Buckeye Trail: Day 4

The Loveland Section is now passed.  Snow from days before still lingered, and there were more deer than human prints–more dogs (5) than humans (2) were on the trail.  The Caesar Creek section was ushered in with confusion, and for one of the first times I’ve been completely lost, despite having a map.  To my utter amazement, I had made a nice loop on my way to the park’s visitor’s center.  Thankfully, Elaine arrived to carry me off to some carrot cake.

Wildlife: 5 deer, three woodpeckers–a pileated, downy, and red-bellied, and some hawks.

I hereby proclaim this a one-man march for freedom.  Our story is the same, only the names have changed.

Day 3: Buckeye Trail

13.5 miles from Loveland to Morrow (I’m stuck on the Muppets sketch and singing it in my head). 

Beautiful sunshine trumped the cold temperature.  The Little Miami was graced with one kayaker amidst the flowing ice, and the trail was full of bikers, runners, dog-walkers and, in a quite space, two deer who surveyed me shortly before running off.  Can’t wait to paddle the Little Miami soon…in warmer weather.

Day 2: Buckeye Trail

14.8 miles today from Murray Ave. in Cinci to Loveland Ave. in Loveland.  Five hour trek with no significant stops, through constant drizzle and light rain.  There’s not a part of me not wet and cold by the end.  Thankfully, Paxton’s Grill is right off the trail, so it was nice to sit down to a Sam Adams and fish.

The Little Miami Scenic Trail/State Park was a nice walk.  I enjoyed the bridge over the Little Miami River with all of its graffiti.  Here were some contributions I considered making:

More Peace, Less War

Which half of the family tree do you cut off and have it still live?

Consume Less

Go Red Sox!

Day 1: Buckeye Trail

Here’s to my start on the Buckeye Trail–good to be on the move.  I started at just past noon on New Year’s Day 2010.  Now, we’ll see how long it takes to make the 1445 mile trek.  Seven miles down, many more to go…

Call Me Old

I don’t need any special ringtone, when I want to hear the song, I’ll play it myself

I’m superslow at texting and amazed at how quickly other react.

I hate cable, can’t stand television and despite hundreds of channels, never found anything I really liked besides a good movie.

I don’t have a Facebook page, my blog is unnoticed, and I don’t care to MeMeMeTube that much.

Does anybody have a life outside of an electronic device?

Can the store clerk even bear to put down her phone to look at me?  Is there a teenager alive today that knows what interpersonal skills are?

Would you rather watch a show about a happy family or make happiness in your own family?

Do you know what a community is besides the superficial ones online?

Less Protection Than Chastisement

So nice to know that all that our justice system offers is a comical shadow of justice,

less protection of an individual’s rights and mere chastisement.

If I wanted chastisement, I could easily find just petulence from my ex-wife.

Did you go to law school for that?

Really?  Not only did you lose your brain but where is your compassion?

You slip into my shoes and see what good a wagging finger in your face does you.

On Justice Defeated

A dark cloud is to pass over us all,

though the one wearing the mask remains ignorant of the doom to come.

He sees narrowly,

while She lays helpless to all Her children.

One cold, cruel, and vicious reaps nothing for he has neglected what he hath sown.

One cold, cruel and vicious with a robe sows only discord, and no one shall profit though they will toil all their days.

And where is that hand that stays the mob?  Could it not even stay the hand of one that inflicts harm upon the Innocent?

The betrayal of the trusted is colder than the foul of the wicked.

Where is your equality?

Where is your justice?

You have no purpose unless you serve it.

Our Fathers’ Future

We pay great lip service and herald the Founding Fathers.

The men who forged our nation from the tyranny of a king; that transcended mere politics and elitism to offer a refuge to the common man.  It was designed to be the refuge where the rights of all were to rule supreme, that every voice was to be heard and every dream to be given the nourishment of opportunity.

This is the land we have come to love.  Yet, is this the land we speak of and call home?

Surely the same Founding Fathers, whose names we envoke for our desires and comforts and ideals, are not the same men whose very words we waste with our inaction.

For what do we think of fathers now?  We trumpet these virtues inked with Their blood but cannot muster a whisper of disdain when we forsake justice for all.  What do we make of our fathers today?

Today we want to make them

deadbeat.  Disneyland.  tired.   simple-minded.

We pay little lipservice and trample today’s fathers.

How Many?

How many innocent people die before the war is over?

How many starve to death before someone offers food?

How many are turned away before they are welcomed?

How many are lynched before they are allowed to be free?

How many are condemned unjustly before there is restitution?

When will we learn?  What is the cost we will pay?  Are we just that slow at learning?

Come to Know This

Come to know the meaning of hopelessness.

Know that your sincerest efforts are wasted and dismissed.

Know that whatever you were told about justice is a lie.

Know that there is no god that is coming to intervene in this situation.

Know that even someone who loves you can’t help.

Know that what gets done under the unwatchful eye of the court carries no penalty.

Know that less than what you’d expect determines your fate.

Come to know this, and you know their lie that you bought without offering.