The Man on the Mountain and Our Fair Share

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

At the onset of the apocalypse just as a fog settled into the valleys like lingering smoke from distant battlefields, a man struggled up the mountain to see what he could see.  There, he found clarity above the clouds and while seeing the shadows below.  He could also see other mountain tops in the distance and other climbers sending messages as if by firelight; or, rather, electronic reflections on flashing screens.

In the upper elevations the air was cool and bright. The sun shone unhindered against a blue canopy like a candle held high and the brilliant stars at night blinked and twinkled as friendly eyes in the ether .  The man had words he wanted to share with the other climbers as well as those residing in the valleys below, so he built a platform and set upon it a billboard where words were posted for all to see.  Others responded to the man’s messages and many even joined him on the mountain as the man would even place the words of other climbers from their own lofts on the distant mountaintops.

But the man also had to tend to his family and his work in the valley below – so every day, the man woke up early, climbed the mountain and gathered together his words as well as the words of others, to place upon his billboard high up on the mountain top.  Then, he would climb back down to the valley below and work to support his family before once again climbing up the mountain every afternoon to post more words and messages meant to inform and entertain the people in the apocalypse.  Every day the man did this, alone, twice a day for seven days a week for over eleven years and the people on the mountains and in the valleys below were, indeed, informed and entertained.

Eventually, a community formed on the mountaintop around the electronic billboard to the point where daily debates and discussions were held about the words on the screen.  There was music and laughter and shitfests.  It was a blast.

On more than one occasion, however, flaming arrows and firebombs were thrown by denizens of darkness onto the man’s billboard and the platform upon which it rested.  The man sought to protect his lighthouse of sorts and was forced to pay a brave and experienced captain to guard against the attacks.  This captain, who had no name, was sent by a friend from another mountain top in the distance.

Of course, the man on the mountain could have charged a fee for entrance to the communal areas surrounding his now popular platform, but he chose to, instead, keep it free to the people; even as the man climbed and descended the mountain twice a day for seven days a week and for over eleven years.  All he asked in return was for voluntary donations to help recoup his expenses, if not his time and effort, from those finding value in the words.

What is the electronic billboard on the platform, which is constantly assailed by firebombs and flaming arrows, worth to you?  On what priority would you assign it to your daily routine?  What if it disappeared one day – how much more would you pay, then, to have it back?

It seems we never truly appreciate the value of anything until it’s gone and it’s too late.  Would you please consider helping the man out with your contributions through the end of the year and beyond?

Let us show the man our gratitude and finish 2019 stronger than any other year before.

Thank you in advance.

Please click the embedded link:

PayPal

OR

To Donate by Check
Mail to:

Jim Quinn

P.O. Box 1520

Kulpsville, PA 19443

 

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Author: Uncola

I am one who has found the road less traveled while remaining a whiskered, whispering witness to the world. I hope what you just considered was worth the price and time spent. www.TheTollOnline.com

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Plato_Plubius
Plato_Plubius

Thus Spoke Zarathustra!

22winmag - Yankee by birth - Southerner by choice
22winmag - Yankee by birth - Southerner by choice

Look, a Plato sighting!

I gave earlier this year, and I’d give again if I wasn’t being financially raped by the courts at the moment.

Uncola

RE: Thus Spoke Zarathustra!

Not exactly what I was going for, but OK 🙂

C’mon ya merry band of rapscallions and scallywags! Consider coughing up some doubloons for the kettle, will ya?

Gold and silver coins also accepted (via registered mail?) to Jim’s address above.

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KeyserSusie
KeyserSusie

The paypal link does not work (for me, the tech impaired). What is his paypal address?

Uncola

Not sure why it’s not working now. It was earlier.

Either hit the PayPal Donate button in the right column of the site or try this:

https://www.paypal.com/us/signin

Donate to
[email protected]
Purpose: TheBurningPlatform.com

Anonymous
Anonymous

I’ve lost access to 1 of the 2 revenue streams I work for down in the valley. Nevertheless, 7Up’s words serve as a notable reminder kick in the arse. Good tale, D.
And every lil bit helps, aye.
The red meter gauge indicates we are lagging behind significantly.
It’s been a few months; it’s time again to pony up, as the hat is passed. Give me a week or 2, JimmyCue. What’s the preference besides the usual WUMO?
2 visitors from the monastery; naughty bimbos; the bell’s w twice the love + pictures of trout; or two flav-a-flaves o’ toppin’?
What’ll it be lad? Ask yer bride, should ya be undecided.
I’ll oblige.
Ping back privately if so inclined.
~L

Iconoclast421

Get cashapp!

James
James

I have been “removed” from paybuddy(no pal of mine!).I will send money order,when,in the next few weeks,post office in my area usually a zoo,have just kept on driving looking into parking lot a few times,small town but PO packed.I know many of us not rock stars but even little bits help,like prepping,the smalls add up.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Done. Best $10 I’ve spent in a while…

Anonymous
Anonymous

Come on people. 1,000 readers giving $20 each. Or 200 giving $100. That’s the ticket. We can do this.

Admin
Admin

Uncola

You write so well, I was rooting for this guy. It has Lord of the Rings overtones. I always wanted to do a Lord of the Rings trilogy article, but never got around to it. The last year has been tough, as my job situation went south, and now I’ve started a new job. My mind has been distracted from writing, but I have to keep TBP alive for you, the other writers, and mostly for the great commenters and readers. When my work situation settles down, I hope to write more.

Thanks for your fantastic contributions to TBP.

llpoh
llpoh

Hey Jim – sorry you are going through a bit of stress. I have not contributed anything in a while – I am pretty jaded at the moment, and am having trouble formulating how o express the things I have been witnessing. But I will try to put something together.

I will try to scrape together the zlotys, rubles, krona, etc from my most recent trip. I know how those are so much fun to handle – hopefully your young man is available to wait in line!

Uncola

You write so well, I was rooting for this guy. It has Lord of the Rings overtones.

lol

It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for some time but just kept putting it off. I told myself if you didn’t post another call to action by July 1st (= midpoint of year mark) I’d do myself. Then, this morning, I woke up and the first words of the first paragraph were rolling around in my head: “At the onset of the apocalypse“… so I wrote the whole thing, polished it, and posted it into the queue in just a little more than an hour.

To the readers here: I want y’all to know the above plea was 100% of my own accord – Jim neither asked me to write it or knew it was coming.

Thanks, Jim, for all you do. And muchas gracias to all of the readers and commenters here as well. I believe it was Hardscrabble Farmer who once said this place was the coolest little spot on the interwebs – and yep, it is pretty awesome.

Mary Christine

“this place was the coolest little spot on the interwebs – and yep, it is pretty awesome.”

I’m a hanger onner for that very reason.

mark
mark

THE PLATFORM THAT BURNS

I wandered across the internet
Occasionally stopping to blog and fret
A raging Murcian prepping and forlorn
Then I started lurking on ‘The Burning Platform’

I hung around and I found
Some scripture preachers…some tongue in cheek teachers
Some with wit, some with true grit, some with Friday pictures of perky and huge tits!

Farmers and charmers and sarcastic alarmers
Pissers and moaners and an occasional groaner

Some angry, some lost, some ready to pay the upcoming cost
To take our LIBERTY back!

Eloquent writers and snarly fighters
Boomers and gloomy doomers
Some who will surly learn…after the 4th Turn
The Preppers were right!

Many who rage against the machine…and it seems
This is my kind of ME TOO!

Jump on in…for Admin!

I don’t give much…but I do every month…many drops will fill Jim’s bucket. (Its the least we can do).

PS: When they round us all up I hope we have our own FEMA ‘Camp’. Surely we are at the top of their list. I consider it a place of high honor.

Mary Christine

If you are in our FEMA camp I know we will be able to bust out. I’m not much for poetry but your prose is where it’s at. Ha, I put the apostrophe in the right place for you grammar nazis. Hello, EC! Oh, here is a song for ya.

mark
mark

Thanks Mary, I enjoyed the song!

nkit
nkit

No better cause…give..

nkit
nkit
Donkey Balls
Donkey Balls

Nkit, best female guitarist, imo, is Orianthi.

Lurkerby
Lurkerby

I’m a long time lurker, but I give. Lurkers don’t be Losers. Give.

MG
MG

If the guy on the Mountain develops tinnitus let me know.

In writing.
I cannot hear well.
Seriously.

I sent some… Will send more…

Must have firestarter somewhere.

Dale already has several hundred dollars for Patriot rock placement. And it was quite well received.

Ghost

That was typed, sort of, on my phone.

I meant to type “Must have put the firestarter somewhere” meaning I was saving a few dollars for a special cause and perhaps it will find its way by airmail across the Big Muddy.

{Seriously, that does make perfect sense if you know what “firestarter” means.]

Uncola

Well, I see the needle was moved a little bit; even if not as much as I’d hoped. It could be metaphorical third-party pleas are not as effective as admin’s direct appeals. Or that folks don’t have a PayPal, envelopes, and stamps, or wish to remain anonymously off the grid, or any number of other reasons.

Regardless, thank you to those who responded in kind thus far.

Maybe some time we can have a “donation day” where everyone reading that day would be willing to place $10 or $20 bill into an envelope and mail to Jim’s PO box. It would be interesting to see how far that would go to keeping the lights on around here.

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