Commander Be, the cheesy astronaut
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The Most Beautiful Life I Ever Had
Freedom. Who knows what it is? I thought I did. I thought I was free growing up. I thought my parents were free. I thought my friends were free. This is what I was taught in America: I was living in the greatest country in all the world and that because I lived in this country I was most definitely free. Without America, there was no freedom.
But if this is true, then how can I explain that the most free I have felt in my entire life culminated this morning, underneath an apartment building in Tel Aviv, Israel. How can I explain that I found so much freedom being the EXACT OPPOSITE of what America prescribes as successfully free. I was sporting a full-beard, an old sweatshirt and a pair of old sweat pants (all were clean and freely given to me). I was eating a delicious piece of homemade plum-cobbler that I had found pristine, sitting on top of the garbage can I had just opened. I was tucked away in a shaded spot surrounded by ferns and palm trees. The morning sun shone against the neighboring building casting shadows of trees and hanging clothes that danced in the gentle breeze. I had no money and no job. I didn't own a house and wasn't renting an apartment. I didn't own a car or a smart phone. But, I had everything I needed. I was happy. I was free.
America, how can this BE? How could I be so happy and free living the antitheses of the prescribed path? I'll tell you how. Because I had purpose, I was self-sufficient, I was cared for and I cared for others. I was on my own clock, following the directions of my own heart. I arrived to this culminating point of freedom pushing a grocery cart that I was filling with bottles and cans. Bottles and cans that people threw away. Trash that I could turn into money. I was also finding food to sustain myself and my family. Good food that people didn't want. Fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, beans, cheese, chocolate and cobbler. I was turning nothing into something. Creating treasure from trash. I was reducing waste and providing for my own needs and the needs of my family. I was independent. I felt good! and I felt free! because I was good and I was free.
I have mentioned my family twice now and it is important for me to elaborate. Three days ago I was adopted by a community of people living freely in a city park in Tel Aviv. People may know us as homeless, but this is far from reality. If we were homeless (without home; home is where the heart is and something much more than a structure one lives in), how could we have family? We are not even houseless because people have built houses. Houses with beds, living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens and offices. Personally, I have been adopted by one of the nicest families I know. I have a father, mother and brothers here. They have fed me, housed me and clothed me. They have taught me many lessons in Life. I go out searching for treasures for them. The Great Spirit (Law of the Universe) guides and protects our family. We have each other. We have freedom. We have everything we need.
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