I’m a research psychologist and I mostly study personality disorder, abuse, and addiction— all 3, in group function. Anyway – I love this article! I agree with you wholeheartedly, and I appreciate the thought process!— and this was initially discovered by high school student makes it even cooler!!
In 1970, while attending St. Mary’s College, Moraga CA, away from home (Los Angeles), the US military’s lottery system for drafting Vietnam War conscripts with a lottery that randomly assigned numbers for selecting conscripts, resulted in cancellation of my 2S (student) deferment and orders to immediately report for war service.
At the time, with my school residence in St. Mary’s having put me in the crucible of war resistance, with continuous (daily) street and on-campus demonstrations (often riotous), in Berkeley and in Oakland; I was suddenly served with orders to report for immediate drafting into the US military’s Vietnam War effort.
To make this long story short, I became homeless evading the draft. Hitchhiking being (at the time) the common means of transportation for car-less youth, I became a wanderer, and began a four year trek that ended more or less at the time that Nixon was impeached.
During those years I crossed the US continent, “thumbing” my way six times in that period, along the interstate highway system (one round trip, each, along the northern, middle, and southern intercontinental highways). I lived homeless and surviving nutritionally by random shoplifting or begging (as my condition worsened).
Reading your above-accounting of the human condition as it relates to wellness impressed upon me the realization I lived through the various stages of the existence you describe. It’s an emotional experience to read my life within the context of the human conditions you describe.
I could write a long piece about my struggle, but suffice to say I feel grateful to you for enlightening me regards the underlying effects of what I endured. I had no idea the chaos I lived through, until the time draft-dodgers were pardoned, actually had a basis in such a clearly described sociology.
Ultimately, what saved me (restoring self-worth, which enabled me to forgive and to love others, again) was volunteering to fight forest fires with crews of ex-convicts stationed in Weott, CA, in 1974.
My 2-yrs. younger brother, Jose Quezada, had visited me at St. Mary’s College. He had planned to also enroll, but at the last minute decided to turn down the scholarship they offered and moved instead to Eureka, CA, to work with the Forestry Department. His job was to drive the water trucks to fire-fighting crews in the deep forest when lightning would inevitably trigger infernos.
I had managed to gain access to a phone while homeless in Washington, DC, and called home for the first time in 2.5 years to wish my Mom Happy Birthday. Fortunately for me, Jose had returned to Los Angeles to celebrate.
My family (6 kids, Mom and Dad), who had come to accept that i might have passed away, were surprised and elated that I was on the phone. Everybody wanted to hear my voice and that may have been the best day of my life.
I had been recently released from Bellevue Mental Hospital, following weeks of treatment (a bed and a regular diet for the first time after becoming homeless).
When Jose got on the phone, he pleaded with me to come home. I demurred, reminded him I was a wanted man. He thought fast and said he could get me into a camp fighting forest fires. I determined that could keep me safe from the government and days later I began my last cross-continental hitchhike, home to California.
I had no idea how bad off I was, after years of paranoia living as a homeless draft-dodger. Suffice to say that living in the forest as a member of a tent camp with ex-cons turned out to be the beginning of healing that I desperately needed.
I worked hard and, even though I barely spoke at the time, I became friends with my tent-mates and, together with them, began my recovery. I learned a lot about myself, my limitations, and a courage that emerged in brotherhood with my firefighter mates. The work was grueling, but hugely satisfying. We protected the forest communities and I learned to be passionate about helping others. I also learned from Weott tribal trackers how to traverse deep, barely explored forests using trails cut by deer and other wildlife, how to navigate by moon and stars, and most importantly, how to move quickly to fulfill the mission of keeping forest communities safe.
When that work finished, i volunteered to create a program for Redwoods United Workshop, a charity program that employed mentally challenged people after high-school in using cast-off redwood to make planters for sale in Southern California, the profits of which went to support RUW’s ongoing charity work. At the time, redwood lumber mills were slowing as a consequence of environmental activism that had succeeded in designating protective status for the ancient redwood forests. Without materials from the mills, RUW needed another income stream. I volunteered that I could teach a crew to mow lawns, plant and care for gardens at county properties, medical and law, training the clients to eventually serve the community neighborhoods as a way to continue providing care for developmentally disabled adults when the school system graduated them from special needs high-schools of Humboldt County.
The above work and experiences are what saved me. Volunteering and committing to helping others less fortunate.
These were among the greatest experiences of my life. I earned little, but my soul was enriched beyond anything I could have ever earned commercially.
Every soul on Earth needs saving. This is true. The realizations made in giving of oneself is the greatest salvation, life’s greatest reward.
Ok my bad I did skim the Maslow,’s law article I personally thought at first it was hocus pocus but I think to a degree it works but shouldn’t ben taken as law like most things constantly education and research is imortant I put some of it into practise and ignored what doesn’t work for m
I’m a research psychologist and I mostly study personality disorder, abuse, and addiction— all 3, in group function. Anyway – I love this article! I agree with you wholeheartedly, and I appreciate the thought process!— and this was initially discovered by high school student makes it even cooler!!
In 1970, while attending St. Mary’s College, Moraga CA, away from home (Los Angeles), the US military’s lottery system for drafting Vietnam War conscripts with a lottery that randomly assigned numbers for selecting conscripts, resulted in cancellation of my 2S (student) deferment and orders to immediately report for war service.
At the time, with my school residence in St. Mary’s having put me in the crucible of war resistance, with continuous (daily) street and on-campus demonstrations (often riotous), in Berkeley and in Oakland; I was suddenly served with orders to report for immediate drafting into the US military’s Vietnam War effort.
To make this long story short, I became homeless evading the draft. Hitchhiking being (at the time) the common means of transportation for car-less youth, I became a wanderer, and began a four year trek that ended more or less at the time that Nixon was impeached.
During those years I crossed the US continent, “thumbing” my way six times in that period, along the interstate highway system (one round trip, each, along the northern, middle, and southern intercontinental highways). I lived homeless and surviving nutritionally by random shoplifting or begging (as my condition worsened).
Reading your above-accounting of the human condition as it relates to wellness impressed upon me the realization I lived through the various stages of the existence you describe. It’s an emotional experience to read my life within the context of the human conditions you describe.
I could write a long piece about my struggle, but suffice to say I feel grateful to you for enlightening me regards the underlying effects of what I endured. I had no idea the chaos I lived through, until the time draft-dodgers were pardoned, actually had a basis in such a clearly described sociology.
Thank you.
Ultimately, what saved me (restoring self-worth, which enabled me to forgive and to love others, again) was volunteering to fight forest fires with crews of ex-convicts stationed in Weott, CA, in 1974.
My 2-yrs. younger brother, Jose Quezada, had visited me at St. Mary’s College. He had planned to also enroll, but at the last minute decided to turn down the scholarship they offered and moved instead to Eureka, CA, to work with the Forestry Department. His job was to drive the water trucks to fire-fighting crews in the deep forest when lightning would inevitably trigger infernos.
I had managed to gain access to a phone while homeless in Washington, DC, and called home for the first time in 2.5 years to wish my Mom Happy Birthday. Fortunately for me, Jose had returned to Los Angeles to celebrate.
My family (6 kids, Mom and Dad), who had come to accept that i might have passed away, were surprised and elated that I was on the phone. Everybody wanted to hear my voice and that may have been the best day of my life.
I had been recently released from Bellevue Mental Hospital, following weeks of treatment (a bed and a regular diet for the first time after becoming homeless).
When Jose got on the phone, he pleaded with me to come home. I demurred, reminded him I was a wanted man. He thought fast and said he could get me into a camp fighting forest fires. I determined that could keep me safe from the government and days later I began my last cross-continental hitchhike, home to California.
I had no idea how bad off I was, after years of paranoia living as a homeless draft-dodger. Suffice to say that living in the forest as a member of a tent camp with ex-cons turned out to be the beginning of healing that I desperately needed.
I worked hard and, even though I barely spoke at the time, I became friends with my tent-mates and, together with them, began my recovery. I learned a lot about myself, my limitations, and a courage that emerged in brotherhood with my firefighter mates. The work was grueling, but hugely satisfying. We protected the forest communities and I learned to be passionate about helping others. I also learned from Weott tribal trackers how to traverse deep, barely explored forests using trails cut by deer and other wildlife, how to navigate by moon and stars, and most importantly, how to move quickly to fulfill the mission of keeping forest communities safe.
When that work finished, i volunteered to create a program for Redwoods United Workshop, a charity program that employed mentally challenged people after high-school in using cast-off redwood to make planters for sale in Southern California, the profits of which went to support RUW’s ongoing charity work. At the time, redwood lumber mills were slowing as a consequence of environmental activism that had succeeded in designating protective status for the ancient redwood forests. Without materials from the mills, RUW needed another income stream. I volunteered that I could teach a crew to mow lawns, plant and care for gardens at county properties, medical and law, training the clients to eventually serve the community neighborhoods as a way to continue providing care for developmentally disabled adults when the school system graduated them from special needs high-schools of Humboldt County.
The above work and experiences are what saved me. Volunteering and committing to helping others less fortunate.
These were among the greatest experiences of my life. I earned little, but my soul was enriched beyond anything I could have ever earned commercially.
Every soul on Earth needs saving. This is true. The realizations made in giving of oneself is the greatest salvation, life’s greatest reward.
Ok my bad I did skim the Maslow,’s law article I personally thought at first it was hocus pocus but I think to a degree it works but shouldn’t ben taken as law like most things constantly education and research is imortant I put some of it into practise and ignored what doesn’t work for m