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Page 2 Editorial Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melody Beattie I received a letter to the editor from a resident in a nearby town. The letter was snail mailed, and after typing, it ended up to be over 1,000 words long. So I posted it on the blog, www. QuartzsiteBlog.com, as there was no way to shorten the letter to around 300 words. The author's words are full of pain with a sense of despair. Many have wondered how this letter is relevant to Quartzsite, and why I would take the time to retype all those words. Just Rambling... Are we victims of the bottom line? First we were sold short on candy bars and ice cream. Now it's paper and plastics, bags are thinner with deceiving texture. Tissue paper and baby wipes are almost transparent and face tissues you can blow holes through. Pay more get less, profit margins hold, as our money dwindles. Provided by Elmer London & Desert Messenger www.DesertMessenger.com by Shanana "Rain" Golden-Bear St. Francis of Assisi wrote; where there is despair..let me sow hope; hatred, love, etc. We can all learn something from another's suffering. I hope that by shar- ing another's pain, our hearts open to the communication necessary to live in a good way wherever we call home. Quartzsite is going through some trials and tribulations of its own. According to www.merriam-webster.com tribula- tion is "distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution; also : a trying experience". Whether personal, such as the writer of the letter, or in our community, we all have felt distress at one point in our lives. If we can apply an attitude of gratitude for the lessons learned, for our "hard knocks", for our teachers/our adversar- ies, for those we disagree with, for our hurt feelings, imagine the attitude we can walk with! Imagine being grateful for our troubles, for they add to the very fabric of who we are. I know it's a stretch for many, however, if we can think outside of the personalities, we recognize how we all have pain and can be compassionate towards each other. CORRECTION In the Sept. 7th issue of Desert Mes- senger, the last 3 words were inadver- tantly left out from Elmer London's Just Rambling. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the error. The corrected text is as follows: From May through September 1949; I was an engineer, in Alaska, on a boat called Jaguar. I missed five months of my wife and children's lives. The money and duty was awesome but the emotional price far too high to pay. Although I could have, I never went back. One often has to draw a line. Get the latest news between issues at http://www.QuartzsiteBlog.com Meet new business Quartzsite Coachworks I have always wanted to research the 'Quartzsite Experience". As an indi- vidual who has devoted his life to the Recreational Vehicle Industry, I have heard through the years, the fantas- tic stories of Quartzsite's phenomenal gathering that takes place during the winter, the small town appeal, and the hope brought forth by the open spaces, and coming together of people from all faiths, political views, and cultures. Coming from Southern California, I have been in the RV industry since 1977, when I was honorably discharged from the United States Navy, serving as a 'Sea Bee' and the Viet Nam Era. To my surprise, this taught me about the need in our society for tolerance, but above all a semblance of order. Inter- esting that I should arrive in Quartzsite during a time where the city is evolv- ing into the 'new millennium' with the growing pains associated with it. Just like the rest of the Nation, it's time to get to work. These are just the times we have been given the privilege to live in. Now to my Quartzsite experience. We arrived here in January of this year, and enjoyed a desert living, dry camping experience , in our vintage 70's truck and trailer, and became very aware by personal experience the needs, and wants of the RV community while enjoying the wonderful array of wildlife, and plants this beautiful area has to offer. But most importantly as an RV professional, the understand- ing of what it means when your fur- nace/ac/refrigerator no longer works. We all want to believe we can 'rough' it whatever comes along, but closer to the truth, the toilet must flush, the food must be cold, and our personal space October 5, 2011 must be heated/cooled somewhere to provide comfort to the human body. These are just a couple of examples, but the whole of the RV system is cre- ated for creature comfort. This has increased my passion to make those living situations possible. The knowledge I have taken for grant- ed for many years has a new meaning to me. And when I have been called on to utilize these skills, it has proven to be so much more rewarding. With this knowledge I have been reborn profes- sionally, in many ways. Having arrived in Quartzsite, and living here through- out the summer months, preparing for the winter season, being a spectator to the political events here , and view- ing the flight of professionals to higher ground, I have made a decision. And that is to become part of the Quartzsite community, become involved to what- ever extent to the citizens of Quartzsite will allow, and serve the needs of this community to the best of my ability, in my area of expertise. My Sincere hope for the future (which I did not have in Southern California) is to be part of the phenomenal growth expected in Quartzsite, the standard of Law and Order, support governmental policies, and provide needed services and feed my family without fear of social economic capping of means de- rived from aging or stereotyping. In closing, I want to thank the Quartzsite community for welcoming us here, and allowing us to secure the "American Dream" of my understand- ing, which is the ability to work, live safely, and become part of the 'fabric' which is Quartzsite Arizona. Thank you, Michael A. Reush (owner/operator) Quartzsite Coachworks D����� M�������� Founded by Walt Akin, October 1, 2004 Contributing Writer, Joanne Winer Quartzsite‛s FREE Community Paper Name Plate Lettering by Paul Winer PUBLISHED BY PILOT ROCK PUBLISHING CO. P.O. Box 3185, Quartzsite, AZ 85359 www.DesertMessenger.com • www.QuartzsiteBlog.com E-mail: desertmessenger7@yahoo.com Published twice a month on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday, Sept. - May, Special Summer Editions in June, July & August Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Desert Messenger. Shanana "Rain" Golden-Bear, Publisher Copyright © 2011 541-218-2560 Contributing Photographer, Starr BearCat