Where have I been? A tale of tragedy and self-exploration

Greetings Steemit Family,

Thank you for your patience in my posting. Those within my IRL social group would know that our beloved Zachary Newell was seriously injured in Mexico City in early March. Fox 9 news story of Zach's event. This event took place on Thursday, March 8th around 7pm Central Time. The reports filed state that Zach had a seizure at the top of a staircase and proceeded to fall down it without resistance, this happened within Mexico City. A friend of Zach's had brought him to a local hospital. There the doctors had stabilized him; I have an untold appreciation to these individuals for their work.

Unfortunately, his Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance did not cover injuries while traveling internationally. The Newell family had argued that Zach had been misinformed by the representatives Zach spoke to before traveling. This accumulated a significant debt and he was unable to transfer to a hospital that took his insurance until this debt was paid.

Below is an image of my conversation with Zach earlier that week:

These events threw me for a loop.

My friend is recovering. He is home in a wheel chair. I will wait to ask him what actually happened that resulted him being on a layover in Houston Texas on Tuesday and then in a hospital in Mexico City on Thursday. As long as my friend is safe I can care less. As always, the truth will be uncovered. I will not fret on subjectivity and personal paranoia.

The first moments of being reached out to by an anonymous Facebook profile and being informed that one's close friend is severely injured. For the rest of the night I spent searching for his family's contact information. I could not bear Zach being alone and injured. The emergent anxieties were breathed deep into the core of my lungs. It took three weeks for me to exhale that fettid emotion. Every breath I took for those weeks was contaminated with an existential urgency.

The shadow of death can blot out the light at any moment. Snuffed out as quickly as it transformed from embers and lit into flame. I must never let myself forget the consuming darkness that lies behind the reaches of experienced life. Moments of a sublime living are a torch, which much like Plato's Cave, lights our experienced story of reality on the walls of our cave.

We are an interdependent part of an apathetic world bound by creation and destruction. Moments of excess are inextricably linked to the mundane and both are fleeting. Whether we bear the passions of suffering or joy is not considered in the continuous interplay. To be mindful of this is necessary for the proper detachment from the illusions found in the real world.

Please make a donation of any amount at this location.Unfortunately health care is expensive and a collective of individuals is better to resolve the burden than one sole individual.

My productivity on Steemit was stymied by these events within my life and organizing for a few art exhibitions. I exhibited at Free Hug's guy's Weird Shit Art Eventand Minnesota Telivision Network's Art-Tech Experience.While there I worked with Brian Skalak of Second Sight Visuals.I will be sure to share such adventures in future posts. I thank you all for your patience.

Until my next post best well-wishes readers. May you light your way in life, burn down illusions, and keep the flame lit.

Xander of Xanadu
Andrew Schumacher