blog unbiased and open to no agenda or platform, other than that of unity in accepting all who choose to join us in our pledge to acceptance of each other.

This said, I’’ tell you that I am Jewish, and baptized a Mormon. A choice that has only given me the greatest peace in life and propelled my desire to better understand not only myself, but to seek a deeper understanding of my fellow-man.

Rabbi Mentz has challenged me to explore the depths of my faith, and in a very short time with him, I have found a greater understanding of where I have come from, and from my studies of other faiths, in examining my choices, and through the meetings of hundreds of unique and spectacular people, I come to the same conclusion in agreeing with Rabbi Mentz’s answer for what is to come.

…You ask me, “Where is this world going to be two hundred years from now…?” Rabbi Mentz’s self questions.

Simple he states, “We are on the right road.”

In closing, and as any loving Rabbi would do, Rabbi Mentz offers me Tefillin.

I accept.

For those of you who do not know what it represents, here is a summary:

The tefillin are to serve as a reminder of God’s intervention at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. Maimonides details of the sanctity of tefillin and writes that “as long as the tefillin are on the head and on the arm of a man, he is modest and God-fearing and will not be attracted by hilarity or idle talk; he will have no evil thoughts, but will devote all his thoughts to truth and righteousness.”The Sefer ha-Chinuch (14th century) adds that the purpose of tefillin is to help subjugate a person’s worldly desires and encourage spiritual development. Joseph Caro (16th century) explains that tefillin are placed on the arm adjacent to the heart and on the head above the brain to demonstrate that these two major organs are willing to perform the service of God.

What’s inside it:

And it shall be for a sign for you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand did the LORD bring you out of Egypt.—Exodus 13:9

And it shall be for a sign upon your hand, and as totafot between your eyes; for with a mighty hand did the LORD bring us forth out of Egypt.—Exodus 13:16

And you shall bind them as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes.—Deuteronomy 6:8

You shall put these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall tie them for a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes. —Deuteronomy 11:18

Rabbi Mentz is a man of great faith, he has shared with me a symbolic blessing, one that is at the root of my very birth, and a prayer for my happiness and safety in life.

A blessing that is bestowed upon me, is one that is more global than we may realize. For looking into his council, there is a rabbinical prayer that a greater light is in store for all who look. A prayer for a better world, for whether Gentile or Jew, Rabbi Mentz is resolute, “Allow people to be the best that they can be…” and work in unity. Follow G_D’s law for the Non-Jews. And Jews should follow G_D’s law as created and commanded for the Jews. Together we can make this world a better place.”

Rabbi, you are right, “We are on the right road.”

Talk tomorrow my friends, and may we all journey safely.

Here I go again, walking up to people in parking lots, and in my own neighborhood none-the-less. How shameless.

And, if you had asked me at the beginning of 365 if I would wander my own area so often, I would have most likely dismissed the notion. Thinking, “I need to travel as far as I can to find a diversity of people, and to meet true strangers.”

Boy was I wrong… Not that I have leaned heavily on my own back yard, but with the pace of every day life and in running a business, there has been many a time where the only option available was to take a local walk. And how sweet it has been, for in every neighborhood outing, I have met a vast range of people, all of who have had something positive to contribute to our mission.

Today is no exception, when having only thirty minutes of free time, on an incredibly busy day; I meet Sumal as he waits in a gym parking lot near my home, killing a bit of time before picking his Uncle up.

Sumal has no reservations in speaking with us, and in his council, gives us perspectives in self-reliance and of the importance of selfless living.

“Do whatever you want to do in life…” Sumal advises, “…but don’t lie to people… we must respect other people’s feelings, and do the correct things, not the bad things. Everything comes from good things, not from bad things. We have to set our target; it’s always going to be a different feeling if you can reach your target by doing good things.”

“What is your target?” I inquire.

“My target…? I’d like to be a chef… I’ve studied five years at home (Sri Lanka), and in this country I’ve already finished my school in culinary. I finished last year… and right now I’m working in a restaurant. I know I cannot be a chef right now, I need to get more experience, it’s a hard job.”

I think of Hells Kitchen as Sumal explains what it is like working the line.

“All the bosses put a pressure on us as the pressure is put on them. Especially on weekends, we are very busy… the line.”

It is apparent that Sumal is doing the works, paying his dues and has his sights set on a personal target. And as he explains his experiences he strongly leans towards stories that prove of his decision to patience and in choosing the good.

He talks of society, “It’s different now… not like the seventies and sixties, when people helped each other. It is not like that now. Now day’s people are very selfish. They are thinking about themselves, not caring about others. If you earn some money… you keep it in your pocket. They don’t think of the poor people who have nothing to eat, and right now very few people give to the people so they can eat some food…”

However, Sumal does take into account the nature of helping people who are in need, “…there is some reason behind it too, because some people take the money, but they don’t eat. They use it for drugs or something else.

People right now… it is very hard to find out who they are, and it’s going to get worse,” Sumal summarizes.

We’ve heard this sentiment from hundreds of new friends over the last year. “It’s going to get worse.” But, along with it has come inspirations to do our parts in bettering our contribution to the world, as well as a vastness of thoughts, from just about every religion, race, gender and age. All telling, and hoping for, a time to come where something will change for the better. And better yet, we’ve met many who are now engaged in the trenches, doing whatever they can in their own circles of influence to plant the good seeds of which Sumal refers.

Sumal sums up a challenge with a sobering comment, “Now days a lot of people have more needs and wants, and too many put their wants before their needs.”

I push a little, “Sumal, what would you tell the people of the world to do about it?”

“Yes, it going to be worse, and everything is going to be destroyed one day… according to my religion (Sumal is Buddhist), just follow the rules and teachings of Buddha and it will be easy to survive.”

Now, as I’ve always stated, my intent is to not be writing a religious blog. While, in interviewing so many, it has been impossible to not feature the words, and beliefs, of the many.

And what is so empowering from this experience is one universal finding, at the core of so many faiths, Christian to Jew, Muslim to Sikh, Buddhist to Hindu, can be found similar guidelines that overlap in an amazing way. We really are so similar at the most basic level of what we all believe.

The rules in which Sumal speaks of:

1) To avoid the training to avoid taking the life of beings.

2) To undertake the training to avoid taking things not given.

3) To undertake the training to avoid sexual misconduct.

4) To undertake the training to refrain from false speech.

5) To undertake the training to abstain from substances which cause intoxication and heedlessness.

Five more days to go to the end of this phase of 365, and for whatever reason, this week is proving to be a week of spiritual enlightenment. I’m not looking for this stuff, or profiling for any one religious, political, environment or social platform.

Only one objective do I keep on the table; that is to do the best I can to fairly represent the people I meet, and to be a random as I can in meeting them.

Whatever the results from the last year may be, I will always be proud to say, “Thank you to all my new friends, your lessons have shaped me in how I will be addressing the rest of my life, and I hope that the same effect will take hold in your heart as well.”

“Hey Richard… Your not done yet, save the sentimentality, you still have strangers to meet.”

Your right, 365 is not over, Plus, it is only just beginning. So readers… Operation 365 is readying to commence. Stay tuned my friends.

At a pace that is difficult to keep up with, The Chief talks of medicine, his spiritual reference for prayers, of his outlook toward his fellow human beings, of his years living on Venice beach, the importance of parenting, the environment and of his wishes for a more loving world.

“There was a lot of anger, a lot of hate, a lot of drugs… sex, drugs and rock and roll on this beach ten years ago… it was a horrible place to visit. I was born and bred and raised out her… and I didn’t want to be here… and this is my home.

I was here in the sixties… the civil rights movement, the peace movement, all the movements… I was very pro-active. Not pro-politician, not pro-religion, but pro-active because I felt that we are born into the world with nothing… right… everybody is born into this world with nothing. Now when you get into the world… it’s a cold cruel world, and unless someone gets the right nurturing from a mother and a father, they are going to go haywire.

We need to teach people what is going on in the world… the truth, not the innuendo’s that we are all doing great… America is the big number one, big brother of all… we help everybody in the world… that’s why we are in trouble. At this point nobody really cares.

When I last heard we all have freedom of speech… I’ve practiced that. So nobody has the right to tell me to shut up… from here to DC… if you’re making a point. Now I could be screaming, or ranting, or raving, that is me doing it to me… throwing it in the air. But if I welcome you, with love and peace… bingo, see what I’m saying.”

And here is what the Chief is saying, “’We are all born, everybody, into this world with nothing… and we leave with nothing. I know other people have said that… but you’ve got to realize what I am saying. I put nothing above a human being… NOTHING.

I don’t care what it is… a car, a plane, money, anything… I don’t put nothing above a human being. Because you (the Chief points to me) are just as sacred of a human being, as you (he point to my friend, Buddy), are as sacred of a human being, as I (points to himself) am as a human being. And nobody has the right to take anybody to where they do not want to go… to kick anybody… or to tell anybody what the have to do. You can explain to people what they should do… but you have no right to tell nobody nothing.

So I make everything as equal. The biggest joke out there is that I am sort of like the town, friar… the town messenger. And I come out and say, ‘Happy belly button day! Does everybody have their belly buttons on!’ Well of course, if you are walking on two legs everybody as a belly button, all belly buttons being equal. Now, from the new little belly buttons in their strollers all the way up to the old haggidy man walking down the street, we are born into the world with nothing, and we take nothing with us when we leave, what messes us up is this right here…’” The Chief point to his head, “…it always wants to explore.”

I interrupt, “So with that brain, and looking towards the future, what do you see, or where should we head?”

The Chief resumes his pace, “I see it like this, if we continue to derogate our planet, cutting down our rain forests and creating more nuclear waste, we are going to have big problems.

And we have to eliminate to hate, and replace it with love.”

“Do you think we can have a loving future?” I ask.

“I’m in love… I love everything walking above the Earth on two legs. I don’t care what race they are… color… creed. I don’t care what religion they are. I don’t care if they have warts on their nose. They deserve to breathe the air, just as everybody else does. Nobody asked nobody to show up, and now that we are here…we have to hold firm to the sacredness of life, of other humans, and then realize that we are OK.

Funny how timing works out, we end our interview, and as we do, and in proving of The Chiefs integrity, a witness to his works surprisingly joins us, when up walks a stranger, and to the Chief, she smilingly says, “Happy belly button day!”

I’ll never look at anyone’s navel the same again! Chief, thanks for your inspiration!

“Stop it! That’s it… Stop It!” Calvin pleads.

“We all need to stop it…! We are such a joke around the world… We just need to stop it!

Stop everything… the cheating, the lying, the politics, the don’t give a damn about your fellow-man, don’t care about your family, too much divorce, robberies, gang bangers killing people like it’s a video…

My words of council would be to stop it! Look at how you’re hurting the world… look how you’re hurting people.” Calvin advises as he looks to the future?

“In one year I don’t see the world being any different than it is now. It’s going to take something catastrophic… and I don’t mean an asteroid hitting the Earth.

He gives an example, “’Like with the gang bangers, some day somebody is going to shoot the wrong person…some day and everyone is going to say, ‘That’s it!’

The police, the National Guard are going to have to go into the ghetto and crack this down. The Liberals are going to say, ‘You can’t do that,’ but we’re going to have to do something… something is going to happen somewhere.

In a year nothing is going to happen… In one hundred years…? If we are still a planet…? then, I would hope… I would think… that something would have changed, because it does. Look back on the past and at where we are now. In one hundred years, I would have hoped that everything would have come full circle.

I watch TV sometimes and watch Leave It To Beaver, or some of those shows from back in the days… Ozzie and Harriett. And you just can’t think of how they talk on TV today as far as sex, politics and everything.

Like the bigger brother on Leave It To Beaver, calling his friend, ‘You rascal.’ I mean who talks like that today. Hopefully we’ll come back to that. It seemed life was better, easier, and slower in those days. And, I hope that in one hundred years everything would have come full circle and people have manners, people have principle, people have respect for their fellow-man, politic would have come back to where it was years and years and years ago when it actually cared about the country, not about your four years… Or it could just be a pile of crap.

I think since man has been on this planet, we have not done anything good for it. If someone doesn’t make it stop, I think this world is doomed. We used to fight other people with uniforms on… that almost does not exist now. We have people killing each other and then running into a school with a bunch of children to keep shooting. Something has got to happen; otherwise we are going to destroy ourselves.

I don’t know if I have a lot of faith in man to do the right thing, but who else is going to do it… Hopefully man will wake up one day and change things. I don’t know if a hundred years can do it, or if something will happen in the next ten years. I hope so… I’d like to see that before I die.

Who is Calvin? (By the way, Calvin is an alias, my new friend wants to remain un-named)… An amazing man with an amazing history, I run into him and his friend (we’ll call him “D” in protecting his identity as well) outside of a Coldstone Ice Creamery.

I approach them at around 9:00pm as they sit at a table just under the La Riena Spa on Ventura Boulevard; just a few clicks North of Van Nuys. I’ve passed them several times in walking tonight’s semi-populated streets. For over an hour, I’ve been looping three city blocks and after several conversations with a variety of strangers, no one is willing to interview.

The night is getting late, the streets are thinning, and on my forth lap past La Reina, I can no longer halt myself from approaching Calvin and “D” as they finish their meal in reclining into conversation.

At first I am a little inhibited to reach out to them, they are a little intimidating for some reason, but as I get to know them, I understand what gives them their edge.

But it’s not the kind of edge you would imagine, they are not tattooed, have no loud presence or project any attitude of aggressive behavior. What they have is a confidence that says, “We are in our space… and all is OK.”

A space that at first has me feeling that I may have violated or distracted them in walking into their time, but being at the last week of a one-year effort, I’ve come to the point in realizing that I must face my fears. If I am proclaiming stepping into the shoes of others, then I cannot let any inhabitation redirect my efforts.

What I find out in one hour of conversation is a life expander, both are referees in the arena of professional fighting, both have served our country in the Vietnam War, both are understanding and filled with compassion and both are extremely open in sharing their life and advice with me.

“D” gives me a lesson in life mastery in comparing our human existence to the life of a fighter. “We all have fear… We all experience Pain… We all experience Joy… And we all must respect one another. That is what it is like to be a fighter. They are constantly working on self-mastery to be the best they can be and in finding out what they are capable of. For most of them it is not about money or fame, it’s about understanding self. Sure there are some who are not like that, but the majority are.”

I know both of these men have values. They talk of family, children and of the discipline required to be a good human. My eyes will never look at a fighter the same again.

“They talk the talk, go into the ring and fight, but after the fight, win or loose, most of them go out and party together. They are professionals and the pre-fight stuff is just part of their job,” D and Calvin tell me.

The mirror to life is this, when the talk settles, the battles are over, and wars of opinion, issue or whatever are over… whether won or lost, do we still look upon our opponents, our fellow human beings, with the dignity they deserve.

I know, I hard thing to do, but after sitting with two men of confidence and life experience who get it, I must say, I am inspired to lengthen my stride in trying to do so.

Calvin… D… thanks for the evening, and advice, my friends, I’ll keep my eyes out for you on ESPN.

And per you time in the military… and be it a late as it is… Welcome Home and Thank You!