So, ready for the bad news? “Nose picking” can lead to dementia. All the adults were right when they told me to quit picking my nose (last week). This should give us adults a lot more power in our attempt to stop the natural tendency to put things up our noses when they don’t seem to be operating quite right. Will it make a difference? Who nose.
Here is the report:
“Chlamydia pneumoniae can infect the central nervous system via the olfactory and trigeminal nerves and contributes to Alzheimer’s disease risk” by Anu Chacko, Ali Delbaz, Heidi Walkden, Souptik Basu, Charles W. Armitage, Tanja Eindorf, Logan K. Trim, Edith Miller, Nicholas P. West, James A. St John, Kenneth W. Beagley and Jenny A. K. Ekberg, 17 February 2022, Scientific Reports. Nature.com Article
It was 5:30 AM. I was due to check out by 11:00. Should I empty my room now, or wait until later? I heard a voice that said, “DO IT NOW!!!!!!” I listened and went to get the luggage cart. On my way back to my room, I met someone from my group in the hallway. They reminded me that I had six hours to empty my room. I just nodded and said something to the effect that I knew, and that I was a bit obsessive. I began thinking about my “Do it now” mentality. The song “The Living Years,” by Mike and the Mechanics, and my friend Tim Cusack who told me the story of listening to that same “Do it NOW!!!” message that visited him in the middle of the night decades ago, that turned into what I call his signature piece of performance art. By the way, as it turned out, those at the hotel, who waited until they had to check-out had trouble securing luggage carts. Cha Ching. Sometimes, I do the right thing.
My friend Tom reminded me that reconciliation is spoken through my heart.....not my head…
I was leaving. Sad, to the point of despair. Tears fogged my eyes. I had been there with them for just three short days, but I had experienced the three young Lakota men who simply sought a listening ear. They received support, protection, love, a sense of purpose, and were seen for the young men they were. I and the three non-native people were able to offer some of that to them. They reminded me that I now had three new grandsons. I was now their “GaKa” they said. Their Grandfather. And they treated me, and the others present, with the honor and respect that is embedded in their souls from their culture and is so painfully absent from mine.
I’m walking a stunningly beautiful, remote trail. I turn a corner and enter a garbage strewn zone, I ask myself “I wonder if the people who did this, would do it in their grandmother’s home?” And suddenly the answer appears. ”Duh, of course they would, because that is exactly what they did.”
I was left wondering what recently (in human history) happened. What phenomena occurred that took us as a culture away from knowing and understanding that the earth is our home. I’m guessing it happened when the exploiters of our home (the earth) needed to dull our sensitivity to what, in fact, they are doing (with the full consent of the vast majority of our population). And now, we are doing to our mother.
There is a reason that fracking wells in my part of the world are hidden behind gigantic palisades. I will assure you that it is not necessary for the fracking process itself; except that if enough eyes saw it, they would have to quit.
Based on the amount of trash I picked up their plan has worked. We’ve received and integrated the message. The message overrides any sense that this earth is actually our mother’s home.Our ancestors home. Our descendant’s home.Our home.Your home.My home.The traditional people haven’t forgotten.