Living in two cultures, I find myself sometimes a bit schizophrenic, as they are very different from each other: one more peaceful and rural, quiet and slow paced; the other more frantic and urban, busy and hurried. The differences always stand out more on returning to San Diego than returning to Ireland.<\/p>\n
So when I came back to Ireland in August after several months in the hustle-bustle of southern California, what I left behind included:<\/p>\n
All<\/i> these things left me apprehensive and fearful, poised on a precipice to nowhere. The quiet and pace of rural Ireland was a welcome relief.<\/p>\n
The good part of being in San Diego is always to see folks I know and cherish: people I used to work with; my Peoples Temple family in July and November especially; and this seeing people I knew when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia 40 years ago. These things always renew my spirit and belief in people.<\/p>\n
But<\/i> the rest of being in the States seems so vexing and troubled. So many fears permeate so much of everyday life; it\u2019s hard to stay focused on what is real and truly important. The feeling of goodness I always experience seeing folks seems more fleeting than permanent. And it occurs to me: the good feeling should be the more permanent; the feelings of fear should be the more fleeting. We all<\/i> have a right to be safe, as safe as I remember we once were.<\/p>\n
I recently watched here \u2013 or rather, tried to watch \u2013 an episode in an American network series called Bones<\/i>, about criminal investigators who study bones, literally, that they\u2019ve dug up, a forensic look at fictional cold case crimes. Usually clever writing, snappy dialogue, ongoing banter between characters, etc. Seemed somehow better than the average CSI<\/i> show.<\/p>\n
This episode, however, was particularly gruesome and gory. Some bad guy had escaped prison and was sadistically punishing the characters in the show who had helped convict him. Head decapitation, a still-warm bloody heart sent to the coroner, exploding nerve gas when doing an autopsy, a kidnapped child. Gruesome beyond need. So empty and vacuous, designed only to appeal to \u201cprurient fear\u201d \u2013 if you can even use those words together! Seems like all programming is escalating in this direction. I was so turned off, I turned to a another channel and went away wondering, \u201cWho needs it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, I wandered by to find an episode of Northern Exposure<\/i> in progress. It caught me by surprise \u2013 like finding an old and good friend. The program really grabbed me. I sat down, and as I watched, began to smile and feel really good. It was like being with close acquaintances. Being glad to see friends again and catch up on old times. But it was only a TV program \u2013 why was it so moving? It wasn\u2019t a particularly profound episode. It was just nice<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Then I realized, what a contrast it was to general programming on TV or movies! How empty most of popular media is. Gruesome story lines with characters of no depth beyond forensic prattle about situations of no character-building consequence. Capture the bad guys \u2013 they are everywhere. Super heroes, crime busters, vampire killers, or children saving befuddled parents. Life in fantasy. See enough of it and fantasy blends into reality.<\/p>\n
Finding a program that actually portrays human interest and draws us into the life of its characters is the exception. Watching Northern Exposure<\/i> (and there must be others as well), I realized I wanted to know and visit and share with the characters being drawn and presented. They were real. They had meaning. They were human.<\/p>\n
How much of this media is manipulated \u2013 here speaks paranoia \u2013 to make us distrust not only the bad guys, but neighbors, friends everyone. Paranoia aside, it all plays into building a climate of mistrust, which erodes at the ties that bind us together as civilized folk. I hate to think where that can lead.<\/p>\n
It just seems like these Northern Exposure<\/i> moments should be the usual \u2013 not the unusual \u2013 ones. Finding people and activities that one wants to be part of and preserve, a supportive community: the July and November gatherings are such moments for me. How important it is to acknowledge such friends and family.<\/p>\n
So I say, thank you to my Peoples Temple friends and family \u2013 I will always honor and cherish you and all those we have lost as well!<\/p>\n
Peace.<\/p>\n
(Don Beck<\/strong> was a member of Peoples Temple for ten years. He <\/em>directed the Peoples Temple children\u2019s choir during its Redwood Valley years and made several trips to Guyana during its pioneer days. Beginning about 20 years after the tragedy, shortly after this site went online, he became one of its most dedicated researchers, transcribing Edith Roller journals, reviewing and analyzing Jonestown records released through the Freedom of Information Act, and compiling them for the first section of documents on the Jonestown Research page<\/a>. He also contributed numerous articles and remembrances. Most of those writings may be found <\/em>here<\/a>.) <\/em><\/p>\n (Don died on July 9, 2021, following a lengthy illness. He was 78.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Living in two cultures, I find myself sometimes a bit schizophrenic, as they are very different from each other: one more peaceful and rural, quiet and slow paced; the other more frantic and urban, busy and hurried. The differences always stand out more on returning to San Diego than returning to Ireland. So when I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":33379,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-33196","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33196"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110678,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33196\/revisions\/110678"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}