Common Ground

Last post I promised to report on my visit to an eatery called Common Ground in Oneonta. It was very nice - beautiful decor, lots of natural wood slab tables and bench seats, quiet, nice music, excellent food. Like home-cooked organic gourmet. Knock your socks off delicious with lovely atmosphere. I'm sorry I didn't find them earlier in my visit!

I thought Twelve Tribes would be some kind of Native American Indian thing, but I must have gotten them mixed up with some other hippie enterprise along the main drag in Oneonta. This Twelve Tribes is named after the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Membership seems to involve a pretty major lifestyle decision. As I gather, folks who follow that way join what is essentially a religious commune. They pool their resources and live together in a community, and have several enterprises to generate income so they can make their way in the world. Everyone we encountered at the Common Ground was gentle, soft-spoken, and provided the best kind of service one may hope for in a restaurant.  I truly felt the spirit of love and service toward God and fellow man there.

One of my friends who got pretty severely burned by a separatist religious concern in the past has warned me and mine to be extremely wary of this religious group. I have taken her warnings under advisement.

I used to know an old fella name of Bob Ross. Not Bob Ross the oil painter, another Bob Ross. The Bob Ross I know reminds me of  a nature show I saw on PBS one time featuring otters and sea urchins. Sea urchins are like little ocean bottom animal versions of sand burrs or cockle-burs with hard, spiky, repellent exteriors. A sea urchin looks like a nasty little ball of of needles, something you would not want to mess with if you could help it. Otters have discovered, however, that sea urchins are tender and sweet on the inside, and love to eat them. The trick, of course, is to get past that spiky exterior. The mental image I have is of the otter floating on its back with a sea urchin on its belly. Bob Ross reminded me of those sea urchins, just as spiky and repellent as he could be in presentation. God Forbid that anyone should ever discover that he was actually a pretty sweet guy, if you could ever get past his spikiness. Quite a character, Bob was. I only tell this on him now because he has gone on to the Big Meeting in the Sky some years ago now. Anyway, Bob used to tell a particular story on himself in which the punch line or moral was, "Hell, I ain't afraid of nothin' I ain't about to do!"

That's sorta the way I view these Twelve Tribe folks - "I ain't afraid of nothin' I ain't about to do."

I found them pleasant, charming and attractive, and wish there were a Common Ground restaurant nearer to where we live, but my interests and situation at this time in my life in no way lead me to be remotely interested in joining a religious commune and handing over everything I've worked for. I appreciate the devotion of those who have chosen that way, but it is not my way. Live and Let Live, I say. I hope Common Ground is still there the next time I visit Otsego County, because there were some more things on the menu I want to try.

Meanwhile, if you are confident in what you believe, you don't have to worry about someone talking you into something else. If you're not sure, go find out! Be sure! If you are sure, if you are confident in whatever you believe, borrow a line from Bob Ross - you don't have to be afraid of nothin' you aint' about to do!