Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The site is a sister to Atlantic Free Press and Brick Ogden an American Expatriate in Amsterdam has been a key supporter of this project.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
If the world seems emptier to you, well...that’s because it is. We lost a saint this week. And when I say “saint,” I am using Kurt Vonnegut’s definition: “Someone who behaves decently in an indecent world.”
My Mom and my best friend (Christmas 2006)
I will be forever grateful for the fact that my Mom and I had some time—before she went into a hospice—to say a genuine, tear-soaked goodbye. I was able to tell her, one more time for all time, how I feel about her.
Those were, without a doubt, the most amazing and profound five
minutes of my life. The saddest, the most meaningful, and the most
important five minutes of my entire life.
As Helen Keller sez:
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even
touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
Mom and Dad (February 2007)
My
Mom was a lifetime Yankee fan...going back to the days of Mantle,
Berra, Ford, Rizzuto, etc. During the last few years of her life, she
and I spent an awful lot of time rooting (in vain) for the Yanks...so
I’ve come up with a suitably Pinstriped method of trying to deal with
my loss:
Yankee legend Lou Gehrig—the greatest first baseman
to ever play the game—saw his career cut short by ALS (a disease that
would ultimately bear his name) at the age of 36. He was still a
dominant player yet never showed any public bitterness or resentment
about his (perceived?) misfortune.
In fact, on July 4, 1939, he stood
before his teammates and a packed stadium and famously declared:
“Fans,
for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Today,
I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. I have
been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything
but kindness and encouragement from you fans.” He closed with these
words: “I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot
to live for. Thank you.”
In an attempt to borrow some
perspective from the Iron Horse, amidst the profound sadness I feel at
this moment, I still consider myself the luckiest son on the face of
the Earth. My mother showed me nothing but “kindness and encouragement”
and helped me realize that I have “an awful lot to live for.”
I
don’t know what in the world I ever did to deserve a Mom like Ann
Zezima, but, wow...it must have been absolutely astounding. I’ll love
her and miss her forever.
This difficult time brings to mind the words of two legendary poets... coming at this from discrete angles:
Rocky
Balboa sez:
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world
ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and
it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you
let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t
how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving
forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how
winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and
get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit.”
Walt
Whitman sez:
“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the
animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for
the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate
tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward
the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any
man or number of men—go freely with powerful uneducated persons, and
with the young, and with the mothers or families—re-examine all you
have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever
insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and
have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent
lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in
every motion and joint of your body.”
If anyone
would like to make a gesture in my Mom’s memory, I have a suggestion
that would surely bring her joy:
Make a donation to your local no-kill
animal shelter in the name of Ann Zezima. Thank you…
Writings 
As Helen Keller sez:
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even
touched. They must be felt with the heart.” 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
