2. Mexican Chronicles Series

2. Mexican Chronicles Series

Meantime I chop wood and get fit and strong. While chopping wood Karen calls me and tells me that she can’t visit on the weekend, no money. I do not want to think about the inverters and how close we all became to financial wealth. I just chop fucking wood. Some goes to an antique boiler, they don’t even have hot water bills here. The main Pastor here in men’s camp is a huge man with a wooden leg. His name is Ralph and he starts the chain saw by holding it in front of him and jerking his arms wide. Impressive. Very strong man, and like all the Pastors here he must have a dubious history. He has a flatlet attached to the dorm and his mother lives with him. He is a no non sense type of chap. We have little to say to each other though. There is an older coloured guy that is always at the trees, he works tirelessly, does more than double the work any of the younger guys do, he too speaks very little.
This is taken from the yet to be published Chronicles IV.
You will find the beginning of the story here:

The Chronicles of the Mexican Horse Thief I – Angola


Please feel free to visit and “Like” my page:
THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF

____________________________________________________________________

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Freedom, without freedom I am nothing, so the pursuit of this has lead me along some strange and dangerous routes. Freedom is very different to the Uhuru chaos here in Africa, it comes at great cost and lots of responsibility. Now in the Bible I read that the truth shall set me free. With my childhood upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness I grew up in THE TRUTH. That is how JW’s say and think it, in caps! All I found in that religion was bondage, hell, a slave has more freedom than a poor kid with a fanatical Jehovah’s Witness parent!
In my quest to understand the world I live in I go to many Strange Classrooms, the latest addition is a Bible discussion group.  As the Bible says that Jesus is the truth, the way and the light, I put these questions to the group.  What do they see as the truth? As I knew that at least one would say Jesus, I added that I would like a practical example of how their view of what the truth is has set them free. I was met with a few moments silence, then one lady said what I thought would come up. Jesus. She did not disappoint and again as I predicted she could not give one PRACTICAL example of how this made her free. Again the discussion just stopped.
I put it to them that the first step of the truth will set you free is not accepting Jesus, but honesty. First honest with yourself, as if you cannot be honest with yourself, you cannot be honest with others.   Once you are honest with yourself and you see all your faults and your good points you have a basis to build your freedom on, but admitting and then trying to correct your wrongs you gain the freedom of guilt. From there you clean house, make amends to the people you have hurt. Even if some of those people reject your attempts, the freedom you will get from this exercise is unparalleled!  From here you make a point in been honest, in all your dealings, and when you slip up, as you will, immediately correct the error.
That is freedom!

A compilation of my Strange Classrooms is soon to be released, please “Like” and  keep an eye on this page.
THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF
Here is a story of developing and breaking an addiction, while dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome at the same time.
THE CHRONICLES OF THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF II

PTSD, Alcoholism & Legal Drugs

According to the men in white coats PTSD has three main types of symptoms:

Re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive distressing recollections of the event, flashbacks, and nightmares.
Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma.
Increased arousal such as difficulty sleeping and concentrating, feeling jumpy, and being easily irritated and angered.


Reading this I immediately thought that the second and third could describe what alcoholics/addicts go through, especially when they become sober.  On further thought this is logical, most of the recovering alcoholics and addicts I know made a lot of trouble while still abusing the substance of their choice. Often they get themselves into very traumatic situations.
Further reading shows me we have a “chicken or the egg’ type of riddle here. PTSD people “self-medicate” themselves with alcohol.  Which caused which? Actually that is of little concern for people that attend Strange Classrooms, the object is primarily on finding solutions to cope, if not heal, with this problem.  The esteemed medical profession, especially in America, tend to treat both alcoholism and PTSD with…. drugs. From my experience and observation this is not the answer at all. Legal drug addicts are one of the best kept secrets in the medical profession.
The old school members of Alcoholics Anonymous advocate that you cannot claim sobriety if you are on ANY mind altering substance. This has changed and often I attend meetings when I am the only one that is not on some psycreatic medication. I hear the people saying the EXACT things my mother use to say 40 years ago, every six months or so. “Oh, the doctor has changed my medication; the pills I was taking were not working anymore so we are trying something new.”  She died  relatively young, from a combination of legal drugs and alcohol, her body just shut down.  A saying in the Rooms, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” Here nothing has changed in four decades! My conclusion has to be drugs are not the answer. How did the old school AA guys get it right? Well, that is written about in my first series of Strange Classrooms.
That’s it for now, need to go do some more research and speak to a few people.







A compilation of my Strange Classrooms is soon to be released, please “Like” and  keep an eye on this page.
THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF
Here is a story of developing and breaking an addiction, while dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome at the same time.
THE CHRONICLES OF THE MEXICAN HORSE THIEF II