DF gave me some feedback the other day. She thought that in the Penaleno Mountain post that there was too much TMI and my attitude was a bit aggressive. I gave that some thought, as it was aggressive ad undertone of resentment would rise up here and there. Since it is an early post on the site, where I am introduced to some of you, I thought I might explain its context. I am usually less flamboyant.
There has been a website forum that I have been contributing to since the early 2000’s called “The Secret Naturist Society.” It had fifteen years of accumulated posts, a wealth of wisdom and knowledge about naturism, the art of stealth naturism, and much more. It was a great place of camaraderie on the web between a group of “secret” or free range naturists. I had trip reports posted there going back ten years. With all of this, which accumulated for fifteen years, you might imagine the sense of loss that we felt when the site crashed, like a shipwreck our international group of old friends were suddenly all cast adrift.
I found out that a new host had taken over as a buyout of the system. New rules were put in place. These rules demanded no “adult” content. Our naturist forum was deemed “adult.” The two week notification was sent to an email address that was not frequently monitored. Everything was lost.
We washed ashore a few weeks later, at Karla and Stuart’s Free Range Naturism site’s forum. Slowly the crew reassembled and discussed where to go next. There was a general and genuine grief process going on inside of most of us. The site had been a regular part of our lives. It was like a small town having a general store where the locals will congregate around the potbelly stove. It was gone like a tornado had hit.
The fact that it was gone in an unjustified heavy handed fashion and reasoning, made the event even more unpalatable. Our content was not “adult.” It was naturism. The human body is not “adult.” It is natural. It is a part of everyone and anyone no matter what the age. We had been devastated by a very sick attitude manifested in a cold corporate policy. This is something that could happen to any naturist website, the promotion of body freedom, any natural and free expression of an issue important to all humanity could be swept under the carpet and disappear with the first amendment.
So, with this repression, this persecution of my spirit, I was feeling angry. I was feeling defiant. I felt a need to stand up for my human rights and not take it. I felt kind of aggressive and less tolerant that week. As time goes on, you may read my posts from years back and these will attest to a more usual personality.
Perhaps this anger, or sense of injustice, is something that is necessary for all of us to produce action and change. If you remember in that revered flick about Mahatma Gandhi, Ben Kingsley as Gandhi is thrown off of a train in South Africa for being “a darky” in the white section. As he sat there with his bags about him in the dirt, he could have taken many different actions. He turned this energy, which had been presented to him, into the action that he is famous for and upset an entire empire. He could have taken it, accepted it, or sit in his predetermined place. He took an exceptional path instead. Following these passions has made admirable people and great change throughout history. There is a choice to accept, react in a mediocre way, or seize passion.
I was stimulated to create this site that had been brewing inside me. To show others that there is a range of freedom that they hadn’t conceived, a different solution, I’ve accepted my task. I’ve harnessed the energy AND I’m going to have fun with this. When others change their practice and range and their humanity is further liberated, the naturist movement’s momentum will grow. In the meantime, with each post, I’ll feel some justice and freedom.
Incidentally, I’d like to invite you to visit http://www.freerangenaturism.com/index.htm and join in the conversation of the “forum” section. This where I do most of my conversation about this site and free-range naturism as a part of the group. It is informative and fun. I’m Jbee over there.