Dreaming Of Chad And Herb
I hope you are happy and healthy. What’s new there? Life in Nepal is still somewhat restricted, but it is still great.
My recurring dreams of Chad and Herb have returned. This is a very short chapter, but whenever I wake up from these dreams it always seems like I’ve been involved with them for centuries.
I first had these dreams decades ago and wrote about them in the book Reincarnation Through Common Sense. I guess they will continue to bounce around in my brain until I become worm food.
I’ll leave the door to that brain open for a minute here. Come on in! Take a walk around. Meet Chad and Herb.
Thanks very much for reading, and for clicking the backlinks.
Stay well. Love, Tenzin
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DREAMING OF CHAD AND HERB
Chad
Most of the folks you meet here are very pleasant. The natives are notoriously happy people who smile more often than not. Even those with ulterior motives are pleasant while overcharging you. Those who aren’t after what you have are a joy to be with. Most of the foreigners here are having fun. They are good company as well.
Every once in a while you meet an asshole.
I was hanging out with my buddy Sepp at his resort’s bar. After more than a few beers we were feeling pretty good so the loud, obnoxious man who suddenly appeared uninvited at our table didn’t disturb us — at first. The problem was not that he invited himself to the table. Almost everyone here has the holiday spirit and is enjoying a similar buzz. Invitations are not required and most travelers are communally welcomed wherever they sit.
There are exceptions.
Chad was one of them. There’s no sense in telling you his country of origin. Assholes, like saints, come from everywhere. His voice sounded like screeching fingernails across a blackboard. He knew everything and everyone who ever existed anywhere. Chad actually said this. “Everybody wants to be like me, but I’m the only one who can make it work!”
But Chad didn’t have the chops to make being that cocky work.
Chad knew that some folks didn’t appreciate his presence. He didn’t care. Even Chad’s racist, sexist, bitter, chronic slandering of nearly all his fellow humans was overshadowed by his arrogance and total lack of humility. Chad only stomached other people in order to have more time to remind us of just how terrible everyone else was and how great he was.
It was hard to stomach Chad. In Brooklyn, Chad would have gotten his ass kicked in five minutes or less. But Asia is much more polite and tolerant than Brooklyn. Places catering to tourists carry tolerance to an even greater level.
Dogs don’t have a human sense of protocol. Chad did not have to harass the resort’s resident dogs in order to get a reaction from them. They barked and snarled at him just for being Chad.
Chad rattled on about all he knew that he was sure we didn’t, and about the wonderfulness of “The Chadster” and the very few people like him. I was getting a headache from this annoying prick. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath while trying to keep my composure and remain humane.
When my eyes opened again, I was in bed. First daylight was coming through the window. Chad had been a dream.
Something was telling me to be very careful to never move in the direction of
Chad-like behavior.
HERB
Most of the folks I’ve met here have been very pleasant. The natives are notoriously happy people who smile more often than not. Even the few with ulterior motives are pleasant while they overcharge you. Those who aren’t after your money are usually a joy to be with. Most of the foreigners here are having fun. They are often good company as well. It is rare to meet someone so decent that they shine above even the best of the rest.
Herb was at the bar drinking slowly. We could tell he was not used to vacation quantities of alcohol. Nonetheless, the drunker he got, the more pleasant he seemed to become. The difficult experiences he spoke of were each framed in terms of the silver lining around the cloud. Herb actually said this about a betrayal he had suffered. “That one really hurt but I learned a lot from the experience. I can’t imagine what that poor guy must have gone through in life to make him so angry at everything!” If a lunatic threw a rock at his head, Herb would probably tell of the inspiring hallucination that he enjoyed during the concussion and then try to think of ways to get helpful counseling for his attacker.
Herb’s soft but energetic voice transmitted a calming strength that was as contagious as laughter through a crowd of children. Everyone felt it and was grateful. Folks kept buying him drinks that he obviously didn’t need, just so he wouldn’t leave. The dogs came over to lick his hand, purr like kittens, and then lay at his feet. He would pet them and say, “How you doing, sweetheart?” in the same tone that he used to speak with humans.
Herb didn’t overdo the horror stories, but he hadn’t had an easy life. Some folks are the privileged few. They get to grow up surrounded by loving kindness in an idyllic environment. They can easily grow into good qualities. Herb didn’t fit that mold. Herb had worked for every progress he made. This gave his character a very recognizably different dimension. He had an experiential wisdom to go with his kindness. Herb’s eyes afforded anyone that looked into them a no detours trip through hell and on up into heaven.
After a few hours and several beers with this amazing person I was feeling very good. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to drink it all in. My eyes opened. I was in bed watching the sun rise across my window. Herb had been a dream.
Something was trying to tell me to be very consistent in practicing Herb-like behavior.
(Make all the 420 references you like. They’ll fit.)
About the Author
Doug Ten Rose has hitchhiked around America for 40 years, encountering Tibetan Lamas, Native American wise people, Senators, Governors, Junkies, Winos, Hookers, Rock stars, An all-lesbian rock band playing a concert for the deaf, The modern-day Robin Hood And a whole lot more…
These and many other amazing characters are described in Fearless Puppy on American Road.
“Ten” was also rescued and adopted by a temple full of Monks and Nuns in Southeast Asia. He stayed there for a half-year, although not studying Buddhism (certainly not in any conventional sense!).
Read more about that in his second offering: Reincarnation Through Common Sense.
Many thanks to our wonderful friends at Pema Boutique Hotel for their help and support.
The books Fearless Puppy On American Road and Reincarnation Through Common Sense by this same author are also available through Amazon or the Fearless Puppy website, where there are sample chapters from those books. Entertaining TV/radio interviews with and newspaper articles about the author are also available there. There is no charge for anything but the complete books! All author profits from book sales will be donated to help sponsor an increase in the number of wisdom professionals on Earth, beginning with but certainly not limited to Buddhist monks and nuns.
If you missed the Introduction to the new book that will be titled Temple Dog Soldier, or would like to see several chapters of it that are available for free online, go to the Puppy website Blog section. This is a book in progress. You will be reading it as it is being created! Just like you, I don’t know what the next chapter is going to be about until it is written. As the Intro will tell you, this is a totally true story — and probably the only book ever written by and about a corpse journeying completely around the world!
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