I'm Not a Magic Man Introduction

But I do know some tricks. I spent most of my years social working with just about every kind of person and issue we know of, then as a LCSW psychotherapist ( social worker, heal thyself first, then you can be a therapist ).

Now I sit at home on the internet half the time. The rest of the time I enjoy life in a beautiful small town in Kentucky known for it arts and culture and extraordinary mountain scenery.

Oh, it also has a college and church founded by abolishonists, anarchists, christians and all around troublemakers, in 1853.

They wanted to keep runaway slaves and give them land. They wanted to create a community of blacks and whites who would live, work, play and worship side by side.

They had the crazy notion that girls and women should go to school, too, right alongside the boys. Even send them to college!

They let my paternal grandmother go to the college, she got her BA degree about 1915. Here in Kentucky.

Not satisfied, they got crazier.

They decided to import students of all races, cultures and ethnic groups from all over the world in order for everyone to learn tolerance and respect of each others differences and learn to live in prosperity and peace with each other.

It must have been something in the water, or the plants they were injesting.

Of course they were growing a lot of hemp, not sure what role that played in their group elevation of social consciouness. But it probably made for a lot of fun around the campfire.

No one told them they weren't allowed to introduce the concept of cultural diversity yet, or feminism. That to be proper, they needed to wait more than a hundred fifty years into the future to do that.

Well, their utopian vision and activities were protected for awhile by relative isolation. Until the outside world found out.

It didn't help when slaveowners in the South found out their runaway slaves were living now amidst whites who gave them land and a new life, up North, in Berea, Kentucky.

And I suppose it made matters worse when they decided to print reams of Abolishionist literature demanding freedom from slavery for those of African descent and mailed them to cities all over the South.

Or to tell those slaves, if you can escape, we will take you here as free men and woman, to join us in our new Social Paradise of free peoples from anywhere and everywhere.

It probably didn't help to include the return address, either. Perhaps a little too brave for the time.

Surely, they could not have been that surprised when 4 men from the Sherrif's office in Richmond rode into Berea with some important news for them. To get out fast, a mercenary army was on their way from the South with orders to kill them all and burn down our lovely, fledgling town.

Re-capture the slaves and take them home, I suppose to hang them there, to make a terrifying example to the others who obviously did not know how lucky they were to be held in physical bondage to rich, white landowners.

Perhaps if they were already educated, they would understand their lucky break in life and agree to work for free and kiss their decasdent, designer leather boots every day. Oh, wait a minute, they were doing that already, at the barrel of a gun.

Well, our radical forebearers though it over and decided to live in order to fight another day. They all fled North across the Ohio river and did not return until after the Civil war was over.

They had to burn the list of their names because the South would have sent assassins North across the river to hunt them down and kill them there.

Because of that, we will never know the names of the daring and revolutionary men and women who founded our spiritual
home, Union Church, our town, Berea, or our school, Berea College.

After the war, they came home to complete the town that was left abandoned, years before.

To resume their mission, a mission that would take the rest of the world more than a hundred sixty years to catch up to, and still isn't there.

Our forebearers were blessed visionaries who have passed down this enlightened place to us in the name of God and good people everywhere.

Oh, did I tell you? I was born here and this place is my birthright. I look up across cornfields to the sight of Berea College up on the hill. Deer come into the yard to steal my sour apples.

On CBS, 11:30 pm, EST, Christmas Eve, a national Christmas concert will be broadcast, taped a week ago here in Berea. We are so proud of this place we call home.

Lots of artists, writers, teachers, craftspeople, doctors, academic types, singers, dancers, musicians and people who pick and grin at the same time, the Appalachian mountains all around us.

We do have a healthy, year around tourist trade, but we would also like to welcome many more, and welcome you to come on down and visit us sometime.

We have Union Church. We fought back against rascist and sexist ideologies long ago. Now we fight for everyone ( except the one percent ), the poor, the hungry, our beautiful people of other sexual orientations, and marry them with joy.

Early last century we refused to get onboard with literal interpretations of the Bible. When the other churches wanted to fight evolutionary science and force everyone to believe Genesis, we just said no.

We teach our kids science, to respect secular arts and culture right alongside the sacred. Our approach must be working, we have Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists, former Catholics, and fuzzy headed intellectuals coming, joining us while we worship Jesus and His gospels.

The Dalai Lama came to speak from our pulpit, pray with us and to ring our Peace Bell, while fundamentalist Christians protested outside. Apparently, they thought it was blasphemy or something, to let a Tibetan Buddhist speak from behind a Christian pulpit here.

We love pissing them off. We are bearing a heavy cross, seems many hot-heads today love to malign SJW's, but social justice workers we are.

What are they going to do? Come to our town to kill us all and burn down the town? Been there, done that.

We used to ask, "Why can't we all don't just get along?"

Now we know that will never happen, pardon our idealism.

So now we ask, why don't you hot-heads just grow up and get a life?

Maybe help out instead of choking on your own obscenities.

Oh, I forgot, they were flunkies in school and simple minded boys who are afraid of girls, afraid of people of any other color or have beliefs other than their own.

So scary that they are always mad and have most of the guns.

But I digress.

I am so happy to be with you on Steemit!

People of all kinds and beliefs are welcome here. I will never curse at you and I have the patience of a Saint.

No one could be more understanding of the trial and tribulations we all face, alone or together.

Did I mention I'm a therapist? Send your questions and concerns my way. I won't diagnose you or provide treatment, but I can sure provide useful information.

Am I crazy? Of course! I actually love everyone and all life, no matter how much you misbehave.

I am going to talk to God now, ask Him to light the path for everyone here so you may all find the happiness and joy you really want.

Forever Yours,

John