Radical Insanity

Advocates of hate. My way or the highway. I’m right and you are wrong. Thoughts bouncing around diverse communities throughout. Radical insanity has no borders, no religion, no political affiliate.

She’s ugly and mean. Unpleasing aesthetics of egotistical terrorism dominate her culture. From within her circles she has devout loyalist praising her beliefs and capabilities. From outside, she’s just a bitch.

Why? Because St. Peter is at the gates of Heaven grasping his driftwood staff, confederate flag waving atop. This is our sacred space, righted to us by Almighty God. If you don’t get what we say, damn you to hell for eternal suffering.

Mother Teresa

Condemning Mohammad Ali, His Holiness – The Dalai Lama, Ghandi, and Mother Teresa. “They may be good people, but works don’t get you home. All will burn in hell.”

Faith plays the star role in radical insanity. He’s all we’ve got. Individuals, products of unique environments – our own history, education, hobbies, religious beliefs, friends, family, career and everything that shapes everyday life. It’s who we are. It’s all we know.

Simmered down from a stock to demi-glace it looks something like a theory of dirt. When we die, we either turn into organic matter, or there is more, both is hopeful.

This is not where most radical insanity begins, more somewhere in the middle web. Life after death, reincarnation, cats get 9 lives, people get 7. Whatever your faith, believe it with all you are and condemn no one. It’s not appealing.

“Can’t we just all get along?” ~Rodney King

Religion, government and hippies – the little competitions suck you into escalating cycles. Before you know it, they become oddly personal and somewhere along the way it slips into resentment.

Government elections are bad enough. Religion complicates and staggering numbers of hippies are screaming about GMO’s, and know nothing about what they are.

Relations between the opposing forces are chilling. Polar faiths, known for sure to be correct. It’s not surprising, an overwhelming number of people, most of us, are trying to “keep it in the middle.” Agitated at times, empowering the middle road towards radical insanity.

Society will gladly take you by the hand, leading you to scripted answers. Prospects of people yanked around by society will prove tempting. But for now, lack of tolerance is a form of control – the problem itself.

We’re all trying to get to the same place, following different paths of the spider web woven by each unique life. Acceptance and love – the ‘do right rule’ seems to ring true in my world.

“What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others remains and is immortal.” ~Albert Pine.

The only question I ponder is, “why not?” If I’m radical, I’m a radical pluralist striving to continuously improve the man in the mirror. Starting with self, we can make a difference in the quality of our own life, and the life of others through small actions of kindness.

Show up for yourself. Find or create the life you want. Do more of what you love. Catch your dream – a career you are passionate about, people you want to be around, hobbies you enjoy and make you happy. Ask yourself, “Self, What do I Want Out of Life? Will I look back, near the end of my days, and say … “at a boy, job well done”?

wooderson

As usual, Wooderson (Dazed and Confused, 93’) has all the answers.

“You got to do what Randal Pink Floyd wants to do, man. The older you get the more rules their gonna try to get you to follow. You just got to keep livin’ man. L-I-V-I-N.

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Charles Kochel sometimes writes a controversial blog. But, he fishes, so all is well. Wishing peace and love to all those suffering from mindless acts of terror.

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Broken, but not dead

Struggling, resisting wiping the first tear escaping my soul for decades, I restrain. She’s so pure. Too real. Pain escaping like nuclear fission of the atom bomb. I am not bent, I’m broken.

Broken is broken. There is no one more than another. You can be bent to extraordinary measures of pain, but this does not change you. Once broken, things will never be put back together the same way. Everything is different.

Humbleness crushes individualism and ego. Silent senses of others like you are comforting. I’m more careful than I once was because I’m afraid. I don’t want to break again. I will, quite sure of this. Lifestyles of the chosen: roads less traveled, blazing paths, territory owned by risk and reward.

Whilst others have faith they know for sure their roadmap from God, we peek around dark corners to see what is real and what is not. Sometimes not seeing our feet, blinded by the chaos of life’s thickets and thorns. Nothing less than a fence protecting us from a jagged cliff. One of us is sure to slip and fall, breaking yet again and again.

See your sister curled in a fetal position, at the bottom, in the valley of rising water, and without thought jump. Because once you’ve been there, you already know, they need not be alone.

Listening carefully and speaking with care is priority over who’s right and who is not. Simplicity and free time are valued more than bigger and faster. Circles shrink. The world has clarity and is good. You can see the fog snaking through the canyon, more stars fall from the sky and the flowers and the children, wow, they are so delicate. The moon is more important, as are others.

regret

There is only one thing I know for sure, I know nothing at all. A great poet once said, “Life ain’t easy” only followed by another living more in the present, “Today was a good day.”

travel (ck backpack spain)Charles Kochel fly-fishes. Currently exploring the Ozark Mountains, he enjoys laughing, baseball, good food, and mindful people.

He writes, tries to pick mandolin and purchased a pair of running shoes today.

Sometimes he can be found wandering the streets and paths of Northwest Arkansas, sometimes he can’t be found at all. Carpe’ Diem, may be your only chance.

 

God, Rest My Soul.

I don’t remember my first cup of coffee or much about attending the World Series in 1982. I do remember, Michael, the first child I saw in a wheelchair, receiving insulin every few hours from a long tube connected to a bag, hanging from a thin metal pole above his right shoulder. I was 8 when I met him.

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I can’t tell you about the first home run I ever hit or the first fish I caught on a fly. My first kiss didn’t change my life. But my first hug from a young boy with Down Syndrome did.

Political conversations ping pong around my social media and petty problematic issues too often are the focus of social interaction — I can’t help but think about the feeding tube needed to nourish the young girl in my daughters pre-school class.

I’m reading less of Hemingway, his self-character, Nick Adams, somewhat a muse to me, and reading more of Helen Keller, realizing, Anne Sullivan, her teacher is a real hero.

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I’ve seen people broken, mostly late in life, change what matters most to them, depressed about their lack of health, and even more, their relationships. Selfishness is to not live now, life to the fullest.

Creating a network of generosity, compassion and philanthropy, helping others improve their quality of life, and reach their full potential is what you’ll remember, when time seems short. Actions, without expectations, is more than enough to feel at peace about our time here on Earth.

cropped-ck-photo.jpgCharles Kochel lives in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. He serves a non-profit organization and owns an Impact Investing and Wealth Management firm, Yield Wealth Management. Yield Wealth is the first benefit corporation in Arkansas.

My goal is to leave a legacy of positive impact on others and the world.