I love to swim. I started to swim when we moved to Panama when I was three.
We would swim in the big swimming pools in the Panama Canal Zone and in the Pacific Ocean. I remember well when I was stung by Jelly Fish. They HURT!!!!
My big accomplishment was diving off a high board when I was four. I landed on my stomach. My father was with me and encouraged me every step of the way. By the time I was 4, I had learned a big boy does not cry from physical pain, I had learned by 4.
That afternoon I made a gramophone message to my Chickasaw Grandmother that I kept and listened to for many years
“Grandma, today I jumped off the high board on my stomach, and I didn't even cry!”
I have had a very perspective on tears for many years.
“ The tears are not the pain, they are the release of the pain.”
I do not regret the physical and emotional toughness my father and mother raised me with, even though it could be very tough.
I never witnessed my father say a swear word or raise his voice around my mother and me.
When I did something that violated our family’s rules of conduct, when I was younger he used a belt that would leave red welts for several days.
When I got to 12 a belt would not phase me. I would just smile, I was a big boy now. Then he used a horse quirt. This is a sharper, stinging pain that raises welts.
By the time I was 13, I showed no pain! I would just look at my father with no expression. He realized the way he disciplined me was not the way. I know he suffered greatly for passing on
his intergenerational trauma to me.
Before my parents passed to the Other Side Camp, we were in full peace and understanding of all that had unfolded.
At the same time, the anger and hatred were growing in me towards those who had hurt my beloved mother and father that they would hurt their son.
With a light complexion, you get it from both sides, by those who judge other people by their physical earth suits.
The physical and emotional toughness given to me helped me many times, including in street fights. A number were bloody.
This is not who we are! We are Spiritual Beings, each of us a Sovereignty, Ancient, Imperishable, and Everlasting.