“We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky, we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death, which, lest we forget, is the common lot.” – Abraham Verghese, Cutting For Stone.

It is never a simple or easy thing for me to ask other people for money, but it is time – a little past time, actually – to ask for blog support.

I never imagined where the blog would go when I started it in 2007, but here it is, 2023, and my new motto is The Bedlam Farm Journal: Creative And Gentle Warmth...And a new role for the blog is sharing my new garden bed and flowers with my readers. The world is full of crisis and mystery.

I hope the blog’s new mission is to offer refuge, calm, peace, and beauty to a world where we struggle with one another and the world itself. We are heading for some rough waters, and I mean making the blog a safe place and grounding place – and spiritual retreat – for people of goodwill and good heart to go.

This means working hard on the blog and my working to be a better human being. One is connected to the other. I’m in. Nothing wrong ever comes from wanting to be better if you mean it. This is my mission.

To exist, the blog needs support. I also gave up fat checks and royalties when I gave up book writing.

I have no complaints; I love my life. Someone e-mailed me a message today beginning with “You poor man, so much trouble with your foot,” and I wanted to write back and say, please don’t call me poor; I am neither poor, unhappy, unhealthy,  or sad about my good and fortunate life.

I always think of the truly poor when I feel sorry for myself, and I hate to feel sorry for myself. I keep the Verghese quote close by.

Thanks in part to the blog, I am getting to know and love who I am. I hope this rubs off. The blog is always evolving, and we are coming to a good place. I share my life with Maria and with our wonderful dogs and animals.

Please, if you can and are so inclined and able, consider supporting the blog and our work here.

The blog is the engine that makes it all go around. If it is meaningful, stimulating, comforting, or entertaining, think about supporting it in any amount that is comfortable. Small donations add up, they are the cornerstone of the blog.

Big ones are certainly welcome.

I love sharing ideas and taking those flower pictures, and I hope you do also, but it all costs money that comes from blog support. In addition, I try to offer ideas that might be interesting or meaningful to others. The blog is, after all, a new kind of virtual memoir, the story of a life, my life, and my determination to heal, learn, grow, and share the process.

It’s good work and hard work. I need help keeping it going.

The blog is the central nerve center for the Army Of Good, which gives people who wish to do good in these tense times a way to do it. We have made a lot of good here, and there is more that is needed and more to come. This is a good place to come if you wish to feel the joy of going good. Doing good feels better than almost anything else I do.

You can support the blog by going here; there are several easy one-time or continuing ways to do it. You can also send a one-time donation via Paypal, [email protected] or Venmo, Jon Katz@Jon-Katz-13. Or by check, Jon Katz, Blog Support, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

Thanks for considering this. I’m off on a two-day anniversary celebration; I’ll be back on Sunday. Thanks for all of your support, encouragement, feedback, etc. Even when I don’t like it, I hear it and am learning to listen.

You can read about supporting my blog here.