From Ashland (by Conor)

With the wind at our backs, we rolled into Salem a little early, but a kind invitation from a man named Verne kept us from being stranded on the streets until our talk later that night. Pedaling up to Verne‘s house, a man of impressive size was sitting on the porch and upon seeing us, he stood up and began walking our way. With outstretched arms, the man informed us his name was Bob, and he lead us into the back yard where we could park our bikes. Bob was renting a room in Verne’s house, and despite a massive frame that would’ve had him the leader or any biker gang, Bob carried a peaceful and welcoming demeanor. As we were unloading our bikes, Verne came out to meet us, physically the exact opposite of Bob, but of the same kindness. Inside, we gathered around an intriguing kitchen with mason jars pouring out of every crack and crevice. Verne, from the look of his kitchen, had an interesting take on food, which I couldn’t help but ask him about. He was a vegetarian it turned out, but he went far beyond that with his food consciousness. He began to explain to me the health benefits of a diet of raw greens, an effective educator, providing us with a surprisingly delicious spinach smoothie as a learning aid. He spoke of his personal deliverance from sickness when he tried a diet of greens, and went further explaining greens are what our digestive system is set up for. I knew this man was serious about his knowledge when, at the bottom of my second smoothie, I looked up and noticed Verne was not only halfway into his first. I asked why he wasn’t downing his delicious creation, and he informed me, “The digestive process starts in my mouth, I need to let food I eat  have enough time in my mouth to start the nutrition I intake properly.” Man, I remember learning that in biology, but it seemed to inconvenient to practice, this guys mindfulness was impressive. That wasn’t the last I’d see of mindfulness in this house it turned out.

After Josh and I cleaned up, we went into the living room to catch up with some computer work. Bob sat nearby working on his own computer, and we would engage in a little conversation between typing. Before long, however, I found my computer set aside as I talked with this fellow veteran. I couldn’t help but want to learn how this man, who had once trained martial arts to soldiers during Vietnam and much more, recently finished a twenty year prison sentence, exited as a calm Buddhist. He told me of a transformation after Claude AnShin Thomas a former, Vietnam door gunner and now Buddhist, came to his jail teaching mindfulness. A change swept over Bob, as he began practicing a constant meditation, being mindful of every action he took, anchoring himself in the present. Soon enough, as he spent his days in a walking meditation lapping the yard, other prisoners began to become curious about the state of peace this man created around him, and he was soon teaching prison gangs leaders this mindfulness. After many years of this lifestyle, Bob was telling me of a complete change of perception this constant meditation brought.

The time for the potluck and our talk came almost too fast, and Bob and I had to pull ourselves away from our conversation and start getting ready to head out. Soon enough we were told our ride was here, and stepping out of the front door, Josh and I had a little shock, our ride was a pedal powered tricycle with a covered bench seat in the back. It looked almost right out of national geographic, but polished up very nicely. Our driver, or should I say peddler, was a lovely lady who greeted us with a hug, like everyone else had that day, and without much ado, Michelle hopped on the trike and began taking us on our way. It was quite the surreal experience to be moving along by the power of the pedal without moving our legs. Surreal but welcome!

Soon enough we pulled up to the Friends Meeting House, and before long I was in conversation with Michelle, and I was memorized by her story. Her first marriage had taken her to Iraq, where she lived during the first Iraq invasion, coming back home to America for a while, but before long moving to Jordan and spending some time there. After a while she came back to the U.S., and when the U.S. started pushing for new conflicts in the Middle East, she began to take action right back. I was incredibly impressed with the action she decided to take, I had even heard tales of it from other people I had met on the trip. Michelle spent months camping in front of the State capital building steps, protesting the war with two almost concurrent 40 day fasts. She had many wonderful things to say of the fast and the way it connected her with those around her. We smiled as we spoke of how even without speaking, a positive influence simply sitting at a key place, like capital building steps, can influence every passerby.

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