In the middle of the Mojave Desert on any 115-degree day can be found a bazaar marker. On it inscribed, “Baker, CA – Gateway To Death Valley.”
For decades it has been an iconic photo stop for many a heat wave fatigued traveler. And on it’s face can been seen the atmospheric annotations of the temperature of the day.
Hot is an understatement in the summer, and cold is the call of the sand in the winter. But as a testament to time the Baker Thermometer stands proud to anyone who wishes to pose beneath it’s shadow.
And Richard, “What is the relevance in speaking of this over one hundred-foot tall heat measurer?” A little known fact… It’s for sale.
And behind it’s search for new ownership is one man… Realtor Baron, today’s 365 stranger now friend.
Baron is a self discovered man (I stray away from saying self-made… although that would be an accurate statement as well).
For in him is the tenacity to discover and to fully know his roots, a quest for personal knowledge that he has pledged his life. And through its pursuit, he has come to a greater self-awareness that only few have the discipline to balance.
No Baron is not a Jesuit, carries no beads or orates in speaking of angels whispering into his ears. Baron is a realist, more of an intellectual who has served his community with years working as a sheriff, until, after marriage; he retired from public service to reestablish his career in Real Estate. By the way, Baron got his realty license at 21 and his broker’s license at 25. Quite and accomplishment still while attending college, like I said Baron is a disciplined man.
Yet, as structured as he is, Baron lives by rules that contradict a man who has spent years in the line of domestic gunfire. And, after sharing several accounts of his call of service in sheriff uniform, he begins his civilian council to us.
“’I ask everyone to learn history… history seems to repeat itself. If we find ourselves going down the wrong paths, then we can look at our history books and say, ‘We’ve been there… we’ve done that… lets not do that again!’”
Baron elaborates in referencing the faiths we follow. “There are a lot of religions… I’ve heard of hundreds created every day. Before someone starts to create any new religion… they need to go back to the beginning of the oldest books that we have… that would be the Torah. Learn the beginnings… learn as far back as you can… and then start working your way. Don’t start trying to create something new, and ignoring everything that has happened in the past.
History… It’s His-Story… God’s-Story… History is the most important thing that people can learn. Then they can create their own history. Also, they need to learn family history, and anything else they are into… learn the history!”
Earlier I called Baron, “A Self-Discovered Man.”
“Why…?” You ask… Because he is brave enough to question.
Baron is Spanish, even raised in a typical Catholic home, and only recently has discovered history of a large Jewish population that resided in Spain in the 1600s. People, who were persecuted for their beliefs, and as a result, migrated to the Americas. It wasn’t only Christopher Columbus who discovered the new world.
After several years, a lot of continued research and prompting that eventually his mother acknowledging, directed him towards his heritage. And with years of rock turning behind him, Baron is now extremely close to finding the true roots of his heritage.
I know, genealogy is rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing hobbies for many. But for Baron, it is deeper than that… It is a confirmation to the spiritual self he has always instinctually known. That’s why he references the Torah. It’s not because he is a Jew… It is because he is asking us to look at each other with eyes to the beginnings of our existence. And how cool is that!
Now to the future.
“From what I can see…” Baron predicts, “’…the economy in general is probably going to get worse. In real estate, they try to motivate by telling us, ‘Interest rates are lower,’ or, ‘Houses went up this week.’ But, when you look again at the history of what’s happened, and at where we are, it’s going to go down. And, I think we are heading towards another big crash… We are heading towards a pretty bad road.
I also think everything was way too high; maybe it’s just getting to where it needs to be? Eventually it will level out; and, I think it will be level for quite some time. People making money on a house in three months! That was the craziest thing that could ever happened?’”
“What about society?” I question.
Again Baron replies with focus on self-control and discovered discipline. “If people would just quit trying to force their agenda onto other people, we’d be living on a much better planet.”
“Here is the perfect example…” He adds, “’…there is a lot of politically correct stuff now days, so much so that it has completely tied people’s hands. You can’t even have a conversation with anyone about anything. You can’t talk about the economy because you are going to offend someone… you can’t talk about religion because you will be judged, or about someone that has done something. Everyone is kind of bound down, it’s like just kind of walking around… whispering to each other.
The seventies… in those days people were allowed to talk… to have a little demonstration. Now days… it’s like everyone is Zombied out! It’s one extreme or the next… there’s no middle road! If someone just wants to do something… they get, ‘That’s because you are this!’
Now days if you go eat chicken, wow…! You get scathed… But I just wanted to go eat some chicken.
It’s just total control of people… and it’s just getting worse and worse.’”
Baron makes a few suggestions for us to ponder.
“’Where people think that they’re liberal, or whatever, or free. I just see it squeezing people more… and more… and more. So, until the people kind of wake up and say, ‘You know what! We’re done with this… let’s get some new people in here… let’s get a new party, or whatever.’
It’s like if two armies looked at each other and said, ‘We’re just not fighting anymore… We’re not gonna do it!’ Where could we go from there…? It’s just not going to happen… So, People just need to wake up!”
Last questions Baron, “What happens if we wake up, and what happens if we don’t?”
“’If we don’t wake up… we are going to be so controlled that people are going to be, like I said, Zombies…. government controlled and everything. And, what’s crazy is that we won’t even realize it if we stay asleep. It’s just going to happen…! It’s just going to happen!
If we do wake up… we are going to prosper again. Waking up is like landing on Mars… that’s waking up! (Baron is not saying that we will be living on Mars, he is referencing how exploring it has brought so many together).
Think about JPL… and those guys in JPL! If you were to walk in there right now… they are going to have a total different attitude than the majority of people around here.
If you were to walk into JPL and say, ‘Did you hear about the chicken thing?’ They most likely would say, ‘What are you talking about?’ Their head are in a totally different place.
So, it depends on where one spends their time thinking, doesn’t it? We just have to individually keep growing… keep growing… and keep growing. And, if everyone keeps growing in doing positive things, and in doing the right things, it doesn’t take an army… just each individual person… and there we go… we’re free.’”
To finalize, Baron describe his perspective of freedom, “People need to do what they have been placed on this planet for by God. We’re all here for a reason… we’re all completely different… we’re all here for a specific reason! We just need to figure out what it is… and then have the courage to just do it!”
We have the goal… let’s work towards it… there in lies the feat.
Baron, thanks for the time!
Talk tomorrow friends.