Daniel J. Arthur’s Journal

October 27, 2021

It is time to be more thoughtful to be sure we are not doing harm whatever we do. Otherwise, we are causing terrible things to happen. Many people are involved in denying the harm of many things they support, and most of this behavior is by well-to-do and well connected people. This poor behavior leads to weakening America and the world with pollution, bad health, inferior infrastructure, climate change impacts, income gaps, racism, misogyny, restricted freedom, and more.

Be thoughtful. Care. Be kind. Be a positive force.

My dad’s uncle was an interesting fellow. He lived with his pleasant and kind wife, Irene, on the outskirts of Grand Junction, Colorado.  It was a dry sagebrush landscape dominated by the presence of the Colorado River and the surrounding mountains. They had a small farm in a cluster of other small farms in a relatively flat area alongside a canal. They had chickens and a horse. They had ditch water on the backside of the house. He didn’t say much to me, but he was always tactful and direct. Other people had conversations with him when I was around, including me. And, this is much of what I got out of it:

Years before the family had a place on Roan Creek (“crick” it was called) where they raised cows, sheep and chickens on the small ranch in the dry mainly sagebrush hills. Looking at it from afar it would be hard to know that a rich microclimate nurtured by the many dams on the crick in the many small valleys alongside made for a nice place to raise a family in the years after the Civil War. I was fortunate enough to visit the area once when I was young, catching a brook trout in a small clear pond on the crick.

The family Franklin prospered in the crick drainage, albeit modestly. They ran cows, they were real cowboys and cowgirls, and rounded up wild horses on the mesa top desert above.  Horses were part of life, and Dwight always had at least one on hand. I often thought of myself as a cowboy in those days, like my Great Uncle Dwight was. He let me ride at least one time solo.

Of course, I was just a skinny little 10-year old at this time when my dad was off in Vietnam, but after some gentle but serious instructions from my uncle, I felt every bit a cowboy as I rode Dove on the dirt track along the canal. I was alone, which was like many a TV cowboy I had known. I felt normal and at home riding, and didn’t have a care in the world. Looking back, I think people that saw this sight of a full-sized horse with a tiny kid on its back wondering along the banks of the canal might have been a little curious, if not concerned. I don’t recall being allowed to solo again there.

Usually when visiting I spent many hours playing with the water striders, we called them water bugs, skating on the water surface.  I’ll tell you something that comes to mind about the visits and my studies of the water bugs, which I would be quick to spot even as I was floating a stick down the ditch. I played all kinds of sports growing up including football, American football many would say. What I learned watching the little critters moving about the surface of the water, I put into play on the football field. Again, I was a tiny little guy, but whether I was leading my flag football team to a championship or running in touchdowns in little league or just playing touch football in the backyard, I tried my best to dart around unpredictably to the opposition. It worked really well. I recommend studying those water bugs. It’s amazing what one can learn.

Dwight was very cool and generally slow to get excited. You could tell he loved and cared for Irene, and you could tell she reciprocated his feelings. My parents admired them. I only felt comfortable visiting there, if not a little bored as they had no other children around whenever we were there. I learned a lot even there though I spent so little time with them.

Request for help from the Great Mediator

August 7, 2021

Daniel J Arthur

We have some serious divides happening in the United States of America. It appears that a very significant number of the nation have lost the ability to be truly rational. This in turn impacts all other Americans and their ability to be accurate thinkers and decision makers as well. How can we start moving closer together if not healing this divide? I will make a request.

Dear Great Mediator,

I have been living in the United States of America my whole life. I was born here. I was raised and went to school here. I have worked and played here as well as visiting a good number of places around the Earth; not enough, but a good amount. I believe that I have grown throughout the years in my ability to be rational and fair in all things. I am sure I am not perfect, and I probably get things wrong from time to time.

In recent years it seems to me that we have been having a greater and greater divide between our two major parties in our long standing democratic political system. The middle ground has appeared to have dissolved, and it has been replaced by a great chasm. I know that in reality, being that we are all human in this political endeavor, we actually share so many values and beliefs. But, somehow many of us are being misled and misinformed into a trap of inhumanity.

I don’t think I have been the problem at all. The major reason is that I have virtually no power in this system of things. I do not have enough money, connections, followers or charisma to have manipulated change. However, I have been fortunate enough to be able to observe through the many, many lenses available to me how this problem has grown to be very, very dangerous for all of us.

What I see happening is that people who do have great power in many cases are abusing their power in such a way as to brainwash many Americans. They basically want their votes. They have found that by using their monetary power they can influence Americans with bad information to get these votes for the wrong reasons, basically so that they can become more rich and powerful. They have been developing an underground non-democratic group of fiefdoms with the purpose of subverting our democracy into becoming an autocracy, which they are mistakenly thinking that they can control. There will be only one winner of this outcome, but only in the short-term.

We have many, many serious issues that need the immediate attention of our nation. This division is exacerbating the problems as no real decent and reasonable solutions are being brought forth and implemented. Information pollution is clouding and spoiling our minds. We need them to be healthy as can be – everyone’s. How else are we going to properly address climate change, the pandemic, affordable housing, health care without wealth depletion, incentives to learn, equality, systemic racism and gender bias, freedoms, healthy environments and helping all of our neighbors? There are many more serious and less serious issues unlisted here.

I am appealing to you, Great Mediator, to help us find a way to come back together. While I don’t think it is too difficult, I don’t see it happening without your help. We need your wisdom and we need it now. Please help us to be much more honest and caring in everything that we do. Help us to realize that we really have the same desire to live a good life and to be able to pay this forward to future generations. We are one and we are all unique. Please help us to live together in a mutually beneficial way. I am available to assist in any way you find helpful.

Thank you for your kind consideration and help.

Sincerely,

Daniel J Arthur

April 6, 2020

A great activity to do with your family and friends while staying home and staying safe is to ready books and share your thoughts with one another.  I believe the books I’ve written will help you have hours of enjoyment.  Please check them out.  I welcome your input.

Link to children’s stories introduction video.

Tumblr link:  Young Hearts – Wonderful Children’s Stories

Daniel J Arthur Books

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All Rights Reserved

March 12, 2017

The 2017 BWF All England Open Superseries badminton tournament was a big success this past week. There were some tremendous individual and team efforts in all five events – women’s singles, men’s singles, women’s doubles, mens doubles, and mixed doubles. It is worth watching matches on demand on YouTube especially as presented by badmintonworld.tv.

The champions were as follows:

Tai Tzu Ying, Chinese Taipei, Women’s Singles

Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia, Men’s Singles

Chang Ye Na and Lee So Hee, South Korea, Women’s Doubles

Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Indonesia, Men’s Doubles

Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong, China, Mixed Doubles

There were many wonderful performances that I hope to be able to report on, but feel free to check on those videos available on YouTube and elsewhere.