Like Neo in The Matrix Trilogy, I took the Red Pill a long time ago; I knew there was something wrong with the world.

A People’s History History of the United States, by Howard Zinn woke me up to the genocide perpetrated on the Native Americans by the European Invaders. Winston Churchill said: “History is written by the victors”, so instead of mourning the tragic loss of life, culture and wisdom every November, we “celebrate” Thanksgiving.

The War on Drugs, one of the first in a series of endless wars, implemented via the government’s usurpation of ownership over our bodies, only continues because of the fallacious belief held by most people that government actually has the authority to do so.

I began to fight back, to serve The Truth, and raise awareness of our government-run-amok, by exposing the harm caused by the Drug War. It was then that I began to appreciate the African Proverb “Whoever tells the truth is chased out of nine villages.”

Around that time, in the mid-90s, I began cutting buckthorn, another European Invader, at Brady’s Rocks. Here was a foe that I could lick, well, at least I got my licks in. I couldn’t stop the madness of the Drug War, but I could save an oak tree and, by serving Nature, preserve my sanity.

After “W” was elected in 2000, I drifted back to sleep until rudely awakened by Loose Change to questions concerning the events of 9/11. Was this another case of American blood on American Soil, Remember the Maine, sinking of the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, Gulf of Tonkin incident, all cases of disputed “facts” used as pretexts for war? No bones about it, I’m a Truther now; I live to serve The Truth.

By this time I was cutting buckthorn at the Hartland Marsh fighting the powers that be in the village to do the right thing and restore the jewels of the marsh.

I began to realize, after 23 years, that I wasn’t cut out for corporate life as an IT Administrator at a quiet, ultra conservative, insurance company. The stifling of creativity, the constraints of corporate dogma and ideology, the dehumanization of playing the role of “human resource” and the constant pressure to produce under layer upon layer of bureaucracy was killing me.

The frustration of being surrounded by people who were asleep in my family, at work and on the street, and the realization that we had completely lost our moral compass; that ignorance is strength; and that war is peace, was literally killing me. I don’t know if my depression and alcohol abuse brought on my cancer, but I do know that I had a death wish. I couldn’t see the point of continuing in a world where truth had been replaced by government propaganda and mind control, and where millions of people were dying needlessly as a result.

Through all this turmoil there were two things that kept me going: the love of my mate, Pati, and cutting buckthorn. Working in the forest to make the world a little more beautiful was something I could do, where I could influence the outcome without interference. After my cancerous tumor was removed in June, 2011, I resolved to leave the corporate scene and I retired “quietly” in February 2012. I don’t wave 9/11 Truth signs and pass out dvds on the streets of Milwaukee anymore. I came to realize that most people are under mind control; they believe in the authority of government, of religion, of their peer groups. Their metaphysics is based on the “primacy of consciousness” and they will stubbornly refuse to allow any facts into their heads that might disrupt their worldview.

I took the “red pill” however, and I live to serve The Truth and the best way I can do that now is by cutting buckthorn. Sounds silly maybe, but my fight against buckthorn is a metaphor for my fight for The Truth; for the primacy of existence. Buckthorn is a menace, it hides and destroys the beauty of our forests, it has got to go! I’m not waiting for our government “leaders” to address this problem; they are too busy serving their corporate masters, lying to us, and waging wars of aggression to take care of the land.