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I am not afraid to do work I don't like in order to feed my family.
I will physically put myself in harms way to protect my family and those I deeply love.
With deep thought, reason and spiritual guidance, I direct a path for my family to follow with love, joy, honesty, loyalty and integrity.
I treat my children as a gift to be cherished; to be loved; to be fully taught and respected; little people that will grow to become adult decision makers.
I protect my wife and children by ensuring their needs will be met financially, even if my life is cut short through no fault of my own.
I always seek to encourage my wife, understanding that she is helping me and not here to serve me.
I show the example by speaking or listening with love and respect to my family, never using a tone of condescension or sarcasm; never taking offense.
I show great compassion and forgiveness of faults and missteps. I encourage those I love to brush themselves off and try again. Learn from the experience.
I am not afraid to shed a tear for or with my family or those I deeply love.
I help those in the community with my time or treasure, but, never at the expense of my family who is my priority.
When I arrive home from work or business, my wife and children will run to greet me with hugs.
My family will only feel safe in my presence.
My family will always eat our meals together at home.
My family will recreate and use this time to really appreciate what we have as a family, even if it's something as simple as going to a local park.
I care more about the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical well-being of my wife and children. Material things or elaborate and expensive traditions are a non-priority. Food, clothing and shelter are what we need and I take the lead in showing the importance of appreciating being content with these things.
My wife is my partner who stands beside me.
I respect the different make-up of my wife as a woman. I understand and am empathetic to her physical and emotional complexities. I embrace them with love from my heart and mind.
I treat my wife with honor, respect and loyalty. This is not my rule, but, God's. Nothing good will come of my life as a man if I do not follow this command.
I love peace. I hope for security. All for my family. This is how I feel.
I'm just... a man.
It's been a while since I've blogged simply because I'm actually busy with the tangible change that's needed across the board when dealing with the Autistic Community. This is the most difficult and unforgiving work I've ever done, but, it's also the most rewarding. I've gained new friends, learned new ways to communicate ideas and it has completely transformed my thinking concerning the value we all bring to the societies we live in.
Yeah, I still think we have a long way to go, but, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I don't think it's a train coming at me! Social networks like this one have helped me to reach out to news organizations, other philanthropists and many hard working people across the globe. I'm relieved the hear that we all, pretty much, seek the same things in life. We just want some peace so that we can enjoy our own personal happiness. We can all connect and talk to each other until we're blue in the face or our fingers cramp up from typing, but, in addition to conversing, we need to be proactive, step outside of the box and just do something.
If each one of us does something to help another, that's, like, 6 billion worth of people power! Now I know not everyone can do something. That's the point, actually. That "something" we do doesn't have to be grand or magnificent. Grand and magnificent are completely relative when you're talking about helping someone in need. Providing clothes for someone who lost their home in a fire may not be grand like raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the biggest corporate autism organization, but, it's certainly grand and magnificent to that family. Not only that, you'd be helping them right now. That's really doing something.
I'm currently working with the Dan Marino Foundation and Holly Robinson-Peete's non-profit, HollyRod4Kids. I'm actually being asked to give my expertise and provide the service AACF, Inc. offers. This is ground breaking for us here because I did everything from scratch. I literally started with... (wait for it...) nothing. I'm going to share with you the latest thing I've done which is to introduce the October discussion point courtesy of the Dan Marino Foundation. As you are reading this, I'm working with the HollyRod4Kids organization to help a particular family in need. This will be the first of many families to be helped hopefully before years end. This is actually sooner than I had planned to be helping anyone. The plan was January 2010. I guess someone wants me to give a lot sooner. Wonder who that might be? Hmmm.
http://www.youtube.com/v/r235LlGbd6s">
Peace & L☮ve,
Michael Buckholtz
I recently visited a place called ANCA Consulting headquartered in Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada. I didn't know what to expect really. I spoke with Leonora and Charlie Collura by phone and via the Internet video phone service, Skype. Nice folks, overall. They've been consulting with families that have autistic children for almost 15 years there. I figured their knowledge of how to address some of the fears many parents have about raising autistic children would be a healthy thing for me to discover. Little did I know that I would literally come back to the states with a totally recalibrated state of mind concerning autism and how to best help autistic children, autistic adults and their families (parents included) communicate with each other.
What ANCA does is difficult to explain. That's why I'm so grateful to have gone there to experience it. It was totally necessary for me to do that. To start, the name 'ANCA' is not an acronym. It is much more personal. The 'AN' stands for Anthony, the name of Leornora and Charlie's son who has brain injuries caused by medical professionals and is confined to a wheelchair. The 'CA' stands for Caroline, their daughter who's passed away. The deeply personal nature of what ANCA stands for is (I think) the reason for the powerful results that anyone who's been involved with them seem to have. I saw video after video of success story. I saw a presentation given to school teachers and education officials with one of the children who'd been through the ANCA program and I was speechless.
I'll tell ya more tomorrow.
Peace & Love,
Blog on: Friday, July 31, 2009 @ 02:25 am
Okay, everyone. Where do I begin? It's been a block buster month or so for me and my family. If the hunger strike wasn't enough attention, I'm having to recover from it while fielding calls from Internet radio hosts clamoring to get me on their programs. I'm SO thankful that the interest in an Aspie adults story like mine is receiving attention. I want the world at large to know that it's important to teach and coach beyond whatever label some doctor gives your child. Yes, the diagnosis addresses the fact that you have to be mindful of the nuances of a specific condition but, that does not relinquish natural parental nurturing power. The parents will always know best. Never believe the chatter that you are less qualified to care for your autistic child because you don't have a PhD or MD at the end of your name.
For those of you parents that are sick and tired of those same professionals not listening to you after you've given them an abject lesson on how to best teach or coach your autistic child, you are not alone. Many parents are simply beat down by educators, social workers and other officials threatening them with removing their child(ren) from a loving home if they don't comply with the teaching practices they want to enforce. For you, it's probably time to take matters into your own hands and home school. Yes, this is a difficult move that may require resigning from a job or at the least reducing work to part-time.
None of what families coping with autism go through is easy. I know this first hand. That's why I started the Aid for Autistic Children Foundation. Equally as important, there needed to be a place where parents, autistic children, autistic adults and others interested in this organic grassroots movement to change the direction of the autism conversation could congregate without the fear of reprisal. That place is here at Autism Support Network. I see ASN as the combination MySpace and Facebook specifically designed for the Autism Community. Here, we can speak freely, share, receive advice and most of all support one another.
I'm gonna soon be embarking on rejuvenating my recording career. I am being inundated with requests to go back to what I do best: music. I have to agree. A great deal of the requests are coming from tweens and teens! I am humbled and pleased to oblige! I will be dedicating the next 4 months to putting together the first EP single from my new CD, "Foundation". It's a fitting title because I am, in fact, building the foundation for fans to enjoy some new music from me. Also a literal foundation for the autism community's benefit to relieve their debt load. And a foundation for the young generation coming up to no longer hide in the shadows but, to speak eloquently through their talents about autism and how it does not stop them from being a complete, productive, loving and successful human being socially engaged in making our society better. More updates to come on this whole music thing...
Blog on: Saturday, June 27, 2009 @ 00:59 EST
This raising funds stuff is NOT so easy during tough economic times! However, I'm not throwing in the towel yet. I've got a simple plan: A lot of people chipping in a little. It's so simple it's scary!
Okay. Just what is a lot of people then? I figure about 3 to 5 million people. Yeah, I know. Where am I gonna find 3 to 5 million people that even care about the concerns of the Autism Community? Hmmm. Not a delima for me actually. I'm gonna use my book sales and the "other" thing I know best: Music. Music is universal and what better way to draw people of all walks of life to a cause than music. Now that I've got everyone's attention, I'm takin' this humanitarian movement to the next level. I'd already planned to do this but, it looks like the timing is right to introduce music into the mix. Yes, people should be drawn to this effort simply because it's the right thing to do, but, come on! The majority of folks won't involve themselves financially unless they are getting some value for their time or money. That's where the music comes in. With spectacular music in tow, Aid for Autistic Children Foundation can rally folks from all walks of life to support the families and adults coping with autism.
If this sounds like a cool idea to you, drop by the Aid for Autistic Children Foundation, Inc's website at www.aacfinc.org. By donating a small amount from $5 to $25 one time, you will be securing an opportunity for a family or autistic adult where they can obtain debt relief.
For those who can, it's time to pitch in. I've just begun to pitch in. My goal to sell 250k copies of my book "Autism Is My Universe" will allow me to donate $1mllion to the foundation trust fund. I think that would be a fantastic jump off point.
I'm working as hard as I can to get the word out and create opportunities to speak about the work that is being done on behalf of the Autism Community. By raising $1million with my book, that is only a small portion of what I can do to further the march toward tolerance and understanding of what it's like to be a family or adult coping with autism.
Blog on: Sunday, June 21, 2009 @ 00:58 EST
I chose to fast (hunger strike) because I knew it was going to get attention. Thankfully, it did and I've made further headway by now having direct communication with journalists who are interested in the Autism Community's stories as well as concerns. It's sad to me, however, that I had to go to such lengths for anyone to pay attention to such an important message as adults living with autism who may need a helping hand. Not only that, it's the poorest among us that wind up disappearing from the landscape of the world and it's a much worse world if they happen to be a family coping with a child (or children) that has autism.
Today, it's still quiet in the mainstream media. I know this will take time, but, c'mon already. Do I have to extend this fasting thing? I don't have a problem with doing that one bit. I am really not happy with the way those of us that live with autism are tossed to the side as unmotivated or welfare seekers. We are far from that description.
This is a plea to anyone that may be paying attention today. It is my hope that a hunger strike will not be necessary again in order to really make a difference in the lives of anyone in the autism community that feels invisible.
Blog on: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 @ 22:20 EST
I'll be going to Woodfield Academy tomorrow to visit with the headmaster, Becky Sessions, here locally in Macon, Georgia to encourage her with my own story about how my Mom's decision to try non-traditional things with me and my siblings helped us to develop the social skills needed for us to succeed in a very judgemental society.
I've been made aware that there will be no children there because class is out at the moment. Later this year when class is back in, I will have pictures and all kinds of stories of the students successes. I'm excited about meeting up with Becky to give this successful, but, ignored Academy some needed love and attention from our own community.
Blog on: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 @ 12:52 EST
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