Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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Hope is the Enemy of Courage. While, at 19. attending Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, A very intellectually stimulating academic institution, I came across a book, 'Faith of a Heretic', Written by a Yale Philosophy Professor, Walter Kaufman, in 1959. The idea was, of course, not to hope, but to get in and do it. My whole life seems to have followed that philosophy. As a child I wanted to build a treehouse 30 feet high in an oak. And I did so. As a 10-year-old, I had a 'nature club' for 'younger' kids! It went well, considering my tender age. I wished to continue my father's abandoned large vegetable garden. And I did so with my little brother. I wanted to have a large pond for my huge carp and snapping turtles. And I dug it. I wanted to earn a PhD at Cornell. And I earned it! During my teaching job in Africa, I wanted to learn beekeeping with the aggressive African bee. And I carefully learned the art. I wished, back in the US, to start a polyculture educational farm; the Environmental Education Farm Foundation. And, laboriously, I managed and did so. I decided I must save California wildlife land and created the Quail Ridge Conservancy (Land Trust). And it, with lots of effort, manifested itself, eventually becoming part of UC Davis. I learned of the languishing of the creation of legislation for a California State Grass. And after four years it was passed. I worked in Wyoming to protect 7,000 acres of wildlife acreage.. And after 20 years,it was accomplished. I learned I was a Pict of Scotland and established myself as a stone carver. Lots of effort and work to do so! After Nora, my late wife passed, I decided to create and manage a UCD Student Endowment. And, believe it or not, it is functioning. I wished then to create a 'Poems and Thoughts' website for my children to remember my life. And now it consists of 580 plus poems for their, and others' thinking. What I am saying is that the old philosopher's words were always there for me to manifest; From childhood to near death, I have attempted to meet the challenge of my passions. My advice to the next generation is to do such-- Never demur in your true passions and accomplish what you must, and desire. May it be good. Frank Maurer 13 July 2025 1400 Hours.