Your reflection on the sacredness of Mother Earth is necessary for all of us to contemplate. The Native tradition teaches to make decisions knowing they will have impact unto the seventh generation. The people of the Amazon Rainforest were telling Zach Bush of their crisis of needing to have healthy fish and water as well as soil; they don't have grocery stores. Their plea is the same one so many have due to poisoning of the air, water and soil. Can't eat money if there is no food.
06/04/25: My congratulations to Dr. Malone, who refrained from writing himself into oblivion with the above article (which is superb. And it is superb partly because it is succinct).
06/04/25: FYI:
"Edward Avery McIlhenny (March 29, 1872 Avery Island – August 8, 1949 A.I.), son of Tabasco Company founder Edmund McIlhenny ... businessman, explorer, bird bander, and conservationist... established a private wildlife refuge ... on Avery Island [LA] and helped in preserving a large coastal marshland ... as a bird refuge" (WP 06/04/25).
In two days, it will be the 125th anniversary of: "On his return from [his] second Arctic expedition, he married Mary Givens Matthews, daughter of William Henry Matthews and Mary Campbell Given, on June 6, 1900, in New Orleans, Louisiana" (source: same).
06/04/25: It appears to me that you would enjoy reading Love In Five Temperaments, by J. Christopher Herold [1919-1964]; Atheneum (1961 hardcover). Excellent writer. Died way too soon.
In a hundred years the family tale of Robert Malone the scientist turned freedom fighter and international lightening rod will be told... although the story doesn't yet have an ending! It is hard to imagine what the context of that fight to the current world will look like far in the future. Of course it is another thing we will never know!
06/04/25: Any chance that a professional co-author can draft your memoir? I'll risk riling you up by reminding you that 95% of all unbound journalism, including the above, vanishes almost instantaneously. And 75% percent of all memoirs do the same because the author(s) blow past the 300-page STOP sign at 95 mph. Should you proceed with this project, a good way to do it would be to use Michael Powell's first memoir, A Live In Movies --- Alfred A. Knopf [William Heinemann Ltd London 1986]) (1986 hardcover) --- as an overall model of superb literature (shorn of pretense and artifice). Good luck!
I commented yesterday doing the math on the odds of getting measles on a flight. Your story today resonated with me as my great-grandfather Tobias was a doctor, mayor of the town of Paradise (Mexico) and eventually governor of Tabasco — as I like to say, “before it became a hot sauce it was a state in Mexico”.
What a great essay on the Malone family heritage. Family histories are very much how you described your family, and the successes in banking and connections to farming. You should be very proud of your heritage and all of its successes. These family lines work on the other end of the spectrum as well. Just as success is passed through generation of families negative traits are as well. There was an extensive study done on people that were in prison and amazingly in many families generations of people and families end up serving time. There are positive and negative traits passed down through families. It’s a sign of strength when a person is able to break the negative chains passed down.
Just a couple other comments, one on your essay, and one personal. There is no better heat in my opinion than heat from a wood stove. On a cold winters day, after the stove gets cranking up, and you put your back to the stove, it goes right into your bones. There’s nothing like that feeling.
And just to share with you, I had two hernia’s repaired yesterday. One inguinal and one small one above my belly button. I am in so much pain I can’t even begin to tell you. I’m very much against pain killers because after a long bout with addiction from them, it took my brother’s life. Honestly we have a very strong line of addictive behaviors in my family. I personally have fought addictions to smoking for years, and haven’t touched anything for a long time. In serious pain! J.Goodrich
We have a great wood burning stove - oven and all. makes fantastic bread under Jill's capable hands. Sorry about the hernia repairs. Been there, done that. Got a very unusual hernia (for a male) - Spegelian. Got it when I was putting front shoes on a one ton Percheron mare. She leaned on me, something popped and I broke a sweat. At one point I had thought I had colon cancer - was actually relieved that it was a hernia! I guess you can put that in the "it can always be worse" column
James I do hope you can find relief. That one hernia repair pain is bad enough let alone 2. My deceased husband cried out every time he got out of bed. He didn’t die from that!!! I find opioids are not my friend unless I really hurt! As a retired nurse with a retired license because of the covid debacle, I hardly see how you can get by without something to alleviate the pain. With your mindset, you will put it down as soon as the pain becomes bearable. Just an opinion.
Awesome post, Dr. Malone, from North Central Alabama! Have a first cousin by marriage in Dothan. He was in the plumbing business! Great man.
Thanks Margaret my wife thinks I’m out of my mind. Years back she had spine surgery. They fused C 5 6 and 7. She had to have it done twice, talk about pain. It took her 9 months to get back to work, horrible!!
James, I understand your fears. Just wish there was something natural that works with an incision. What ever you do, stay active! So important to keep from having other issues as a result of the surgery.
James, I wish you a speedy recovery from your surgeries. Two products come to mind for pain relief. One is DMSO. You would have to be very careful not to apply it directly to incisional areas. Your skin also needs to be free of any other products used topically, as the DMSO will carry those other products through your skin, internally. Another product that I have used is a CBDa product from a company in Virginia called ChyloRelief. They have a number of different products, but I have used their balm stick. My husband has used it too for shoulder pain relief to great effect. Again, you would not want to apply it directly to incisional areas, but the area surrounding them. The company also makes capsules & gummies, which you could also try. It is a small family-owned company & I can personally attest to their effectiveness. One source for DMSO is dmsostore.com
The moronic Lt. Gov. of Texas just got the legislature to ban the sale of all THC products here. Been taking CBD for yrs to control arthritic pain...and it does. When I heard this might happen I went off it for a wk and sure enough sciatica from bilateral spinal sclerosis flared and it took over a month to regain control. Interestingly rumor is the alcohol industry behind that bill and by strange coincidence also feed money to...yeah. .Guess who I will not be voting for ever again.
Micheal, There is a company that sells mostly organic CBD in tincture, gummies and creams. There is a salve that is organic and smells great to boot. Joy organics out of Colo.
Thanks. May have to go there. That is what was so stupid (among others) is,that it will be brought in here from outside and with NO state control. I raised holy hell with both state legs saying was taking with physicians approval and this was another example of interference between patient and doc.
Should not have to undergo that pain. Had an inguinal repaired a few yrs ago and the surgeon installed a morphine drip that I removed 1-2 days later. It was great as I. never experienced one iota of pain (tho where he ran the tube inside itched like crazy for some time. Am now sporting 2 more, a umbilical and one located above it which appears to be rather innocuous. The umbilical got bothersome so am seemingly controlling it with a hernia belt. At 83 not too eager for any kind of surgery tho some bone guys are slavering in expectation. Hope I can hold out
Michael, age is against us for some of these surgeries. I wish there really were some natural remedies for surgical pain. I do know the body heals better without all the pain. Each has to decide.
I hope you can hold out also. I’m looking forward to getting back to normal. The inguinal hernia was completely blown out. I think I’ve had it for 7 or so years, but the last 6-7 months have been really bad.
Thinking of you and hoping for your relief. I'm as adverse to drug answers as you. My only answer for pain is curcumin, but strongly suspect surgeries aren't a part of its uses. We are with you!
Praying for your recovery James! When it comes to pain, I admit I’m a wimp.
I don’t know how you get through it without them, but it seems you’re tough as nails like my dad. He would not take any shots when the dentist used the drill. 😳
Thanks CQL. I did take minimal anesthesia, almost like a colonoscopy. It’s supposed to make recovery quicker. My wife hooked me up with the whole team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She worked with this surgeon years ago, and her best friend still works there. I can’t wait until the pain subsides.
James, I’m wishing you a peaceful healing journey from your surgery! I agree with you about negative and positive traits being passed down through generations of families. Have seen it firsthand with my own family. Those of us with strong negative family traits must fight constantly to bring the positive traits to the forefront. I feel I have succeeded.
Thank You Barbara. Of course my parents both smoked cigarettes and my sister and brother are both smokers. They are both very brilliant successful people but cigarettes smoking is a horrible addiction!
Indeed it is! And My parents loved alcohol ( as in addiction) My siblings took our parents negative traits much to heart, but for some reason I never did. And my children haven’t. Genetics are fascinating!
I'm so sorry about your pain. I'm sure you've thought of this, but are there not some type of pain killers that medical personnel have learned, taken properly, do not or cannot cause an addiction at all? Does your doctor know that you are not taking painkillers? Does any family or friend know of the pain you are in? The book Alcoholics Anonymous teaches and states to its readers that there is no expectation, whatsoever, that people who have committed themselves to drink no more, not take any medicine prescribed by their doctor. A small fringe group will say that is "cheating" but the Big Book encourages taking any and all medicine you have been prescribed. Best of all blessings and wishes, James. I am praying for you that you will discern God's will and receive the His power to carry that out.
Thanks Jennifer, they prescribed me 15 5 mg. Oxycodone. These are small dose pills but I’m stubborn and probably should take them but hoping the pain resolves in a couple days. I am taking Tylenol.
I wonder if your tablets are the prolonged-release ones.
I'm also waiting, James, to hear if family or friend is aware of the extent of your pain and that you were prescribed pain medicine. My stubbornness went away with my kidney surgery and the double mastectomy that was required. lol. Look upward, James, and ask God to show you His will. He wants us to ask Him. You will receive.
Oh, James, I hate pain!! You might try numbing the area with cold packs. I used cold against my jaw when I had so much pain from that bad tooth. Of course it depends on incisions, but it helped me cope somewhat. There are also some CBD creams that can lessen pain, but I don't know much about them as I have not used. I will keep you in thought these coming days.
There are also homeopathics that work for pain and are non-addictive. Arnica is one, tablets and cream and or gel. Not expensive and easily available. Boiron is the brand we use.
This forum is like a family, James, and we're all pulling for you! I share your aversion to drugs, Tylenol 3 has never helped me any more than regular Tylenol. I can't take Advil due to weakened kidneys, but I agree with Margaret; your mental strength will not allow an addiction. But Leo seems to have a point, too. Haven't tried it, but acupuncture from a qualified practitioner might be worth a try.
Hang in there. It takes time to heal. I had my back surgery 2 months ago. Take some Tylenol when you need it. I’m not into taking narcotics either. Alternate hot and cold packs. See if that helps.
Get well James. Hernia in 2011 with odd after effect of getting “stuck”. As the nerves reset and rewired my body would, from time to time, feel like the alien was going to pop out and I would freeze in whatever posture for a few seconds. This went on for months. My coworkers thought the stuck episodes were entertaining.
As far as pain meds try tramadol. Mind the side effects, the worst of which for me was insomnia and very weird dreams.
James, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Tough and stubborn like my dearest friend who once broke his wrist in winter, refused to go to the hospital, lay on the couch holding the bad wrist with his other hand and saying, “it feels like bees in there.” Agreed the next morning to go in finally and yes, it was badly broken. Then submitted to some treatment and some kind of wrap until it healed.
Years ago on my right side I got an inguinal hernia primary stitched. I probably had a 5 inch incision. Honestly it felt like the gizzards were going to fall out of me. On this left side it was with the mesh. Still about a 3 inch incision. On my umbilical hernia although small he cut around 1/2 my bellybutton. I honestly can’t tell you which is more painful. I’m dying Randall. I’ll be ok just can’t wait to get beyond this pain.
Dr Malone: what a moving post regarding your family and man’s journey to find peace through and with nature! I am a city gal but when my husband and I relocated from FL to Colorado after our marriage, we discovered nature. Each house we purchased had more land with it, five acres at most. Each move taught us how important the earth was to our well being. When he became ill, we moved to TN to be close to our daughter, but searched for our final piece of earth to end our days. He passed five years ago, happy to be at one with nature and Mother Earth. I enjoy my peaceful existence here although it is different without him. Our home is on a lovely lake and I enjoy all the waterfowl that comes with it, along with deer, raccoons, opossums, rabbits and other wonderful creatures. My daughter calls me “Mother Goose”, as I walk out to my lake twice a day to feed the beautiful Canadian Geese who live on our lake. They come running and honking when they see me carrying the buckets of corn each day. I am at such peace. Oh goodness. I did not mean to write a book, as I usually only write a few sentences, but your posts just make me want to share my thoughts sometimes too. You and Jill are so special to so many of us! Please keep sharing!
Me thinks the apple does not fall far from the tree. I do my best to insert the love of all things natural into my grandkids. Growing up next to a 2 acre pond seems to have instilled in them some appreciation for how the way the natural world lives and survives. I am grateful. So so grateful.
Last year, at the suggestion of a truly gifted healer I read the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett, starting with Wee Free Men, and finishing with what would be his last book before he succumbed to Alzheimers (A Hat full of Sky). They are so redolent with connection to nature, and so compassionate in their depiction of what it means to be a human in a state of fluctuating connection with nature. Of what the end of a lifetime feels like and what how daunting the beginning is. A world where you glance out of your car window and see nature unfurling beside you, and have that sudden thrill of connection. Then have to put the air on on circulate as you go past the crop sprayer, saying a quick prayer for the farmer poisoning himself and the land with the deadly potion.
As someone who lives with a classic Victorian terraced house garden in the UK, I couldn't agree more regarding the tiny, small gestures. The bird feeder, (which supplies songbirds and fattens gluttonous pigeons for the peregrine that lives in the church spire). The frog that lives under the hedge. The thrill of finding hedgehog poo, (he's still here, amongst us somewhere!). The butterflies, the bumble bees. The blossom. The baby ladybirds that will soon be eating the aphids on the strawberries in my window box.
Currently, they are building houses that no one wants or needs on the outskirts of town, and the mammals are suffering terribly, as they come to have their babies on land colonised over the winter by builders and little box homes, filled with people living lives of "quiet desperation". We in town can't help the big animals. But we can be a sanctuary for the small. Open up our gardens and our hearts to the dispossessed. Plant flowers, lavender, put out more feeders, and suet. And how I wish it were more, and that I was looking across acres of land that I could throw a protective wall around. But I cannot. Not now. Not at this time. For me, right now, it is a choice between impotent frustration and yearning for what I do not have, or using my power as an individual human to make things better than they were, in the tiny envelope afforded me by a 130 year old town-builder from the industrial era.
I used to be such a collectivist, but I realised that over time, I have been volunteering to do with less so that we can all have less, and that has left me and my life a shell of what it could have been. And in my opinion, that is what thinking always in the macro does. It is good to worry about important global issues like nuclear energy and whether other governments are managing safety properly. Have you noticed how the media never has an answer to that? But if you become paralysed by concern for the business of others', you fail to live your own life, and fail to be a force for good in your own tiny sphere.
Sitting round this modern new fireplace made of keypad and screen, forging connections, it is possible to forget that we are all made of the stars and have the infinite energy contained within us to connect in a myriad of different ways. That we are all made of the same material and will one day return to the same. That to act in the micro, is to reverberate in the macro. This essay is such a lovely reminder of that. Thank you for writing it.
Where have you been, Mr. SG? This reflection was potent and a wise reflection of the passing of time. Thank you for your beautiful rendition of your life.
I listen to this while I was gardening. I loved it. Your family experiences came alive. I will think of it, meditate on it and look for introspection and personal meaning. Being out here in the sunshine and planting more vegetables it was just what I needed. Thank you. Oh, I’m going to be 79 in a month and I have seen the world change. But you know the land and the vegetables and the sun bring harmony to me as well as your words.
I love and am blown away that I got to read this today, it's in the top 5 richest short "essays" I've ever read, and you are obviously brilliant Dr. Malone. I'm not brilliant by any measure but for some reason I'm good at a few fairly esoteric things I became interested in (obsessed) without any earthly guidance after seeing the Abbott & Costello movie "Hit The Ice" in 1st grade, and it's been a very odd but exhilarating ride ever since. The only other thing I'm pretty good at is seeing big cons instantly, or soon after my suspicions are triggered once I've done a little research without confirmation bias, and I am usually blown away by how many of my friends are so easily fooled by a Fauci type, and I've become very interested in why my brain, which cannot multiply fractions without intense trial and error, can't read music despite 5 years of NYC school band (always last chair in trumpet), can't speak a sentence of French after high school and college classes, but while watching Jan 6 in supposed real time I was pointing at the TV and questioning odd edits and many easy clues that it had been (easily) staged, confirmed by many facts that have since come out. I'd love to know why you think certain brains aren't as easily fooled as others (not to say I'm never wrong), because when I run across a fellow traveller they ALWAYS saw it instantly as well, no matter their path in life, and have also seen through the Covid lies, the Jan 6 "Insurrection" lies, knew there was ubiquitous 2020 election fraud, and know that it can't go from man-made global cooling, to global warming, to climate change, when Manhattan was under 3 mile-thick ice 20,000 years ago before I drove a gas guzzler and when I worked the North Dakota oil rigs our rigs were surrounded by hundreds of miles of barren wilderness and one asteroid would've eliminated our rig along with every dinosaur (and extinction of 99.9% of all animals) on earth. But Al Gore's a billionaire.
If I were to hazard a guess, I would suggest that you have one of those personalities that is profoundly resistant to mainstream schooling. You will learn your way or not at all. And indeed, your way of learning is more efficient for you. So none of that stuff sticks because not only was it taught incorrectly for your type of personality, but it was taught in a way that made it impossible to accept.
For those of us with brains that absorbed "education" in school, the indoctrination was long and hard, and it takes a long while to get over the whole, "Yes I know that's not true, but surely this is true.." thing.
Thanks to the efforts of the mainstream media and Facebook, a lot of those of us that were still at that stage, found ourselves being censored for pointing out that there was another possibility. Ivermectin being one hill a lot of us died on. Not even arguing, but asking legit questions. And that was a massive media own goal, because freedom of speech cuts both ways. It both allows discourse, and allows the illusion of a certain degree of truth still being "out there". Of there still being a set of things you know to be true. The erosion of free speech eroded those certainties too, and left most of us unmoored. We were then saved by a divine power much higher than ourselves or any human machinations, and once you've been there and seen that, you are never the same. You can live with a far higher degree of uncertainty. But it is a process to undo thinking forced on you as a child. Especially when it is the lazy lingua franca of most others.
You, by contrast are less encumbered by that process, possibly having to go within and develop a robust faith both in yourself and your higher power to withstand mainstream schooling which had no place for your talents. A process which has gifted you a rare degree of perspicacity.
Oh that made me chuckle! You might well be right. I feel like I have left a cult in the last 15 or so years. But, looking back I can see that I have been a one-person wall of questioning and queries, infuriating and putting people off at every turn whilst I just "do my thing".
Raised through the UK education system, which is a bastion of oblivious group-think, I think I learnt how to appear compliant whilst doing my own thing, and picked which battles to fight initially. But, being young, I didn't tread very carefully in choosing my battles, and made mistakes in my yearning to belong. In the fake pact the state makes with their citizens to elicit compliance, they let you have your way on the little things, and oppress you on the big things, whilst telling you that the little things are big, and the big things are little, (biometric pass-porting and ID cards as an example). So if you are not careful, you'll exhaust yourself battling over the trivial and have no fight or peaceful resistance left for the important infringements of your rights, (which contrary to Mr Starmer's beliefs are actually real, true and inalienable by dint of being God-given even if enshrined in a physical document).
But never discount the English in this, too. They have the unique capacity to be both free and under the boot in the same moment. I do not know how they do it, but they contrive to both give in and resist. They're fickle with authority, and loyal with people, and that's their particular strength. And my God do they never forget, though they may forgive.
And I don't think that they do yearn to be free in the way of the oppressed Scots and Irish, because try as you might, you cannot dislodge their firm belief that not only are they free, but they are living exactly how and where they should be. Which to foreign eyes is completely baffling. Especially when you look at nudge-thinking and companies like Cambridge Analytica experimenting in live time on the entire population. But try as they might, they cannot seem to obliterate the stories written on the DNA of the English. They will go back to being exactly what they are, no matter how many false narratives you lay on top of them. No matter how many times provocateurs mobilse them to act temporarily against their own nature and their own interests. the English will reform. They will by and large forgive. But they won't forget.
I'd better stop procrastinating, and get out in my garden before it starts raining.
Words of wisdom that fill my soul today, thank you Dr. Malone. I live in the middle of a beautiful forest of Douglas Firs, Old Growth Maple, Rhodies, etc., and have 25 acres to make sure abides by
all that your column just noted. Never any pesticides, and finally after a few years of trying to
"landscape a bit", just said....take over my forest, it does belong to you. And it has!
I do have a lot of forest family, including black bear, which I love, except for the downing of small apple trees on occasion; deer and elk, and I still am not sure why my deer, who have so much around to eat, love my rose bushes: and countless critters of the woods. There is a special PEACE
living in nature, and I thank God for keeping me healthy enough to watch over my
Oregon? Washington? They are the only states that grow Douglas-fir. Sounds like where I live in southwest Oregon. 80 acres of timber and many Big leaf maple along the creeks and ponds. Former owners planted 100 Rhodies on this property.
Diana - thank you, and yes it's Oregon. And, it's what I like to call "Coastal Southwest",
placing me about 35 miles from the Pacific Ocean. You might be fairly close to me. I have about 200 rhodies left from 500 or so, that were planted many years ago by the first owner of the property. Mine are now forest buddies, and climbing up to 40 feet amonst the trees. I don't have ponds, but I have over a half mile of creek that carries salmon and steelhead and trout...all protected.
What a rich and varied family history you have! I think you have many of the traits of your great-grandfather, Dar. Briefly, my ancestors helped defeat the Roman Empire in England and one of them, a Saxon chief, established a small community in Southern England near Stone Henge. It's still there and today is called Mattingley, England (my maiden name is Mattingly. The "e" was eventually dropped).
Thank you for this thoughtful and reflective essay. Very enjoyable.
I have had a life touched by farms - my uncles and my father-in-law's. At one point taking up life with farming seemed a possibility. But finally taking on life as a single ended such aspirations.
On the other hand, my life has been rich with creatures - horses, cats, dogs, birds, fish, zoo and wild creatures. We've all learned valuable insights from one and other.
I daresay your lives seem to have been repleat with a wide variety of incarnations. Have to suspect they've made their own invaluable contributions to your satisfactions and perspectives. Do be sure to consider your animal insights as you develop your own "Bird City" offering.
On now to your many pursuits of these days. Looking forward to your next offerings.
Rescued a small spider from drowning in the toilet the other day; he finally climbed on the clean paper. However, I don't bond nearly so well with mosquitoes, flies and waterbugs.
Okay, I'll sign off on ticks and biting horseflies as long as you're not putting flies and water-bugs in another category for their nutritional value...
Your reflection on the sacredness of Mother Earth is necessary for all of us to contemplate. The Native tradition teaches to make decisions knowing they will have impact unto the seventh generation. The people of the Amazon Rainforest were telling Zach Bush of their crisis of needing to have healthy fish and water as well as soil; they don't have grocery stores. Their plea is the same one so many have due to poisoning of the air, water and soil. Can't eat money if there is no food.
We shall find the ways to return to the days of "slow foods".
Because "fast foods" only have "shortened" our very own "shelf lives"!
06/04/25: My congratulations to Dr. Malone, who refrained from writing himself into oblivion with the above article (which is superb. And it is superb partly because it is succinct).
06/04/25: FYI:
"Edward Avery McIlhenny (March 29, 1872 Avery Island – August 8, 1949 A.I.), son of Tabasco Company founder Edmund McIlhenny ... businessman, explorer, bird bander, and conservationist... established a private wildlife refuge ... on Avery Island [LA] and helped in preserving a large coastal marshland ... as a bird refuge" (WP 06/04/25).
In two days, it will be the 125th anniversary of: "On his return from [his] second Arctic expedition, he married Mary Givens Matthews, daughter of William Henry Matthews and Mary Campbell Given, on June 6, 1900, in New Orleans, Louisiana" (source: same).
Gratitude......
The Heart has reasons,
The Mind does not know.
The Kindest of Words can matter!
But actions speak louder than words.
06/04/25: It appears to me that you would enjoy reading Love In Five Temperaments, by J. Christopher Herold [1919-1964]; Atheneum (1961 hardcover). Excellent writer. Died way too soon.
In a hundred years the family tale of Robert Malone the scientist turned freedom fighter and international lightening rod will be told... although the story doesn't yet have an ending! It is hard to imagine what the context of that fight to the current world will look like far in the future. Of course it is another thing we will never know!
As long as real history is kept alive, his legacy will be carried forward throughout the ages.
y'all are embarrassing me now...
06/04/25: Any chance that a professional co-author can draft your memoir? I'll risk riling you up by reminding you that 95% of all unbound journalism, including the above, vanishes almost instantaneously. And 75% percent of all memoirs do the same because the author(s) blow past the 300-page STOP sign at 95 mph. Should you proceed with this project, a good way to do it would be to use Michael Powell's first memoir, A Live In Movies --- Alfred A. Knopf [William Heinemann Ltd London 1986]) (1986 hardcover) --- as an overall model of superb literature (shorn of pretense and artifice). Good luck!
One of the things we love about you is your humility.
Dr Malone,
I commented yesterday doing the math on the odds of getting measles on a flight. Your story today resonated with me as my great-grandfather Tobias was a doctor, mayor of the town of Paradise (Mexico) and eventually governor of Tabasco — as I like to say, “before it became a hot sauce it was a state in Mexico”.
What a great essay on the Malone family heritage. Family histories are very much how you described your family, and the successes in banking and connections to farming. You should be very proud of your heritage and all of its successes. These family lines work on the other end of the spectrum as well. Just as success is passed through generation of families negative traits are as well. There was an extensive study done on people that were in prison and amazingly in many families generations of people and families end up serving time. There are positive and negative traits passed down through families. It’s a sign of strength when a person is able to break the negative chains passed down.
Just a couple other comments, one on your essay, and one personal. There is no better heat in my opinion than heat from a wood stove. On a cold winters day, after the stove gets cranking up, and you put your back to the stove, it goes right into your bones. There’s nothing like that feeling.
And just to share with you, I had two hernia’s repaired yesterday. One inguinal and one small one above my belly button. I am in so much pain I can’t even begin to tell you. I’m very much against pain killers because after a long bout with addiction from them, it took my brother’s life. Honestly we have a very strong line of addictive behaviors in my family. I personally have fought addictions to smoking for years, and haven’t touched anything for a long time. In serious pain! J.Goodrich
We have a great wood burning stove - oven and all. makes fantastic bread under Jill's capable hands. Sorry about the hernia repairs. Been there, done that. Got a very unusual hernia (for a male) - Spegelian. Got it when I was putting front shoes on a one ton Percheron mare. She leaned on me, something popped and I broke a sweat. At one point I had thought I had colon cancer - was actually relieved that it was a hernia! I guess you can put that in the "it can always be worse" column
Thanks Dr. Malone!!
James I do hope you can find relief. That one hernia repair pain is bad enough let alone 2. My deceased husband cried out every time he got out of bed. He didn’t die from that!!! I find opioids are not my friend unless I really hurt! As a retired nurse with a retired license because of the covid debacle, I hardly see how you can get by without something to alleviate the pain. With your mindset, you will put it down as soon as the pain becomes bearable. Just an opinion.
Awesome post, Dr. Malone, from North Central Alabama! Have a first cousin by marriage in Dothan. He was in the plumbing business! Great man.
I enjoy family histories! We are so blessed.
Thanks Margaret my wife thinks I’m out of my mind. Years back she had spine surgery. They fused C 5 6 and 7. She had to have it done twice, talk about pain. It took her 9 months to get back to work, horrible!!
James, I understand your fears. Just wish there was something natural that works with an incision. What ever you do, stay active! So important to keep from having other issues as a result of the surgery.
James, I wish you a speedy recovery from your surgeries. Two products come to mind for pain relief. One is DMSO. You would have to be very careful not to apply it directly to incisional areas. Your skin also needs to be free of any other products used topically, as the DMSO will carry those other products through your skin, internally. Another product that I have used is a CBDa product from a company in Virginia called ChyloRelief. They have a number of different products, but I have used their balm stick. My husband has used it too for shoulder pain relief to great effect. Again, you would not want to apply it directly to incisional areas, but the area surrounding them. The company also makes capsules & gummies, which you could also try. It is a small family-owned company & I can personally attest to their effectiveness. One source for DMSO is dmsostore.com
The moronic Lt. Gov. of Texas just got the legislature to ban the sale of all THC products here. Been taking CBD for yrs to control arthritic pain...and it does. When I heard this might happen I went off it for a wk and sure enough sciatica from bilateral spinal sclerosis flared and it took over a month to regain control. Interestingly rumor is the alcohol industry behind that bill and by strange coincidence also feed money to...yeah. .Guess who I will not be voting for ever again.
Micheal, There is a company that sells mostly organic CBD in tincture, gummies and creams. There is a salve that is organic and smells great to boot. Joy organics out of Colo.
Thanks. May have to go there. That is what was so stupid (among others) is,that it will be brought in here from outside and with NO state control. I raised holy hell with both state legs saying was taking with physicians approval and this was another example of interference between patient and doc.
It is the year 2025! Not 1925!
Do they think a New THC Prohibition is just around the corner?
Will scary Pot movies return to Video? Like Reefer Madness? DUH?
Thank You Debra
You're welcome, James. Feel better.
Should not have to undergo that pain. Had an inguinal repaired a few yrs ago and the surgeon installed a morphine drip that I removed 1-2 days later. It was great as I. never experienced one iota of pain (tho where he ran the tube inside itched like crazy for some time. Am now sporting 2 more, a umbilical and one located above it which appears to be rather innocuous. The umbilical got bothersome so am seemingly controlling it with a hernia belt. At 83 not too eager for any kind of surgery tho some bone guys are slavering in expectation. Hope I can hold out
Michael, age is against us for some of these surgeries. I wish there really were some natural remedies for surgical pain. I do know the body heals better without all the pain. Each has to decide.
I hope you can hold out also. I’m looking forward to getting back to normal. The inguinal hernia was completely blown out. I think I’ve had it for 7 or so years, but the last 6-7 months have been really bad.
Thinking of you and hoping for your relief. I'm as adverse to drug answers as you. My only answer for pain is curcumin, but strongly suspect surgeries aren't a part of its uses. We are with you!
Thanks Jean!!
Praying for your recovery James! When it comes to pain, I admit I’m a wimp.
I don’t know how you get through it without them, but it seems you’re tough as nails like my dad. He would not take any shots when the dentist used the drill. 😳
Thanks CQL. I did take minimal anesthesia, almost like a colonoscopy. It’s supposed to make recovery quicker. My wife hooked me up with the whole team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She worked with this surgeon years ago, and her best friend still works there. I can’t wait until the pain subsides.
James, I’m wishing you a peaceful healing journey from your surgery! I agree with you about negative and positive traits being passed down through generations of families. Have seen it firsthand with my own family. Those of us with strong negative family traits must fight constantly to bring the positive traits to the forefront. I feel I have succeeded.
Thank You Barbara. Of course my parents both smoked cigarettes and my sister and brother are both smokers. They are both very brilliant successful people but cigarettes smoking is a horrible addiction!
Indeed it is! And My parents loved alcohol ( as in addiction) My siblings took our parents negative traits much to heart, but for some reason I never did. And my children haven’t. Genetics are fascinating!
More than genetics can be attributable to decisions that people make.
Sometimes negative traits and bad habits are passed down, but not always.
I'm so sorry about your pain. I'm sure you've thought of this, but are there not some type of pain killers that medical personnel have learned, taken properly, do not or cannot cause an addiction at all? Does your doctor know that you are not taking painkillers? Does any family or friend know of the pain you are in? The book Alcoholics Anonymous teaches and states to its readers that there is no expectation, whatsoever, that people who have committed themselves to drink no more, not take any medicine prescribed by their doctor. A small fringe group will say that is "cheating" but the Big Book encourages taking any and all medicine you have been prescribed. Best of all blessings and wishes, James. I am praying for you that you will discern God's will and receive the His power to carry that out.
Thanks Jennifer, they prescribed me 15 5 mg. Oxycodone. These are small dose pills but I’m stubborn and probably should take them but hoping the pain resolves in a couple days. I am taking Tylenol.
I wonder if your tablets are the prolonged-release ones.
I'm also waiting, James, to hear if family or friend is aware of the extent of your pain and that you were prescribed pain medicine. My stubbornness went away with my kidney surgery and the double mastectomy that was required. lol. Look upward, James, and ask God to show you His will. He wants us to ask Him. You will receive.
Oh, James, I hate pain!! You might try numbing the area with cold packs. I used cold against my jaw when I had so much pain from that bad tooth. Of course it depends on incisions, but it helped me cope somewhat. There are also some CBD creams that can lessen pain, but I don't know much about them as I have not used. I will keep you in thought these coming days.
There are also homeopathics that work for pain and are non-addictive. Arnica is one, tablets and cream and or gel. Not expensive and easily available. Boiron is the brand we use.
Thanks DD, hoping this goes quickly!!
This forum is like a family, James, and we're all pulling for you! I share your aversion to drugs, Tylenol 3 has never helped me any more than regular Tylenol. I can't take Advil due to weakened kidneys, but I agree with Margaret; your mental strength will not allow an addiction. But Leo seems to have a point, too. Haven't tried it, but acupuncture from a qualified practitioner might be worth a try.
James, get acupuncture from a practitioner who knows their stuff. It will stop the pain.
Thank You Leo!
Hang in there. It takes time to heal. I had my back surgery 2 months ago. Take some Tylenol when you need it. I’m not into taking narcotics either. Alternate hot and cold packs. See if that helps.
Get well James. Hernia in 2011 with odd after effect of getting “stuck”. As the nerves reset and rewired my body would, from time to time, feel like the alien was going to pop out and I would freeze in whatever posture for a few seconds. This went on for months. My coworkers thought the stuck episodes were entertaining.
As far as pain meds try tramadol. Mind the side effects, the worst of which for me was insomnia and very weird dreams.
James, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Tough and stubborn like my dearest friend who once broke his wrist in winter, refused to go to the hospital, lay on the couch holding the bad wrist with his other hand and saying, “it feels like bees in there.” Agreed the next morning to go in finally and yes, it was badly broken. Then submitted to some treatment and some kind of wrap until it healed.
Blessings! Hoping you find comfort and peace. -D.
If they did the mesh surgery, isn't that the more rapid and effective way of a remedy?
This was a topic my older bro shared with me last winter. He had this done.
I didn't pay attention well enough to recall. Hope you feel better soon J.G.
Years ago on my right side I got an inguinal hernia primary stitched. I probably had a 5 inch incision. Honestly it felt like the gizzards were going to fall out of me. On this left side it was with the mesh. Still about a 3 inch incision. On my umbilical hernia although small he cut around 1/2 my bellybutton. I honestly can’t tell you which is more painful. I’m dying Randall. I’ll be ok just can’t wait to get beyond this pain.
Dr Malone: what a moving post regarding your family and man’s journey to find peace through and with nature! I am a city gal but when my husband and I relocated from FL to Colorado after our marriage, we discovered nature. Each house we purchased had more land with it, five acres at most. Each move taught us how important the earth was to our well being. When he became ill, we moved to TN to be close to our daughter, but searched for our final piece of earth to end our days. He passed five years ago, happy to be at one with nature and Mother Earth. I enjoy my peaceful existence here although it is different without him. Our home is on a lovely lake and I enjoy all the waterfowl that comes with it, along with deer, raccoons, opossums, rabbits and other wonderful creatures. My daughter calls me “Mother Goose”, as I walk out to my lake twice a day to feed the beautiful Canadian Geese who live on our lake. They come running and honking when they see me carrying the buckets of corn each day. I am at such peace. Oh goodness. I did not mean to write a book, as I usually only write a few sentences, but your posts just make me want to share my thoughts sometimes too. You and Jill are so special to so many of us! Please keep sharing!
Me thinks the apple does not fall far from the tree. I do my best to insert the love of all things natural into my grandkids. Growing up next to a 2 acre pond seems to have instilled in them some appreciation for how the way the natural world lives and survives. I am grateful. So so grateful.
Last year, at the suggestion of a truly gifted healer I read the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett, starting with Wee Free Men, and finishing with what would be his last book before he succumbed to Alzheimers (A Hat full of Sky). They are so redolent with connection to nature, and so compassionate in their depiction of what it means to be a human in a state of fluctuating connection with nature. Of what the end of a lifetime feels like and what how daunting the beginning is. A world where you glance out of your car window and see nature unfurling beside you, and have that sudden thrill of connection. Then have to put the air on on circulate as you go past the crop sprayer, saying a quick prayer for the farmer poisoning himself and the land with the deadly potion.
As someone who lives with a classic Victorian terraced house garden in the UK, I couldn't agree more regarding the tiny, small gestures. The bird feeder, (which supplies songbirds and fattens gluttonous pigeons for the peregrine that lives in the church spire). The frog that lives under the hedge. The thrill of finding hedgehog poo, (he's still here, amongst us somewhere!). The butterflies, the bumble bees. The blossom. The baby ladybirds that will soon be eating the aphids on the strawberries in my window box.
Currently, they are building houses that no one wants or needs on the outskirts of town, and the mammals are suffering terribly, as they come to have their babies on land colonised over the winter by builders and little box homes, filled with people living lives of "quiet desperation". We in town can't help the big animals. But we can be a sanctuary for the small. Open up our gardens and our hearts to the dispossessed. Plant flowers, lavender, put out more feeders, and suet. And how I wish it were more, and that I was looking across acres of land that I could throw a protective wall around. But I cannot. Not now. Not at this time. For me, right now, it is a choice between impotent frustration and yearning for what I do not have, or using my power as an individual human to make things better than they were, in the tiny envelope afforded me by a 130 year old town-builder from the industrial era.
I used to be such a collectivist, but I realised that over time, I have been volunteering to do with less so that we can all have less, and that has left me and my life a shell of what it could have been. And in my opinion, that is what thinking always in the macro does. It is good to worry about important global issues like nuclear energy and whether other governments are managing safety properly. Have you noticed how the media never has an answer to that? But if you become paralysed by concern for the business of others', you fail to live your own life, and fail to be a force for good in your own tiny sphere.
Sitting round this modern new fireplace made of keypad and screen, forging connections, it is possible to forget that we are all made of the stars and have the infinite energy contained within us to connect in a myriad of different ways. That we are all made of the same material and will one day return to the same. That to act in the micro, is to reverberate in the macro. This essay is such a lovely reminder of that. Thank you for writing it.
Where have you been, Mr. SG? This reflection was potent and a wise reflection of the passing of time. Thank you for your beautiful rendition of your life.
That too is beautiful writing!
I listen to this while I was gardening. I loved it. Your family experiences came alive. I will think of it, meditate on it and look for introspection and personal meaning. Being out here in the sunshine and planting more vegetables it was just what I needed. Thank you. Oh, I’m going to be 79 in a month and I have seen the world change. But you know the land and the vegetables and the sun bring harmony to me as well as your words.
Thank you for this lovely insghtful piece of of your heart. I enjoyed and cherish every thought and word.
I love and am blown away that I got to read this today, it's in the top 5 richest short "essays" I've ever read, and you are obviously brilliant Dr. Malone. I'm not brilliant by any measure but for some reason I'm good at a few fairly esoteric things I became interested in (obsessed) without any earthly guidance after seeing the Abbott & Costello movie "Hit The Ice" in 1st grade, and it's been a very odd but exhilarating ride ever since. The only other thing I'm pretty good at is seeing big cons instantly, or soon after my suspicions are triggered once I've done a little research without confirmation bias, and I am usually blown away by how many of my friends are so easily fooled by a Fauci type, and I've become very interested in why my brain, which cannot multiply fractions without intense trial and error, can't read music despite 5 years of NYC school band (always last chair in trumpet), can't speak a sentence of French after high school and college classes, but while watching Jan 6 in supposed real time I was pointing at the TV and questioning odd edits and many easy clues that it had been (easily) staged, confirmed by many facts that have since come out. I'd love to know why you think certain brains aren't as easily fooled as others (not to say I'm never wrong), because when I run across a fellow traveller they ALWAYS saw it instantly as well, no matter their path in life, and have also seen through the Covid lies, the Jan 6 "Insurrection" lies, knew there was ubiquitous 2020 election fraud, and know that it can't go from man-made global cooling, to global warming, to climate change, when Manhattan was under 3 mile-thick ice 20,000 years ago before I drove a gas guzzler and when I worked the North Dakota oil rigs our rigs were surrounded by hundreds of miles of barren wilderness and one asteroid would've eliminated our rig along with every dinosaur (and extinction of 99.9% of all animals) on earth. But Al Gore's a billionaire.
What a compliment! I am honored by your words
The best of our finest showed up to send high praise and in Qwerty delightfuls!
We luv our Malone Substack. None shall be shy to say so!
Keep the Fountains of Faith Flowing! RMS
If I were to hazard a guess, I would suggest that you have one of those personalities that is profoundly resistant to mainstream schooling. You will learn your way or not at all. And indeed, your way of learning is more efficient for you. So none of that stuff sticks because not only was it taught incorrectly for your type of personality, but it was taught in a way that made it impossible to accept.
For those of us with brains that absorbed "education" in school, the indoctrination was long and hard, and it takes a long while to get over the whole, "Yes I know that's not true, but surely this is true.." thing.
Thanks to the efforts of the mainstream media and Facebook, a lot of those of us that were still at that stage, found ourselves being censored for pointing out that there was another possibility. Ivermectin being one hill a lot of us died on. Not even arguing, but asking legit questions. And that was a massive media own goal, because freedom of speech cuts both ways. It both allows discourse, and allows the illusion of a certain degree of truth still being "out there". Of there still being a set of things you know to be true. The erosion of free speech eroded those certainties too, and left most of us unmoored. We were then saved by a divine power much higher than ourselves or any human machinations, and once you've been there and seen that, you are never the same. You can live with a far higher degree of uncertainty. But it is a process to undo thinking forced on you as a child. Especially when it is the lazy lingua franca of most others.
You, by contrast are less encumbered by that process, possibly having to go within and develop a robust faith both in yourself and your higher power to withstand mainstream schooling which had no place for your talents. A process which has gifted you a rare degree of perspicacity.
Or maybe it is just as simple as that Scotch-Irish rebel blood crying out to be free
Oh that made me chuckle! You might well be right. I feel like I have left a cult in the last 15 or so years. But, looking back I can see that I have been a one-person wall of questioning and queries, infuriating and putting people off at every turn whilst I just "do my thing".
Raised through the UK education system, which is a bastion of oblivious group-think, I think I learnt how to appear compliant whilst doing my own thing, and picked which battles to fight initially. But, being young, I didn't tread very carefully in choosing my battles, and made mistakes in my yearning to belong. In the fake pact the state makes with their citizens to elicit compliance, they let you have your way on the little things, and oppress you on the big things, whilst telling you that the little things are big, and the big things are little, (biometric pass-porting and ID cards as an example). So if you are not careful, you'll exhaust yourself battling over the trivial and have no fight or peaceful resistance left for the important infringements of your rights, (which contrary to Mr Starmer's beliefs are actually real, true and inalienable by dint of being God-given even if enshrined in a physical document).
But never discount the English in this, too. They have the unique capacity to be both free and under the boot in the same moment. I do not know how they do it, but they contrive to both give in and resist. They're fickle with authority, and loyal with people, and that's their particular strength. And my God do they never forget, though they may forgive.
And I don't think that they do yearn to be free in the way of the oppressed Scots and Irish, because try as you might, you cannot dislodge their firm belief that not only are they free, but they are living exactly how and where they should be. Which to foreign eyes is completely baffling. Especially when you look at nudge-thinking and companies like Cambridge Analytica experimenting in live time on the entire population. But try as they might, they cannot seem to obliterate the stories written on the DNA of the English. They will go back to being exactly what they are, no matter how many false narratives you lay on top of them. No matter how many times provocateurs mobilse them to act temporarily against their own nature and their own interests. the English will reform. They will by and large forgive. But they won't forget.
I'd better stop procrastinating, and get out in my garden before it starts raining.
Dear Sir, Your word power is second to none!
Atlas would Shrug again by your thoughts,
organized to such a deeper synapse.
A+
Definitely the Scotch-Irish genes
What a great Substack post. Pure mental nourishment!
Words of wisdom that fill my soul today, thank you Dr. Malone. I live in the middle of a beautiful forest of Douglas Firs, Old Growth Maple, Rhodies, etc., and have 25 acres to make sure abides by
all that your column just noted. Never any pesticides, and finally after a few years of trying to
"landscape a bit", just said....take over my forest, it does belong to you. And it has!
I do have a lot of forest family, including black bear, which I love, except for the downing of small apple trees on occasion; deer and elk, and I still am not sure why my deer, who have so much around to eat, love my rose bushes: and countless critters of the woods. There is a special PEACE
living in nature, and I thank God for keeping me healthy enough to watch over my
Gift!
Bless You and Mrs. Malone
Barbara
Oregon? Washington? They are the only states that grow Douglas-fir. Sounds like where I live in southwest Oregon. 80 acres of timber and many Big leaf maple along the creeks and ponds. Former owners planted 100 Rhodies on this property.
Diana - thank you, and yes it's Oregon. And, it's what I like to call "Coastal Southwest",
placing me about 35 miles from the Pacific Ocean. You might be fairly close to me. I have about 200 rhodies left from 500 or so, that were planted many years ago by the first owner of the property. Mine are now forest buddies, and climbing up to 40 feet amonst the trees. I don't have ponds, but I have over a half mile of creek that carries salmon and steelhead and trout...all protected.
Wonderful areas to call home.
Barb Francis
What a rich and varied family history you have! I think you have many of the traits of your great-grandfather, Dar. Briefly, my ancestors helped defeat the Roman Empire in England and one of them, a Saxon chief, established a small community in Southern England near Stone Henge. It's still there and today is called Mattingley, England (my maiden name is Mattingly. The "e" was eventually dropped).
Leviticus 25:4
But in the seventh year
shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land,
a sabbath for the LORD:
thou shalt neither sow thy field,
nor prune thy vineyard.
Leviticus 26:34
Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths,
as long as it lieth desolate,
and ye be in your enemies’ land;
even then shall the land rest,
and enjoy her sabbaths.
Leviticus 26:43
The land also shall be left of them,
and shall enjoy her sabbaths,
while she lieth desolate without them:
and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
because, even because they despised my judgments,
and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
2 Chronicles 36:21
To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah,
until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths:
for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath,
to fulfil threescore and ten years.
-------
Israel failed to observe the land's one-year-in-seven sabbath for 490 years,
thus the 70 (threescore and ten) years of the Babylonian exile to make up for the deficit?
Thank you for this thoughtful and reflective essay. Very enjoyable.
I have had a life touched by farms - my uncles and my father-in-law's. At one point taking up life with farming seemed a possibility. But finally taking on life as a single ended such aspirations.
On the other hand, my life has been rich with creatures - horses, cats, dogs, birds, fish, zoo and wild creatures. We've all learned valuable insights from one and other.
I daresay your lives seem to have been repleat with a wide variety of incarnations. Have to suspect they've made their own invaluable contributions to your satisfactions and perspectives. Do be sure to consider your animal insights as you develop your own "Bird City" offering.
On now to your many pursuits of these days. Looking forward to your next offerings.
Rescued a small spider from drowning in the toilet the other day; he finally climbed on the clean paper. However, I don't bond nearly so well with mosquitoes, flies and waterbugs.
Mosquitoes, ticks, and biting horseflies. One has to draw the line somewhere.
Okay, I'll sign off on ticks and biting horseflies as long as you're not putting flies and water-bugs in another category for their nutritional value...