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4 Walls in the Old Man’s Home by Mark Hatmaker

 


Photo #1

• The Texas Proverb adorns my Library Wall.

• It reminds me that I adore and revere books/thought/study but…

• The cowardly way is to leave the information on the page.

• It urges to consume as one a nutritious meal and then to use that fuel and put into practice what one has read.

• To test it, amend it, toss faulty work, poor scholarship, bad info and to actively make trivia on the page my own fact.

• Then…do it all over again.



Photo #2

• The Vale Alliance is a loose confederation of Brotherhood among The Black Box Brethren.

• It centers around how many a Roman closed a letter with the phrase “Vale!”

• Which translate to “Be Strong! Be Worthy!”

• When I first encountered it I was struck by how pale most of our sign-offs are now—Bye, Take it easy, Later.

• Here we have an exhortation to Be Strong of Mind, Strong of Body, Strong of Character.

• But…

• With the Vale sentiment, Strength is not enough.

• You must be Worthy.

• One can be strong and exult in power without being worthy of praise, respect or emulation.

• Vale’s command is to be Strong AND to be Worthy.

• One without the other was without nobility.

• Again, the sign-off was no childish or innocuous “Bye bye.”

• It was, “OK, I’ve said what I need to say in this message, now I remind you, I remind me—Let us Be strong, Let Us Be Worthy.”



Photo #3

• The Comanche Nation flag.

• The Lords of the Southern Plains.

• Formerly the largest indigenous empire in the continental United States, pre-smallpox decimation and active extermination.

• These people pre-Reservation, pre-missionary were a distinct culture.

• A nomadic warrior ethos that prized strength, skill, cunning.

• A rarity in that amongst indigenous peoples [and many “civilized” cultures today] they were realists, pragmatists, called by some scholars “The Skeptics of the Plains.”

• They possessed an ethos of clear-eyed evaluation of people, nature, and the world with no overlay of mythology to warp perception.

• I have been so struck by the early Comanche that 8 years ago I began learning this difficult language—there are only 18 fluent speakers left in the world—I admire this culture to such a degree I want any piece of that mindset I can snag.

• Central to Comanche Warrior though is a Comanche Benediction I utter every single day, several times per day. As a matter of fact, if one has dined with me, you have heard me toast with it.

“Yukani’bar’u!

Yu’nu’mi’t’u!

Yu’yu’kar’u!”

[Live Unconcernedly!

Live Well!

Be Good!]

• More specifically—To live unconcernedly is to take care of all that needs to be taken care of: Warrior Training, household maintenance, attention to loved ones, etc.

• If one attends to these things one can live unconcernedly.

• To live well, we follow that Warrior’s Path of smart-indulgence, not over-indulgence. Staying the path of the Unconcerned Warrior ensures that we walk that razor’s edge of discipline and appreciation in the everlasting now.

• Be Good—is also translated to Be Disciplined, Be Right, or back to the Romans, it is Vale. Be Worthy.



Photo #4

• The business banner and its tribal band is, to my mind, a coat of arms that combines all these thoughts into a Warrior’s Path.

I could say more here. I could bore more here.

Instead, I end with—I am grateful for these Ways on My Walls that remind me daily. They are the fingers pointing to the horizons I walk toward.

May we all have signposts we don’t simply utter!

May we all have Paths That We Are Ennobled to Walk!

May They All Be Imbued with Deep Feeling so That Each Step Feels Shoulder-to-Shoulder with Active Posterity!

VALE!

“Yukani’bar’u!

Yu’nu’mi’t’u!

Yu’yu’kar’u!”

Wanna Join Me in the Warrior Way?

Resources for Livin’ the Warrior Life

The Black Box Store

https://www.extremeselfprotection.com/

The Indigenous Ability Blog

https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2fTpfVp2wi232k4y5EakVv...

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