BUZFREE

Sangha by Buz

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:50:50 GMT

Sangha

he fills my cup with emptiness
so i could taste the nothingness
of distorted delight
and beautiful blight
sweating in sonoran sun
i'm intimate with oxygen
buddha lips ejaculate
words i wish to emulate
greed consumes the silence
a mockery of balance
the song bird rhymes
with bamboo chimes
unmasked faces
dance in their places
desiring the will
to sit perfectly still
like the buddha
you the buddha
you the buddha
i'm the buddha

Free & I did not have this problem in San Francisco

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:07:36 GMT

NYC Cabbie kicks out gay couple for hugging

By 365gay Newswire
11.04.2009 4:30pm EST

The New York Post reported today that a New York City taxi driver kicked a gay couple out of his vehicle after he saw them hugging in the backseat.

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Paul Bruno, 27, and his partner were sitting close to one another after hailing a taxi at 13th Street and First Avenue on Monday night.

Bruno told the Post that the taxi driver, Medhat Monhamed, pulled the car over after driving only two blocks and said, “You guys have to get out of the taxi! Hugging is not allowed in here!”

The couple immediately filed a complaint against the driver with the Taxi and Limousine Commision (TLC) by dialing 311.

Bruno said, “I don’t know if it was a personal or religious thing. But it’s never OK to deny anyone a ride, especially when it’s such blatant and direct discrimination.”

A spokesman for TLC said they would investigate and take this allegation seriously, resulting in a $200 to $500 fine for Mohamed if it is his first offense.

Both men want a formal apology from the driver.

Bruno said, “He’s in the wrong place and in the wrong line of work if he doesn’t have an open and tolerant attitude,” adding, “I’ve seen a lot more go on in taxis than hugging.”

http://www.365gay.com/

Don't Ask Don't Tell - Steven Colbert

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:03:49 GMT

Gardening This Fall

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:36:59 GMT

These are pictures of the new plants I put in this weekend along with laying down some more grass seed.

These are pictures of my fall inner-city garden. I put it inside a dog kennel to keep the dogs out. In about 45 days I hope to have everything to make a mighty fine salad.

This is my entire back yard. There was nothing here when we moved in a little less than eight years ago. I feel pretty good about it. The backyard it getting close to what I was hoping for. I have three garden ponds. I did have five but my backyard was starting to look like a fish hatchery.

Save Me San Francisco

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:40:36 GMT

Free found this video. It is a concert in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The sound could be better but I love the lyrics.

I used to love the tenderloin
until I made some tender coin
and then I met some ladies from Marin
We Took the Highway to the one,
up the coast to catch some sun
that left me with these blisters on my skin
don’t know what I was on,
but I think it grows in Oregon,
so I kept on goin going on right through
I drove into Seattle Rain
fell in love then missed the train
that could have took me right back home to you

CHORUS:
I've been high, I've been low, I've been yes and I've been oh hell no!
I've been rock ‘n roll and disco,
won’t you save me san francisco?

Every day so caffienated
I wish they were Golden Gated
Fillmore couldn’t feel more miles away
So wrap me up return to sender
lets forget this five year bender
Take me to my city by the bay!

I never knew all that i had,
now Alcatraz don’t sound so bad
at least they have a hella fine below (?)
If I could wish upon a star
I would hitch a cable car
to the place that I can always call my own!

I've been high I've been low,
I've been yes and I've been oh, hell no!
I been rock ‘n roll and disco,
won’t you save me San Francisco?
I've been up, I've been down,
I've been so damn lost since you’re not around,
I been reggae and calypso
won’t you save me San Francisco?

To tell you the truth
I miss everything, everything
It’s a wild, wild beautiful world
but there’s a wide eyed girl back there
and she means everything, everything,

I've been stop
I've been go
I've been yes and I've been oh, hell no!
I've been rock and roll and disco,
won’t you save me San Francisco?
I've been up,I've been down,
I've been so damn lost
since you’re not around,
I've been reggae and calypso,
won’t you save me San Francisco?

My four legged furry friend ISIS

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:16:46 GMT

Little hard of hearing but so am I.

U2 CONCERT PICS, SPECIAL GUEST BLACK-EYED PEAS

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:30:49 GMT

Pennsylvania pictures

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:19:39 GMT

Those were the days my friend

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:51:57 GMT

we thought they'd never end, and they haven't. Bob Dylan on Saturday night and U2 last night. Great concerts! Bob Dylan hasn't changed his act much over the last few years but still changes how he will do one of his songs. I was moved the most by his version of All Along the Watchtower. I do not have the words to discribe the U2 concert. It was the best concert I have ever been too. A day later I am still in awe. Simply overwhelming!

Pennsylvania Vacation

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:29:38 GMT

WE just returned from a week in Pennsylvania. We we were at there was no television, a fading in and out radio station, and limited cell phone service. When we got home I decided to start digging my winter garden. After about the 3rd shovel of dirt I cut right through the Cox cable and lost our TV service and phone service. I am wondering if it had anything to do with my complaining about having nothing in Pa. Lots of beautiful fall pictures are coming soon. We left for the airport 5 hours early because they were expecting 12 inches of snow.

To LIve Outside the Law You must Be Honest

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:56:52 GMT

Anyone that has taken time to learn about Barry Graham, alias Dogo knows he is a fraud. His teachings are blantantly plagiarized from other authors. He struggles to keep reality separate from make believe and his ego will not let him accept what he really is, a con artist as far as I am concerned. He trys to make himself credible by attaching himself to a little old lady that lives up the road that has everything he wants others to believe he has. It greives me to see him still smooth talking his way into other people's lives, contolling them as if they were his pet only to be trained by him.He does not accept negative comments to his posts on his own blog so I will share what I think of his latest rant here. His latest swill of words he carefully uses are about protecting one's self from the police. We must not forget he is also a self made civil rights leader. Though he talks about what he has done in the past, I have yet to see him do anything in the time I have known him that has any meaning besides promoting himself. He is trying to paint our police as some evil enemy. This is not true. I took the opportunity to learn about the police that are here to protect us. I spent quality time with them. They are just as fair minded and concerned as Barry pretends to be. They have families much like many of us do, they care for each other like we care for those in our lives and the majority are fair and decent people. Watching the videos on Barry's site one would think they are all out to get us. This again is not true. Are we a little paranoid Barry? What crime are you guilty of? Sure there are bad cops, just like there are bad and underhanded Buddhist teachers like Barry Graham. One thing Barry is not, is fair. He likes to push buttons but in reality he is of very little substance. Barry, just do something that will make a difference besides talking a well practiced line and coming up with ways to make a dollar or two. "Oh, look at me with my Sitting Frog t-shirt, I am somebody." That is not much of an impact in changing lives.
But I digress, this was suppose to be about Barry bad mouthing the police though he will be the first to tell you he does not have an unkind word for anyone. The police are good people. I have to smile when I think how much Sheriff Joe and Barry are a lot alike.

Bob Dylan "Thunder On The Mountain

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:10:06 GMT

The Monks Live in Germany - Monk Chant

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:58:13 GMT

The Monks - Boys Are Boys

The influential and ahead-of-their-time band The Monks play on German TV in 1965

Starting out as just another pick-up rock 'n' roll band to follow the Beatles' lead, the Monks would eventually become one of the '60s' most interesting musical footnotes. The Monks' story proves that Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground and the American garage psychedelia of such bands as the Count Five and the Seeds were hardly the isolated fads they may have seemed. American GIs stationed in Germany at the height of the Vietnam War, the Monks unleashed a brooding combination of guitar feedback and existential rants; such songs as ``Complication,'' ``Shut Up'' and ``I Hate You'' captured the darker tensions of their era. Ultimately, Black Monk Time is unlikely to secure the Monks the wider recognition they do in fact deserve.

http://www.the-monks.com/

My report card. It is official now! 3.78

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:07:51 GMT

Completed Courses

Course	CR	Start	End	Instructor	Grade
GEN/105 SKILLS FOR LEARNING IN AN INFO AGE (AXIA)	3.00	09/24/2007	11/25/2007	KIMBERLY DOERFLEIN	B
COM/140 CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS COMMUNICATION (AXIA)	3.00	09/24/2007	11/25/2007	KATA ALVIDREZ	A-
COM/150 EFFECTIVE ESSAY WRITING (AXIA)	3.00	11/26/2007	02/10/2008	RAS ACOLATSE	B
CRT/205 CRITICAL THINKING (AXIA)	3.00	11/26/2007	02/10/2008	ESSIEN UKOIDEMABIA	A
PSY/210 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY: WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO (AXIA)	3.00	02/11/2008	04/13/2008	ELLEN DAYAN	A-
COM/220 RESEARCH WRITING (AXIA)	3.00	02/11/2008	04/13/2008	MICHAEL MC INTYRE	A
ETH/125 CULTURAL DIVERSITY (AXIA)	3.00	04/28/2008	06/29/2008	CHARLES DRURY	A
SCI/275 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (AXIA)	3.00	04/28/2008	06/29/2008	TODD TRAMMELL	A
MAT/115 BASIC MATHEMATICS (AXIA)	3.00	07/21/2008	09/21/2008	JANELLE HOENLE	A-
HUM/130 RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD (AXIA)	3.00	07/21/2008	09/21/2008	TODD JOHNSON	A
SCI/241 NUTRITION (AXIA)	3.00	09/22/2008	11/23/2008	HELEN COLE	A-
MAT/116 ALGEBRA 1A (AXIA)	3.00	09/22/2008	11/23/2008	SHARON GILES	A-
BEH/225 INTRODUCTION TO BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE (AXIA)	3.00	12/08/2008	02/22/2009	SANDRA GONZALEZ	B+
PSY/265 PSYCHOLOGY OF HUMAN SEXUALITY (AXIA)	3.00	12/08/2008	02/22/2009	KELLI MC LAUGHLIN	A
HUM/205 WORLD CULTURE AND THE ARTS (AXIA)	3.00	02/23/2009	04/26/2009	ELEISA JORDAN	A
PSY/220 POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: WHAT'S RIGHT WITH ME (AXIA)	3.00	02/23/2009	04/26/2009	TAURES JACKSON	A
PSY/230 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY: I THINK, THEREFORE WHO AM I? (AXIA)	3.00	05/11/2009	07/12/2009	RAYMOND KENYON	A
SOC/120 SOCIOLOGY (AXIA)	3.00	05/18/2009	07/19/2009	ONESPHOR KYARA	A
PSY/240 THE BRAIN, THE BODY, AND THE MIND: ALL TOGETHER NOW (AXIA)	3.00	07/20/2009	09/20/2009	PAMELA STOELZEL	A
PSY/270 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY: ABUSE, ADDICTION, & DISORDERS (AXIA)	3.00	07/27/2009	09/27/2009	SANJAY PAUL	A

Who remembers when

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:08:52 GMT

this street corner had a special meaning in San Francisco. The times have changed!

been out for a while

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:00:31 GMT

When I began working on my degree in psychology I was not really motivated to use my degree professionally. My intentions were to understand me and the world around me a little bit better. My PSY 270 class brings to an end the goal I set out for about two years ago. I am learning to use psychology in understanding people better in my career and my personal life in spite of what my intentions were, first impressions have become less important. On any given day a normal person can exhibit abnormal behavior, or completely opposite of that, someone with abnormal behaviors has a day where everything is ok.
I have new concerns, mostly about just how fragile yet at the same time remarkable the mind can be. I may have even gained some gratitude in everything I have learned. Everyday can be a psychology day just by watching those around you, as long as I do not start diagnosing them.
I do believe I am a better employee from what I have learned in my psychology classes, maybe more understanding too. Understanding of myself and others. I am not getting the anxiety medication filled as often.
I am going to continue on with my bachelors degree. I am anticipating it to get a lot harder and even more interesting. I am old enough to know a career in psychology may not last long but that does not make me desire it any less. Maybe I have selfish reasons to continue on, maybe just to prove I can do it. I have concluded up to this point it has all been worth it.

You Buddha, You Buddha, You Buddha!

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:57:53 GMT

Last night I chanced upon an excellent article by Ven. Kobutsu Malone,Osho, on The Buddhist Channel website www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php

As I enjoyed an unusually rainy Arizona night reading Kobutsu's essay on engaged buddhism, I was reminded of the an encounter we had on the last day of our visit to San Francisco.

Buz, his cousin and I spent a Monday morning wandering around Chinatown. We were looking for the Norras Buddhist Temple, the oldest buddhist temple in San Francisco dating back more than 50 years. After entering a small inconspicuous entryway, we climbed four flights of stairs to find a room filled with buddhist treasure.

Aside from the beautiful shrine and altars, every inch of space in the temple seemed to be adorned with an ecclectic assortment of buddhist images and offerings. After a short presentation, we were encouraged to take photos. Our guide invited us to stay as long as we wanted and help ourselves to free literature and books.

Throughout our visit there was a man near the doorway sitting cross legged in a folding chair. With careful attention to detail, he was cleaning a statue of the Buddha. As we were leaving, we stopped to ask him a question about the food offerings placed about the altars. To our pleasant surprise he started into a spontaneous teaching regarding buddha nature. In the middle of our discussion the man enthusiastically jumped up from his chair and pointed to each one of us exclaiming, "You Buddha, you Buddha, you Buddha. Everyone, everything Buddha."

It doesn't get much simpler than that.

As described by Shodo Harada Roshi in The Path to Bodhidharma, "To see every single day, every meeting of every person and thing, and everything we do as fresh -- this is the religious and spiritual way of life . . . If we are not careful we begin to think of our zazen and our life in society as two separate things."

Ride Along!

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:22:06 GMT

For the past few years I have been trying to do things that I thought might be exciting. Some may call it my Bucket List because of the movie. I have done the Richard Petty Driving School twice, jumped out of an airplane, went back to college and completed the goal I set for myself to get my assoicate degree and went to San Francisco, ending up having one of the best vacations ever. I just completed another adventure I wanted to do, that is to do a ride along with the Phoenix Police. I did that Friday and enjoyed it very much. I learned a lot from the officer I was with and made a new friend also. I rode with him for about six hours. The most exciting time was chasing down a white cargo van that matched one the was discribed as being one where shots were fired. We raced through the city streets with probably six other cop cars and caught him. He ended up not being the suspect but the police did find an unsecured gun.
Of course he told me he could never get me out of a traffic ticket.

San Francisco Zen Center & City Lights Book Store

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:41:55 GMT

I know I am a little slow getting all the pictiures of our San Francisco vacation post. Free and I have concluded this is the best vacation we have ever had. These pictures are from the San Francisco Zen Center http://community.sfzc.org/members/blog_view.asp?id=351073 , City Lights Book Store and Vesuvio's. Vesuvio's is where Allen Ginsberg first read his poem Howl, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=179381 . There are also pictures of the alley way next to the book store that has interesting qoutes embedded in brick, a mural on the wall of the bar we visited right across the alley way from the book store.

Harvey Milk Museum, Pink Triangle Park, City Hall San Francisco

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:31:26 GMT

The following are pictures from the Harvey Milk Museum and the City Hall Building where he was killed. What use to be his camera shop is now just a regular store. The window with a painting next to it of Harvey Milk is the second floor room his boyfriend hung himself. You may remember that from the movie. The suit and shoes you see are the clothes Harvey Milk was wearing when he was assassinated. They are very hard to look at but reality is what it is.You can see the bullet holes and the blood stained shirt. It was impossible to hold back tears visiting the Harvey Milk Museum and the Pink Triangle Park. At the Pink Triangle Park, Free and I each got to take a pink rock. I carry it in my pocket and when ever I take it out Free has to kiss me. No matter where we are at we have to kiss, this kiss was in a taxi and then in front of City Hall. The Rainbow Flag that flies over the Castro District is huge. Gay people need to build on what those that were first in line at the beginning of the gay civil rights movement did.
I took over 400 pictures of our vacation and the rest will follow.

Best vacation ever-pictures coming soon

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:15:46 GMT

We survived San Francisco. What a fantastic city.

Does anyone know an Omniscience person?

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:16:12 GMT

I am collecting names:

Buddha
Jesus

OH, BIZARRO THAI RONALD McDONALD, how do I love thee?

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:16:48 GMT

Let me count the ways. I mean, just look at you:

I love that you offer your hands to me in a Buddhist expression of gratefulness and reconciliation. It's so surprising. Almost as if I've never seen you before.

I love that the disaffected Thai teens smoking and flirting behind you don't even seem to know you're there. And still you stand there, unphased, in a gesture of gratitude and oneness.

I love that you were probably ill-conceived in not just this, but all your forms. (A recent study has found, once and for all, "that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable.") And yet there you remain, steadfast, in your gesture of gratitude and oneness.

I love your creepy, creepy face. That plastered-on smile. Those ambiguously arched eyebrows. Have you come to kill me, right here in front of everyone?

No. I can trust that you aren't in fact here to take my life. Even if it's so that the cuisine you peddle might as well be some kind of time-released poison, there you are, with your hands together, welcoming me as a comrade in the Dharma-world.

You may be frightening and unknowable, but you seem to have made peace with that. That's certainly admirable.

And I love that there's a culture in which it's not remotely abnormal for you to be standing that way. I wish my own culture was more like yours, but it's not. Maybe someday. But I'm not holding my breath.

Not least of all, I love that you were sent to me by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, (aka "Than Geoff"), an American monk of the Thai Forest tradition who's plugged in, smart as a whip, has a great sense of humor, and whose voice is strangely reminiscent of that of the late, great Barry White. He simply captured your image and had it emailed it to me. Could he have ever fathomed that your appearance would rock my world so? It's as though everything that The Worst Horse has ever done was merely in preparation for this moment.

Now, I might have simply said that you are holding your hands in gassho, which is the Japanese, and perhaps-best-known, name for it. But as Than Geoff reminds us: there's a Thai word for it -- wai -- and in Pali/Sanskrit, it's anjali. Do you see, Ronald? What you're doing is so much more universal than you might know.

Of course, many people don't -- and won't ever -- love you as I now do. To them, you're not a symbol of universality, but of globalization. Of rampant obesity and ill-health. Of processed food-stuffs whose nutritional value goes so far beyond "questionable" that it might even be criminal.

And yet: you are unmoved. You have something special to offer: a smiling face, a posture of balance and harmony. Committed, you bestow your gesture of gratitude and oneness upon each and every sentient being who comes your way.

They will have to rip you out of the cement and smash you to bits to keep you from doing so.

Oh, bizarro Thai Ronald McDonald. . .

Why can't I be more like you?

--Rod Meade Sperry, editor of the Horse.
JAN 24 2008

http://theworsthorse.com/rmcd/rmcd.html

Susan Piver's 8 Points for Selling the Dharma Without Selling It Out

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:09:29 GMT

WE WHO WORK IN THE WORLD OF SPIRITUALITY (or want to bring spirituality into the world of work) often think that if you focus too much on the quality of materials and packaging you use, you're a shallow cretin trying to sell out the dharma -- and that if you don't, it means you're a serious student.

We think the choices are: dumb it down or keep it real because only a select few can understand anyway -- so forget about all those other people. I swear I've known people who really believe that these are the choices. But it's really far more interesting and complex than this. In fact, if you want to appeal to the mainstream without dumbing anything down, you totally can. Here are some guidelines to contemplate.

1. Looks matter.
When offering a spiritual teaching, the first step is to create confidence in the mind of the listener / reader. High quality materials and production values are the opening salvo. Making certain that all the details are right -- not in a snobby way, but out of respect -- is the first step in instilling this confidence. Then people can relax and open up. So paying attention to packaging is important and kind.

2. Confidence is justifiable when something real is offered.
Something real is that which has been proven useful by millions of people over thousands of years -- and / or that you yourself know to be true through your own experience.

3. Intention is the alpha and omega of strategy.
Once I was talking to my meditation teacher about whether to pursue a particular project. I didn't really believe in it, but I needed the money. What was the right thing to do? "Examine your intention," he said. "If your intention is good, then it doesn't matter whether the result manifests in the heaven realm or the hell realm." Well that sort of blew my mind. You mean that the whole chain of events will purify karma if the intention is good, but the purification may or may not look like "success?" I think so. Therefore right intention can be the ground, the path, and the fruition. At least this is my interpretation.

4. Discriminating Wisdom is good.
The other day I was talking with some people about a good way to promote a new book from an esteemed spiritual teacher. There was an opportunity to promote his work on a website that featured bestselling authors. Half the people in the group wanted to move forward; they thought that associating this teacher with bestselling authors was good. But these particular bestselling authors, it so happened, were quite cheesy.

There are bestsellers that are powerfully good and bestsellers that are powerfully manipulative. Usually we count on sales figures to tell us which is which. Big sales = manipulative, no sales = good. But it can just as easily work the other way around. Without a strong personal sense of what is helpful and what propagates confusion, you can't tell. Discriminating wisdom is the key.

5. Don't make bad business decisions for spiritual reasons.
Don't think that just because it's popular it's no good. Look a little closer. Don't think that success = sellout. In my mind, this view is actually an act of aggression. You're trying to contain the teachings in a way that makes you feel comfortable.

6. Don't make bad spiritual decisions for business reasons.
Don't think that you have to pull back on your commitment to the teachings in order to make money, no matter what crazy justifications you come up with. My favorites are along the lines of "Well, if we start out by telling people they're all going to die, they won't buy the book so I'll bury that or disguise it." Things along these lines lead to trouble.

7. When working with others, learn the difference between honesty and idiot honesty.
Just as idiot compassion (thinking you have to be nice all the time) obscures genuine compassion (acting to benefit others from a position of wakefulness), idiot honesty (saying whatever you think whenever you want) gets in the way of honesty as upaya, as skillful means.

8. When a project is in play, learn to read the signs; strategy doesn't come from within, it forms around.
When your project moves out of the idea stage and into the manifestation stage, things change. The idea begins to magnetize people, coincidences, opportunities, reactions, and non-reactions. It's important to take all these into account and modify the original idea, as needed. Not that you modify the message or content, but you tailor its presentation, sequencing, and timing. If the intention behind these modifications is to make the final product of better use (not purely to rake in more $$), it will be okay. The line of influence between form and content runs in two directions

http://theworsthorse.com/piver1.html

ROD MEADE SPERRY, EDITOR OF THE HORSE

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:57:57 GMT

AH, YOU POOR BABY BOOMERS. Everyone's so hard on you. Not least of all, yourselves.

Back in the days when the now-late George Carlin was soft-spoken and long-haired, he was one of your strongest representative voices, the perfect Boomer ambassador. In some of his final years, George took to saying -- actually, yelling -- that no generation in history has ever sold out like yours has. And it seems few would disagree. Think back: you applauded when the young Jerry Rubin threw cash onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, effectively revealing the "capitalist pigs" there for what they were. But when Rubin returned to Wall Street years later -- this time as a high-power venture capitalist and market analyst -- where was the outrage?

It was with your kids, who were aghast. This was against everything we were told you people stood for.

Whatever: the fact remains that Jerry Rubin changed the world with his activism and rhetoric. And he didn't just change it once, but twice: many of you followed him right into Big Money Land. But maybe that's okay. Maybe the We Generation collectively earned itself a little Me-Time. Only now, you're a target market. Dennis Hopper's pitching retirement plans to you, and plenty of other ads are trying to cash in by using faux footage of the Summer of Love.

We -- your kids and grandkids -- know something about being the object of marketer's affections: it sucks. First, you're labeled, which is never pleasant, and then the advertising agencies get to work playing on your sympathies. But wait. Stop a second, and look at where your deepest sympathies lie: Human rights. Grimy, days-long music festivals. Family. Safety. Education. Peace. Those are nothing to be ashamed of, you know.

On the other hand, just look at how your kids and grandkids are being marketed to. Of course, half the time, it's boobs and bling and celebrities and X-treme-this and hootchie-mama-that. It can be downright embarrassing.

The other half of the time, though, the media seems to know that we post-Boomers are smarter than all that, that we have what appears to be some kind of shared awareness of what really matters. We're through with racism. We're tired of hunger and war and intolerance. And so the media reacts by appealing to the Boomers inside us. They've done their research, and they know: we go to our own grimy music festivals. We wear our silicone charity bracelets. We meditate and do yoga and participate in book clubs and volunteer our time. We work for peace. We care about the Earth. Just like many of you did, and just like many of you keep doing. We learned it from you.

Regarding the sense of responsibility and guilt that so many of you speak of, and which old George Carlin seemed to want to deepen: it's admirable, but it's also off the mark. The fact is, very few of you were as radical as we've all been led to believe. The real story, nutshelled, is that the counterculture of your generation was hijacked by the young ad-men of the late 60s and 70s, who related to it, and whose business it was to know a good thing when they saw it. And so they adopted the visual and verbal vocabularies of the antiestablishment for themselves and their purposes, and proceeded to cram them into every ad they could. Why? Because it rang true for them as creatives, yes, but also because it sold stuff -- even in the heartland, where your movement found little other favor. (Read Thomas Frank's excellent The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism for a full debriefing.) The idea that all Boomers were idealistic and committed to the betterment of society was, and is, pure bunk.

Still, some of you were deeply involved in the real revolution. You taught America about equal rights and civil rights. You fought an unjust war and, in ways, won. And you were part of one of the ultimate happenings: you tilled the soil so that the Dharma might take root in the West. You populated our first practice centers, you welcomed Buddhist teachers from Asia, you translated their words, and you made those words your own as practitioners and even teachers yourselves. You changed the world.

Perhaps it's these successes, ironically or no, that have given you the wealth, opportunity, and demographic appeal that you collectively enjoy today. Let's face it, Boomers have clearly proven themselves as forces to be reckoned with.

So, as you see one 60s-nostalgic retirement-planning commercial after the other on TV, it might be worth considering that the thirty-year-old marketing brainiacs of today might not be merely trying to manipulate you. Maybe they are instead attempting to speak your language. After all, to address you in the same way they address us half the time would almost certainly be insulting. There's no doubt it would be bad business. But whatever their motivations, remember: falling for a well-crafted pitch doesn't make you a sell-out; it makes you human. Perhaps Boomers should even feel a little flattered that their values have made such an impression.

If you're a Boomer reading this now, odds are that you're still engaged in peacework and positivity, whether as a Dharma practitioner or not. So if you still feel like a sell-out or a has-been sometimes, stop, and take stock of how the world has changed since you've been on the planet: Compassion is an everyday word. Environmental responsibility is not just a dream, but a legal principle. And you've turned out some pretty excellent kids and grandkids -- or at least we'd like to think so. In fact, it might just be that no generation -- not even ours -- has ever done more to make a better world. And you made it, pretty much, out of whole cloth.

If that's not enough for you, fine: no one's gonna stop you from jumping back into the fray with us and getting more work done. You might be aging, but you're not dead. And what's more, you've got money, you've got influence, you've got power, and we know you've got soul. So if old Jerry Rubin was able to change the world twice, we see no reason you can't one-up him and go for three.

All we ask is that you take a little pride if we go for four or five, knowing that we learned how to do it from you.

Oh, and also this: enjoy life to the fullest. We'd like to be able to learn that from you, too.

http://theworsthorse.com/dreamsdontretire.html