My friends, at this time my heart is heavy with grief and sadness. Sadness that has taken years to build, from what I have seen, and what is to come of my home and neighborhood. I am writing now about my own neighborhood, and the possibility of my not being able to live here much longer. Death, in the form of Blight and loss of inner civility is upon us, right now, in my neighborhood, as well as others across the world. At this writing, I am focusing on my own particular indigenous neighborhood, zip code 70805.

When I first bought my home here, in Istrouma Subdivision, the neighborhood was relativity quiet and peaceful. The older white homeowners were moving out, complaining about the noise and loss of peace of mind caused by the transient nature of people moving in tearing up the neighborhood and moving out. That was in 1976, when I purchased my home here.

In 1982 I wrote a letter to the local Advocate newspaper, complaining about the noise and loss of civility, and what can we do to stop this drain on sensitive nerves now before we have gone too far and loss control of ourselves.

Why are we hurting each other over trivial matters? Why is my neighborhood dying? Why do we need the Police to come into our neighborhood and control us? Why is it we cannot control ourselves, that we have to be forced to do the right thing? Why is it our Young brothers and sisters seemingly hate their own kind, and wantonly kill each other off as if we have no heart or love for each other here? Why is the children fighting with their parents? Why has the Parents lost so much control? Why is there so much noise and mayhem spiraling out of control? Why are we on earth, to maim and mutilate and destroy, or to love, help heal and create? Where has the sanity gone? Do we have any reason to hope for a better future? Is this all there is to life, garbage and despair, and senselessness? Did we lose sight of God?

Yes we did! We have lost sight of our creator, and now we serve another god. The god of Confusion is in charge now where I live. People think that killing each other, and making others lives miserable has no consequence. They think that making your neighbor put up with their noise and mayhem is of no consequence, because they only think from the lower level of their minds. The Higher Level of Mind would not tolerate this type of behavior. Love thy neighbor as you would love yourself, is a Spiritual Law. Break that law and you make your neighbor suffer, and then you in turn will suffer too. Because you have destroyed the love and goodness between the two or more of you, and eradicated the True Spirit from amongst you. This law breaking follows the rule of Karma, it just keeps on going, and destroying at many levels.

But there is hope for us all, and I hope that I will see the goodness come about in my neighborhood, or I am going to have to dust my feet and flee from it. Get the hell out of dodge, and save myself, soon.  That statement was exceedingly serious. I can’t stand living in my neighborhood and observe this pain and sadness and hopelessness much longer. No one is going to listen to me, I am just a little guy trying to survive too. But I have an intrinsic desire to LIVE. I have no need for a jail or a morgue, there is work for me to do. But with all the noise of gunfire, people fighting in the streets, neighbors fighting each other, chaos, mayhem and incivility, I have to go. I have a compassion for life and living, as I am an empathic human being. I feel pain for my neighbors and friends where I live. I care about them. I am not trying to infuriate anyone or start a fight. I just wish my neighborhood was at peace, and have some respect for others that desire quietness and mindfulness.

Get to know yourself. For inside yourself is the greatest of treasure. Nothing outside yourself is worth anything. Everything inside yourself is worth everything. The only thing that you really own is right there all the time, inside you. You cannot find yourself if you are already there, in the here and now. You will find yourself on an endless trip into nowhere, with no end in sight.

Space has no real exploration anymore. The depths of the oceans hides very little that we need to know. That is just stuff for the scientists to amuse themselves with. The real exploration is inside Yourself. Get to know who you are, then look in the mirror at what you really own. Know what you are all about, then you will see the thing that God created in his image. You are not lost, just temporarily confused.

We are slowly turning into Heathens. A Heathen, is an uncivilized and irreligious person. Which means: you are not civil, you are operating on a low level of humanity, breaking all the laws, spiritual and legal, with no sense of salvation of the physical body. You are irreligious, meaning you have no true God to save your soul. You are serving the lesser god on earth. The confuser of all things, the sensationalist god with empty promises of life. Know who you are.

Open up the Holy Bible about spiritual things, learn from Philosophy about the truth, Psychology about the mind, Religions that control your most heartfelt imaginings. Read any good book, look at any good movie, do something good and rewarding. Don’t be a parasite, that sucks the blood out of others and give nothing back in return, like an insect. Be a human of high standards and high quality, with dignity and pride, and wholesomeness, respectful and true, with high morals and virtue. Help build the other person, not tear them down.  The Devil (evil) will tear you down to hell, believe me. I know who he is. He cannot harm me, but he causes my friends to harm themselves and suffer, therefore slowing me down with my work exposing the true god of confusion. Turn your back on this confusing thing and look to the ONE that is not the Master of Confusion. Our Creator God.

I love you all, but my neighborhood does not love themselves. My neighborhood is dying a slow death, both spiritually and physically, and I do not want to stay here and watch it happen. We as humans has the power inside to turn it all around. LOVE is the answer, and the way back from chaos to reality. Otherwise we are all LOST.