by Ben Taylor
This is an article unlike most I write, but I would like to introduce you to our friend Donna Pravel, a freelance writer who will be presenting what I hope will be a regular article about Health and Nutrition from both a physical and a spiritual perspective. She has been a professional musician, a music teacher, a school teacher, a mid-wife, a practitioner of alternative and naturopathic healthcare and foremost of all, mother of seven children. I first learned about her as a regular on the forums of the alternative health and nutrition website CureZone, of which Utopia Silver and Utopia Naturals are company sponsors.
As most of our readers know, for the past three years, I have personally been on the frontline in the courtroom as my own “lawyer”, representing not only myself and Utopia Silver, but defending the Rights of all Americans to choose their means of healthcare against out of control State and Federal bureaucracies that simply have no Constitutional authority to act in the manner they do. This case in a Texas State District court in Austin, Texas has been called “The Test Case” by Texas Attorney General prosecutors. In a nutshell, the issue is whether or not manufacturers and sellers of various supplements and/or their customers may exercise their Right of Free Speech in customer testimonials, the citing of research/studies and/or historical evidence concerning the benefits of dietary supplements and foods. It is the “government” position that if you manufacture or sell a supplement or food and speak or write of any benefit, that supplement or food magically becomes a “new drug” and is subject to regulation as a drug.
I’m giving this brief synopsis of our court battle, because it is why Donna originally contacted me. When she heard of our battle and what it was about, she emailed me and said that she was there with her help and support and even offered to be in the courtroom. I have, due mostly to my own shortcomings combined with these three years of tough legal battles, been required to be so objectively and coldly analytical of everything that happens around me, that I have at times forgotten when to turn it on and when to turn it off. It has become simply a survival instinct, much as an antelope might experience on the plains with an unseen lion constantly on the prowl in the tall grasses nearby. After witnessing the extent that people in our own “government” will go to obtain a prosecution “victory” through trickery, deceit and lying, I have become instinctively wary and hyper-analytical of any situation in which I become a part.
I was told face to face by a “man” in the hierarchy of the court “system” that, “This system operates on fear, but you show no fear and that is a problem for us”. He was right and that kind of fearlessness comes from knowing that the Lord is on our side in this battle of dealing with a system corrupted by money from influence peddlers in the pharmaceutical industry. I have had to stand face to face against threats and intimidation from prosecutors and judges, having to analyze their every word and “term of art”, their every act, their every expression, not to mention the cunning tricks used to presume and claim a jurisdiction that does not exist except in presumption and tacit assent/consent. BUT, that right kind of fearlessness can also translate into callousness if allowed to carry over into other areas of life. If not controlled, it can cause us to walk “where angels fear to tread” and I know now that is not the place to travel, because sometimes in becoming fearless in an arena of lions and warriors, one can become heartless in the arena of life where there still exists kind and gentle people who deserve no less that just that in return-all the time. There is a proper time and place to do battle, but there is also a time for the warrior to lay down that shield and to rest that spear in the corner. As stated, in part, in Ecclesiastes 3:
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:A time to be born,And a time to die;A time to plant,And a time to harvest;
A time to kill,And a time to heal;A time to break down,And a time to build up;
A time to weep,And a time to laugh;A time to mourn,And a time to dance;
A time to tear,And a time to sew;A time to keep silence,And a time to speak;
A time to love,And a time to hate;A time of war,
And a time of peace
Even things that are necessary and appropriate in their proper time and place become unnecessary and inappropriate in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even survival instincts can affect our interaction with others and we simply cannot live our lives in distrust of everyone around us. It isn’t healthy, it isn’t spiritually uplifting and it will simply cost us dearly in the loss of special people who should be a part of our lives. This rambling epistle does get back to Donna. In going through some personally painful and introspective analysis recently of where I am, where I should be and most of all who I am in God’s Creation, I re-read Donna’s blogs on MySpace and was impressed with her view of life in general. Although not dealing directly with my situation, but already knowing some of her history on CureZone, I asked if she would do a regular article for our Silver Bulletin e-News Magazine. She said yes and here we are.
As Donna’s writing already is to me, I believe she will be an inspiration to all who read her articles about mental, physical and spiritual “healthcare” involving the relationships between Mankind and God’s natural Creation, Man and Woman, children and parents, as well as between us and our Creator. Although Utopia Silver may not always agree with her opinions or endorse everything she writes, she has free rein to write what she believes and thinks, so enjoy her kind and gentle wisdom, as well as her knowledge of alternative healthcare.