Tell him he will not be forgotten and that he will be missed.

I am saddened at the impending loss of our friend, native.

I hope to hear from him personally at least once more before he passes, as I'm sure we all do.

I will miss him, his voice, his humor, and his wisdom.

May the Ultimate grant him Peace and a swift and easy passage to a better place!

claude, I thank you for this priceless service to your friend and to us. May the Ultimate grant you Peace also.

he's been a solid ally and friend for well over a decade. This news is devastating. Peace to you, dear native.

I can know native only through his comments on sites like this one. He is one of our best, our sharpest, our most luminous.

If there is anything that follows this earthly existence, I hope whoever is there is preparing a hearty welcome feast. They will be graced, as we have been.

Journey well, journey gently, native.

Please send my thoughts to native too. I enjoyed his insights here and on ToP.
Thanks for letting us know about this, Claude

and a damned well-informed one at that. I'll miss him and his insights on foreign policy.

Gawd claims the good people early.
The evil fucks last forever

He had a depth of understanding of life and art that most of us were not privileged to have.

I am truly saddened to read that he is very ill.

I hope that you will convey to him how much I felt a kinship with his posts. Damn, this really hurts.

Best wishes to our dear friend native in his journey here and beyond.

This is sad news. I enjoyed reading native's posts.

nt

So sorry to hear this. Thanks for letting us know.

has been to me.

I know it's been said, but please tell him the following ~ I always learned something from him. I am grateful for the time I was able to interact with him here and at TOP.

I hope I have his courage if I'm ever faced with such a challenging decision. Find your peace.

I will miss reading your "voice."

missed.

What is the nature of a "virtual community"? prompted me to take part in creating a more comprehensive community at C99.

Blessed be the caregiver and those in their care.

Thank you all for these moments of acknowledgement. For me, it reinforces all that is really significant.

I'll hope for just one more for native.

I love this one and will sing it tonight - "Lay Down Your Weary Tune"
Here's Tim O'Brien (and Stuart on fiddle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMrUgTenC3A (3.5 min)

And three poems that speak to me...and perhaps to you and your fine friend Claude

“If I Should Die,” Emily Dickinson

If I should die,
And you should live,
And time should gurgle on,
And morn should beam,
And noon should burn,
As it has usual done;
If birds should build as early,
And bees as bustling go,–
One might depart at option
From enterprise below!
‘Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand
When we with daisies lie,
That commerce will continue,
And trades as briskly fly.
It make the parting tranquil
And keeps the soul serene,
That gentlemen so sprightly
Conduct the pleasing scene!

One more:

"And you as well must die,” Edna St. Vincent Millay

And you as well must die, belovèd dust,
And all your beauty stand you in no stead;
This flawless, vital hand, this perfect head,
This body of flame and steel, before the gust
Of Death, or under his autumnal frost,
Shall be as any leaf, be no less dead
Than the first leaf that fell,this wonder fled,
Altered, estranged, disintegrated, lost.
Nor shall my love avail you in your hour.
In spite of all my love, you will arise
Upon that day and wander down the air
Obscurely as the unattended flower,
It mattering not how beautiful you were,
Or how belovèd above all else that dies.

and one last poem:

“Death,” Rainer Maria Rilke

Before us great Death stands
Our fate held close within his quiet hands.
When with proud joy we lift Life’s red wine
To drink deep of the mystic shining cup
And ecstasy through all our being leaps—
Death bows his head and weeps.

Always felt gratitude reading your words. “I’m not alone; I’m not crazy or a Putin stooge. Ranchmate ‘native’ feels it and sees it too.”

Aloha, mahalo, farewell, G~dspeed.

destination:

On Death
Kahlil Gibran

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

--------------------------
To Native: Farewell, brother.

end. Sleep peacefully, native. You go in peace when that time comes. Rec'd!!

will be a little dimmer without him.

You will be missed by many, more than you know. Safe journey and clam waters on your journey to the other side.

At this place, at this time. Even though we have never physically met I feel a kinship with you and all I encounter here. You along with many others have shared with me wisdom and insight and I am so very grateful for that gift. A very heartfelt thank you and well wishes for a peaceful painless journey.

Sadly I focus more on avatar pics vs. screen names.

Was native that biologist? The older gentleman with glasses/bushy beard?

us for years; your kindness and keen perceptions helping steer the community towards a better path. Your investment will continue to walk on until we all find peace.

Hugs!

I'd wondered where native was - am very glad that he has the loving care that he does, to ease his way.

Please, let him know that he will always live on here, in his influence, in our hearts and in the gap where his voice and perspective should be.

Parts of this song are close enough, I hope, to say something of what I lack words for. Please tell native for me that he shines on, and that his glow will outlast all of our lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clsBpAoWIC0

Pink Floyd: Shine on You Crazy Diamond

Hugs to all, with my gratitude to Claude and Evelette for the caring and the post to let us know and to native for my having been lucky enough to read and appreciate his work. Lake has deep waters, indeed.

which made me hesitate saying anything on top of it, you made me re-read some of native's comments. And I want to say good-bye to him using his own words, which made me smile and nodding in agreement and respect very much.

Let him know please, claude, that I looked under my bed, and found exactly what he was predicting to find there.

Who ISN'T a Russian patsy?
@MrWebster
Check under the sofa -- they're everywhere!

Native also saw this:

What I see here, is one set of oligarchs hurling (or manufacturing) propaganda against another set of oligarchs. It's the Doligarchs versus the Roligarchs -- how exciting! They call this shit-slinging "opposition research" which makes it sound respectable. Sounding respectable is very important for Party big shots. And paying women to pee on you is of course not very respectable.

But media-types will gobble up this disinformation like candy, the more salacious the better. I mean since they're not really allowed to talk about anything important. Except for maybe starting a war with Russia -- they'd all like to do that if possible. Hardly anyone would object to fighting a war with Russia, except for maybe Trump. But he is probably being blackmailed by Putin, so that must be why.

up
22 users have voted.
—
native

and this:

I think Trump is doing a fairly good job
@CS in AZ
of wrecking the American Empire all on his own. A war with Iran or North Korea would certainly hasten its demise -- but even without that, US global credibility is being ruined by extremely poor diplomacy and a clearly fruitless militarism. None of which is specifically Trump's doing, but is rather the continuation of long-term, fully entrenched, and bipartisan policy objectives. Our Ship of State seems unwilling, or unable to change its course, even though it is headed straight for the rocks.

Internally, neither of the two Parties retain any significant degree of public confidence, yet the System allows for no viable alternative. The underclass (both right and left) grows ever larger and more restive, while billionaires proliferate everywhere like mushrooms. President Trump's ignorantly whimsical leadership merely accelerates these unfortunate trends. They will continue whether he is "stopped" or not. The neoliberals who now control the Democratic Party may well reach an accommodation with the hard right, but I doubt they will ever again be able to inspire a massive voter turnout.

up
2 users have voted.
—
native

and finally this one:

Where's the proof?
@gulfgal98

I don't see any proof. To me this looks more like a wild goose chase than anything else. Wishful thinking amplified X 1000.

Of course I would be happy to be proven wrong.

up
8 users have voted.
—
native

You have been proven right more than we could know. Kudos to your searches for proofs. That's what we needed. And you gave your best to offer it.

I had in my life during the last 20 years five on and off loved ones dying. And I wasn't physically present during their passing. Especially for the death of my mother I regret so much to have not been able to hold her hand while she was going to the other side.

I think many here would love to hold your hand, native, if you hear me, and I hope that you might just feel our virtual tenderly hand-squeezing. I wished you could tell us what you see on that other side. We have to be patient to follow you there to know it all.

Thanks for everything.

I remember waving goodbye to my grandmother in her hospital bed, c. 1968, not knowing what brain cancer was, aged 5.

Good luck and god speed.