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FROM TRIESTE TO THE ARK - Proposed Community AID centres, 7 Theme parks - DESIGN/ DETAILS - PROJECTS +PRELUDE & MY AUTOBIOGRAPHYLOVE FAMILIES!! - Frank Ferruccio Charles Niero - "MY PROJECTS", WITH GOD'S INSPIRATION AND HELP PLUS WANTING TO GIVE "HIM" ALL THE GLORY FOR THEM - NOAH'S ARK PROJECTS - SEE AND READ ABOUT THEM! - MY PRELUDE ACCENTUATES WORLD PEACE - LOVE - FREEDOM ETC! 09 September LIST OF SUPPORTING TRADERS AND BUSINESSES - ANYWHERE IN THE WORLDYour Peace Day
Plan a Peace Day Event!and
- Niero's Family business name NOAHS ARK PROJECTS - all members - United to Serve. The Government would not let me start a charity! - So we started a Charitable Business! - NOAHS ARK PROJECTS. INDEX 1 Content - OF MY BOOK AND THE PRELUDE. - SAME AS INDEX 2. (MY LIFE STORY)...- [ Traduire cette page ] Francais - click on traduire cette page for my story in the French language - thank you the person that did it for GOD and for me!
NOAHS ARK TEMA ... 's perfil click on it for the spanish version - thank you for the translator. LIST OF SUPPORTING TRADERS AND BUSINESSES - ANYWHERE IN THE WORLDNOAH'S ARK PROJECTS - JESUS IS THE NEW ARK.
PRELUDE'S X 3 TO MY BOOK - STARTS WITH A SECTION ABOUT LOVE - PEACE AND FREEDOM - Stop! The Atom Bombs Continuation!!etc.etc. INDEX OF CONTENT - CLICK ON CHAPTER, PHOTO REFERENCE & BUSINESS PROPOSAL. first section of my book - INDEX 1
PRELUDE TO MY BOOK STARTS WITH A SECTION ABOUT LOVE - PEACE AND FREEDOM ETC.
PRELUDES SPEAK OF WORLD PEACE! LOVE GOD AND OTHERS etc - READ AND LEARN.
PRELUDE 3 - NOAH'S ARK PROJECTS VERSION OF "STEPS TOWARD INNER PEACE" - 3Chapter - Click on a chapter!
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IF I HAPPEN TO DIE OR I AM INCAPACITATED MY SON HOCK CHAI WILL TAKE OVER THE "FULL PROJECTS".
HIS E-MAIL IS gwokhkch@hotmail.com - FRANK NIERO STATES - MAKING MONEY IS NOT MY PRIORITY, OR OUR OTHER PARTNERS PRIORITY! HELPING OTHERS IS! THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NOAH'S ARK PROJECTS GLOBALLY IS A PRIORITY - SO GET THE DEAL OF YOUR LIFE TODAY, OR SOON!! (BE INSPIRED BY GOD IN THIS, ASK HIM TO HELP - YOU AND OTHERS!!)
These NOAH'S ARK projects and book - given with all our Love to all communities! Counting on you to build "OUR PROJECTS" soon! - GLOBAL COMMUNITIES AID, WE CAN BE BUILDERS Of our ARK projects now! ALSO SEE "SHARING TIME" PROPOSAL - CHAPTER 10 - 1..SHARING TIME ..Fully explained. CLICK ON IT!
10 guidelines from GOD. HE TOLD FRANK ABOUT IT, NOW HE IS TELLING YOU!
1. QUIT WORRYING:
Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit and worry.
Have you forgotten that I am here to take all your burdens and carry them for you?
Or do you just enjoy fretting over every little thing that comes your way?
2. PUT IT ON THE LIST:
Something needs done or taken care of. Put it on the list. No, not YOUR list. Put it on MY to-do-list.
Let ME be the one to take care of the problem. I can't help you until you turn it over to Me.
And although My to-do-list is long, I am after all... God. I can take care of anything you put into My hands.
In fact, if the truth were ever really known, I take care of a lot of things for you that you never even realize.
3. TRUST ME:
Once you've given your burdens to Me, quit trying to take them back.
Trust in Me. Have the faith that I will take care of all your needs, your problems and your trials.
Problems with the kids? Put them on My list.
Problem with finances? Put it on My list.
Problems with your emotional roller coaster? For My sake, put it on My list.
I want to help you. All you have to do is ask.
4. LEAVE IT ALONE:
Don't wake up one morning and say, "Well, I'm feeling much stronger now, I think I can handle it from here."
Why do you think you are feeling stronger now? It's simple.
You gave Me your burdens and I'm taking care of them. I also renew your strength and cover you in my peace. Don't you know that if I give you these problems back, you will be right back where you started?
Leave them with Me and forget about them. Just let Me do my job.
5. TALK TO ME:
I want you to forget a lot of things. Forget what was making you crazy.
Forget the worry and the fretting because you know I'm in control.
But there's one thing I pray you never forget. Please, don't forget to talk to Me - OFTEN!
I love YOU! I want to hear your voice. I want you to include Me in on the things going on in your life.
I want to hear you talk about your friends and family. Prayer is simply you having a conversation with Me.
I want to be your dearest friend.
6. HAVE FAITH:
I see a lot of things from up here that you can't see from where you are.
Have faith in Me that I know what I'm doing.
Trust Me, you wouldn't want the view from My eyes.
I will continue to care for you, watch over you, and meet your needs.
You only have to trust Me.
Although I have a much bigger task than you, it seems as if you have so much trouble just doing your simple part.
How hard can trust be?
7. SHARE: (HE gave frank "SHARING TIME" in 1992....read about it for LOVE of each other in communities - globally. Click on... http://houseandlandinmelbourne.spaces.live.com/ see what could be done!
You were taught to share when you were only two years old. When did you forget? That rule still applies.
Share with those who are less fortunate than you. Share your joy with those who need encouragement.
Share your laughter with those who haven't heard any in such a long time.
Share your tears with those who have forgotten how to cry. Share your faith with those who have none
8. BE PATIENT:
I managed to fix it so in just one lifetime you could have so many diverse experiences.
You grow from a child to an adult, have children, change jobs many times, learn many trades, travel to so many places, meet thousands of people, and experience so much.
How can you be so impatient then when it takes Me a little longer than you expect to handle something on My to-do-list? Trust in My timing, for My timing is perfect.
Just because I created the entire universe in only six days, everyone thinks I should always rush, rush, rush.
9. BE KIND:
Be kind to others, for I love them just as much as I love you.
They may not dress like you, or talk like you, or live the same way you do, but I still love you all.
Please try to get along, for My sake. I created each of you different in some way.
It would be too boring if you were all identical. Please, know I love each of your differences!
10. LOVE YOURSELF:
As much as I love you, how can you not love yourself?
You were created by me for one reason only -- to be loved, and to love in return.
I am a God of Love............ Love Me.
Love your neighbors. But also love yourself.
It makes My heart ache when I see you so angry with yourself when things go wrong.
You are very precious to me!
Don't ever forget......WHAT "I" YOUR GOD TOLD YOU IN THESE 10 GUIDELINES FOR YOUR LIFE.............
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Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have
to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!
A daughter is telling her mother how everything is going wrong:
she's failing algebra; her boyfriend broke up with her and her
best friend is moving away.
Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter...
If she would like a snack, and the
daughter says, 'Absolutely, Mom, I love your cakes.'
'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers. 'Yuck,'
says her daughter.
'How about a couple raw eggs?' 'Gross,
Mom!'
'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking
soda?'
'Mom, those are all yucky!'
To which the
mother replies: 'Yes, all those things seem bad by themselves. But
when they are put together in the right way, they make a
wonderfully delicious cake! 
God works the same way. Many
times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and
difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all
in His order, "they always work for good"! (Romans 8: 28). We just
have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something
wonderful!
God.....
Is crazy about you! He sends you flowers every spring and a
sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He
can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might
as well dance!

Thank God For Everything?
Ephesians 5:20: "giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (KJV)
Are you supposed to give God thanks for your little child getting hit by a car and dying? When your husband or wife dies of cancer and leaves you with five children to raise. Do you thank God? There are many churches that preach that we are to give thanks in these and other evil situations. They say, "Well, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." No!
I can't thank God when someone dies and goes to hell. I can't thank God when someone is crippled with some paralysis and he can't even feed himself. Is this what the scripture is asking me to do? Am I to thank God for everything that happens - good or bad?
Look at the twentieth verse again, "giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice that the things we are to give thanks for are those that are "unto God."
In Matthew 22:16-21 we read, " ..(GAP see Bible!).. So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." (NKJV)
We are supposed to give thanks to God always for the things that He has done, not for what the devil has done. Do you understand? We give God thanks, credit, praise and glory for what He has done! You don't thank God for what the devil has done. You don't thank God that somebody died and went to hell. You don't thank God that somebody is sick and helpless or because somebody was killed or murdered. Don't blame God for what the devil does.
I know that the idea of a devil is far fetched for some intellectuals. However, whether you believe it or not, the devil still exists. The Word of God says it and I believe God's Word. Some of you are in denial and that is why the devil has been whipping your heads. He has tricked you into believing that he doesn't exist and you have been calling the things that the devil has been doing in your life, "the works of God."
Even as a society we have been blaming God for all manner of destruction. The insurance companies write into their insurance contracts, "Acts of God." There are certain things they won't insure because they say that the flood, hurricane, tornado and earthquakes are "Acts of God."
First John 3:8 says: "He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."
If Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, then the devil must have some works. Is this right? Jesus described the devil and his works in John 10:10, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
The devil has some works and when the devil does his works you are not to give God thanks for what the devil has done. You give thanks unto God for what He has done. Render unto God the things that are God's and render unto Satan the things that he has done.
Stop blaming God for the things that the devil is doing!
If you are facing a battle with the enemy today, know that God is fighting for you... and your victory is sure in Jesus Christ. You best weapon is prayer, and live a life that exemplifies the power of our great God!
Scroll down for full index to book.
click on it!!2/ GENERAL NOTES ON PAST HAPPENINGS. TALKING about ??how much money our theme parks could make, etc. Here is the BUSINESS PROPOSAL OR ACTION PROPOSAL! - Australia & GLOBALLY. "TAYLOR MADE" NOAH'S ARK THEME PARKS AND ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES. THESE ARE A COMBINED - BUSINESS FOR PROFIT AND THAT BUSINESS HELPING CHARITY PROPOSAL - MY MISSION FIELD IS THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY ETC. BUSINESSES WITH A HEART FOR OTHERS!
FRANK NIERO STATES - MAKING MONEY IS NOT MY PRIORITY! HELPING OTHERS IS! THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NOAH'S ARK PROJECTS GLOBALLY IS A PRIORITY - SO GET THE DEAL OF YOUR LIFE TODAY, OR SOON!! YOU WILL MAKE MONEY WITH THIS! (BE INSPIRED BY GOD IN THIS, ASK HIM TO HELP - YOU AND OTHERS!!)
12 PECAN COURT FRANKSTON NORTH VICTORIA - AUSTRALIA. 3200.
Drawings issued by us - for viewing only - not final price - marked not for construction.
Cheques etc. accepted for copy of drawings - $99.00 Noahs Ark theme park, etc. And $15.00 for Ark community aid centre - as per above.
Gain the ARK DESIGN plans FOR ONE THEME PARK, and rights to BUILD IN FUTURE when approved - based with the sold plans, including our rights to further sale to 6 other future parks making a total of 7. (as chosen) globally by our family - of the same plans.
FOR DETAILS ON 'ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES' - AND "SHARING TIME" SEE, CLICK ON...
2/ GENERAL NOTES ON PAST HAPPENINGS. TALKING about how much money our theme parks could make, etc.
SEE MY PROFESSIONAL WEB SITE ALSO - Under OTHER NOAHS ARK PROJECTS Click on www.noahsarkprojects.com.au
(ALL) NATIONS IN THE WORLD! 5 colours / love/faith/hope/charity/freedom
INNER/WORLD PEACE - LOVE - FREEDOM - AND MUCH MORE.
In my early life I made two important discoveries. In the first place I discovered that making money was easy. And in the second place I discovered that making money and spending it foolishly was completely meaningless. I knew that this was not what I was here for, but at the time (this was many years ago), I didn’t know exactly what I was here for.
It was out of a very deep seeking for a meaningful way of life, and after having walked all one night through the woods, that I came to know to be a very important psychological hump.
I felt a complete willingness, without reservations, to give my life, to dedicate my life to service, I tell you, and it’s a point of no return!
After that you can never go back to completely self-centred living.
And so I went into the second phase of my life. I began to give what I could, instead of to get what I could, and I entered a new and wonderful world. My life began to become meaningful. I attained the greatest blessing of good health; I haven’t had a cold or a headache since. (most illness is psychologically induced.) From that time on, I have known that my life’s work would be work for peace…(in frank’s case PEACE – LOVE – TRUTH AND UNITY IN PEOPLE AND NATIONS – HELP THE POOR + ANY OTHER, BROTHER/SISTER IN COMMUNITY.)
Plus it would cover the whole peace picture – peace among nations, peace among groups, peace among individuals, and the very, very important inner peace. (And LISTENING and RESPONDING to GOD’S VOICE AND GOOD LEADERSHIP in our lives.) However there’s a great deal of difference between being willing to give your life, and for me, 15 years of preparation and of inner seeking lay between. (For frank, 18 years of preparation – inner seeking before the ARK PROJECTS were started.)
During this time I became acquainted with what the psychologists refer as EGO and CONSCIENCE. I began to realize we have two selves or two natures or two WILLS with two different viewpoints.
Because the viewpoints were so different, I felt a struggle in my life at this period between the two SELVES with the two VIEWPOINTS.
So there were the hills and valleys – lots of hills and lots of valleys.
Then in the midst of my struggle there came a wonderful mountain-top experience, and for the first time I knew what INNER PEACE was like.
PAGE ONE.
I felt a ONENESS – ONENESS with my FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS, Oneness with all GOD’S creation. I have never felt really separate since. I could return again and again to this wonderful MOUNTAINTOP, and then I COULD STAY THERE for longer and longer periods of time, and just slip out occasionally.
Then came a wonderful morning when I woke up and knew that I would never have to descend again into the valley. I knew that for me the struggle was over, that finally I HAD SUCCEDED IN GIVING MY LIFE, OR FINDING INNER PEACE. Again this is a point of no return.
You can never go back to the STRUGGLE. The struggle is over now because you will to do the right thing, and you don’t need to be pushed into it!
However, PROGRESS is not over. Great progress has taken place in the third phase of MY LIFE, but it’s as though the central figure of the JIGSAW PUZZLE of your life is complete and clear and unchanging, and around the edges other pieces keep fitting in. There is always a growing edge, but the progress is harmonious. There is a feeling of always being surrounded by all the GOOD THINGS, like – LOVE – PEACE and JOY.
It seems like a protective surrounding, and there is an UNSHAKEABLESS within which takes you trough any situation you may need to face.
The WORLD may look at you and believe you are facing GREAT PROBLEMS, but always there are INNER RESOURCES to easily overcome those problems.
Nothing SEEMS DIFFICULT.
There is calmness and a serenity and UNHURRIEDNESS – No more striving or straining about ANYTHING.
Life is full and life is GOOD, but life is nevermore OVERCROWDED. That is a very important thing I’ve learned: If your life is in harmony with your part in the LIFE PATTERN, and you are OBEDIENT to the LAWS which govern this UNIVERSE, then your life is full and good but not OVERCROWDED.
If it is overcrowded, you are doing more than it is right for you to do, more than your job to do in the total scheme of things.
NOW THERE IS A LIVING TO GIVE INSTEAD OF TO GET!
PAGE 2.
As you concentrate on GIVING, you discover that just as you cannot receive without giving, so neither can you give without receiving – even the most wonderful things like HEALTH and HAPPINESS and INNER PEACE.
There is a feeling of ENDLESS ENERGY – it just never runs out; It seems to be as endless as air. You just seem to be plugged into the source of UNIVERSAL ENERGY.
YOU are now in control of your life. You see, the EGO is never in control. The EGO is controlled by wishes for COMFORT and CONVENIENCE on the part of the body, by the demands of the mind, and outbursts of the emotions. (Christians call it “giving way to the FLESH”.) “LET THE SPIRITUAL “MAN” LIVE, AND WIN OUT”.
Some call it the HIGHER NATURE which controls the body, and the mind and the emotions. (If you cannot do it on your own call on GOD’S help)
I can say to my body, “Lie down there on that cement floor and go to sleep,” and it obeys. I can say to my mind, “Shut out everything else and concentrate on this job before you,” and it’s obedient. I can say to my emotions, “Be still, and even face this terrible situation,” and they are still. It’s a different way of living. The philosopher Thoreau wrote: “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer.” And now you are following a different drummer – the HIGHER NATURE, not the LOWER NATURE the EGO.
IT WAS only at this time, in 1953, that I felt guided or called or motivated to begin my pilgrimage for PEACE in the world – a journey undertaken traditionally. The tradition of pilgrimage is a journey undertaken on foot and on faith. (“frank” his journey began in 1977). It was not a pilgrimage but a GOD guided journey all the same, read his story – autobiography, free e- book on the web. See the story just below.)
PRAYFULLY and as an opportunity to contact people, as the “peace pilgrim” I wear a lettered tunic to let them know of my mission, It says “peace pilgrim” on the front. I felt that’s my name now – it emphasises my mission instead of me.
And on the back it says 25,000 MILES ON FOOT FOR PEACE.
The purpose of the tunic is merely to make contacts for me and for PEACE.
PAGE 3.
Constantly as I walk along the highways and though the cities, people approach the “peace pilgrim” and I have a chance to talk to them about peace.
WALKED 25,000 MILES AS A PENNILESS PILGRIM, remaining a WANDERER till “MAN” or MANKIND has learned the WAY OF PEACE!
And the “peace pilgrim” can truthfully tell you that without ever asking for anything, I have been supplied with everything needed for my journey, which shows how good PEOPLE ARE, AND HOW GOOD GOD IS TO US ALL.
With me I always carry my peace message: “THIS IS THE WAY OF PEACE: OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD, FALSEHOOD WITH TRUTH, AND HATRED WITH LOVE.”…..THERE IS NOTHING NEW IN THIS MESSAGE – EXCEPT THE PRACTICE OF IT!
AND the practice of it is required not only in the INTERNATIONAL SITUATION, but also in the PERSONAL SITUATION. We believe that the situation in the world is a reflection of our IMMATURITY. If we all were mature, harmonious people, WAR WOULD BE NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER – IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE.
(Frank further believes that disobedience to GOD’S VITAL LAWS – is a further cause for the downfall and misery, cause of all WAR by mankind.)
Too much is spent on war and war device/personnel. IF THERE WAS PERMANENT PEACE EVEN THE VERY POOR WOULD HAVE ENOUGH FUNDS AND RESOUCES FOR A GOOD LIFE ON EARTH. THE KILLING WOULD STOP! PEOPLE BETTER OFF.
All of us can work for PEACE. We can work right were we are, right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our lives, the more we can reflect into the outer situation. In fact, I believe that the wish to SURVIVE will push us into some kind of uneasy WORLD PEACE which will then need to be supported by a great INNER AWAKENING if it is to ENDURE.
I believe we entered a new age when we discovered NUCLEAR ENERGY, and this new age calls for a new renaissance to lift us to a higher level of UNDERSTANDING, so we will be able to cope with the problems of this new age. So primarily my subject is PEACE WITHIN OURSELVES as a step toward PEACE IN OUR WORLD.
PAGE 4.
Now, when I talk about the steps toward INNER PEACE, I talk about them in a framework, but there’s nothing arbitrary about the number of steps. They can be expanded; they can be contracted.
This is just a way of talking about the subject, but this is important: the steps toward inner peace are not taken in any certain order. The first step for one may be the last step for another. So, just take whatever steps seem easiest for you, and as you take a few steps, it will become easier for you to take a few more. In this area we really can share. None of you may feel guided to walk a pilgrimage, and I’m not trying to inspire you to walk a pilgrimage, but in the field of finding harmony in our own lives, we can share. (Frank wants to obey GOD – BUILD 7 THEME PARKS AND ASSOCIATED COMMUNITY AID CENTRES GLOBALLY – WANT TO SHARE IN HIS VISION FOR THE BENEFIT OF MANKIND – ANIMALS THE ENVIROMENT – CONTACT HIM…..all for PEACE, GOOD, LOVE, UNITY, CHARITY, TRUTH, SERVICE, FAITH, AND MUCH MORE TO DO WITH THIS.
E-MAIL noahsark7@optusnet.com.au don’t click on it use own e-mail.)
And I suspect that when you hear me give some of the steps toward INNER PEACE, you will recognize them as steps that you have also taken.
In the first place I would like to mention some preparations that were required of me (us). The first preparation is a RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS LIFE. This means – stop being an escapist! Stop being a SURFACE-LIVER who stays right in front of the surface. There are millions of these people, and they never find anything really worthwhile. Be willing to face life squarely and get down beneath the surface of life where the verities and realities are to be found. That’s what we are doing here now.
There’s the whole matter of having a meaningful attitude for the problems that life set before you. If only you could see the whole picture, if only you knew the whole story, you would realize that no problem ever comes to you that do not have a purpose in your life that cannot contribute to your inner growth. When you perceive this, you will recognize problems as opportunities in disguise. If you did not face problems you would not gain INNER GROWTH. It is through solving problems in accordance with the highest light that we have that inner growth is attained. Now, collective problems must be solved by us collectively, and no one finds INNER PEACE who avoids his or her share in the solving of collective problems, like WORLD
DISARMAMENT and WORLD PEACE.
PAGE 5.
So let us always think about these problems together, talk about them together, and collectively work toward their SOLUTIONS.
The second preparation has to do with bringing our lives into harmony with the LAWS that GOVERN THIS UNIVERSE – (SET BY GOD.)
Created are not only the WORLDS and the BEINGS, but also the LAWS that GOVERN THEM.
Applying both in the PHYSICAL REALM and the PSYCHOLOGICAL REALM, these LAWS GOVERN HUMAN CONDUCT.
Insofar as we are able to understand and bring our lives into harmony with these LAWS, our lives will be in harmony. Insofar as we disobey these laws, we create difficulties for ourselves by our DISSOBEDIENCE. We are our worst enemies. If we are out of harmony through ignorance, we suffer somewhat; but if we know better and are still out of harmony, then we suffer a great deal.
I recognize that these LAWS are well-known and well believed, and therefore they just needed to be well lived, (GOD said I HAVE SET MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS - AND THEY KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG.)
So I got busy on a very interesting project. This was to live all the good things I believed in, (What GOD PUT INTO MY HEART!) Doing his will !
(GOD will shed his own glorious light upon you. He will heal you; your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
Isaiah 58:8)
I did not confuse myself by trying to live all the good things I believed in at once, but rather, if I was doing something that I knew I should not be doing, I stopped doing it! And I always made a quick relinquishment.
You see, that’s the easy way. Tapering off is long and hard. And if I was not doing something that I knew I should be doing. I got busy on that.
It took the living quite a while to catch up with the believing, but of course it can, and now if I believe something I LIVE IT. Otherwise it would be perfectly meaningless. As I lived according to the highest LIGHT that I had, I discovered other LIGHT was given, and that I opened myself to receiving more LIGHT as I had lived the LIGHT I had.
These LAWS are the same for all of us, and these are the things that we can study and talk about TOGETHER.
But there is also a third preparation that has to do with something which is unique for every human life because every one of us has a special place in the Life Pattern.
PAGE 6.
If you do not know it clearly where you fit, I suggest that you try seeking it in receptive silence, (in other words ASK.. SEEK IT OF ALMIGTY GOD. HE WILL TELL YOU.)
I used to walk amid the beauties of nature, just receptive and silent, and wonderful insight would come to me. You begin to do your part in the Life Pattern by doing all the good things you feel motivated toward, even though they are just a little good things at first. You give these priorities in your life over all the superficial things that customarily clutter human lives.
There are those who KNOW AND DO NOT DO! This is very sad. I remember one day as I walked along the highway a very nice car stopped and the man said to me. “How wonderful that you are following your calling!” I replied, “I certainly think that everyone should be doing what feels right to do.” He then began telling me what he felt motivated toward, and it was a good thing that needed doing. I got quite enthusiastic about it. I said, “That’s wonderful! How are you getting on with it?” And he answered, “Oh, I’m not doing it. That kind of work doesn’t PAY ANYTHING.” And I shall never forget how DESPRATELY UNHAPPY that man was. But you see in this MATERIALISTIC age we have such a false criterion by which to measure SUCCESS.
We measure it in term of DOLLARS, in terms of MATERIAL THINGS.
But HAPPINESS and INNER PEACE do not lie in that direction. If you know but DO NOT DO, you are a very UNHAPPY person indeed.
There is also a fourth preparation, and it is in the simplification of life to bring inner and outer well-being – into harmony in your life.
This was made very easy for me. I dedicated my life to service.
I felt that I could no longer accept MORE than I needed while others have LESS than they need.
This in moved me to bring my life down to NEED-LEVEL, not excess.
I thought it would be difficult. I thought it would entail a great many hardships, BUT I WAS QUITE WRONG.
Now that I only own what I wear and what I carry in my pockets, (Let’s get this right: THE WORLD AND EVERYONE/everything in it belong TO GOD – WE ONLY HAVE IT ON LOAN, YOU CANT DIE! AND TAKE IT WITH YOU!) And we do not know what is around the corner!
Personally I don’t feel deprived of anything. For me, what I want and what I need are exactly the same, and you couldn’t give me anything I don’t need.
I discovered this GREAT TRUTH: unnecessary possessions are just unnecessary BURDENS.
Page 7.
Now I don’t mean that all our needs are the same. Yours may be much greater than mine. For instance if you have a family, you would need the stability of a family centre for your children. But I do mean that anything beyond need – and sometimes include things beyond the physical needs, too - anything beyond needs tends to become BURDOMSOME.
There is a great freedom in simplicity of living, and after I began to feel this, I found a HARMONY in my life between INNER and OUTER well being.
Now there’s a great deal to be said about harmony, not only for an individual life but also for the life of SOCIETY.
It’s because as a world we have gotten ourselves so far OUT OF HARMONY, so far off on the MATERIAL SIDE, that when we discover something like NUCLEAR ENERGY, we are still capable of putting it into a BOMB, and using it to kill people.
(see chapter one of frank’s autobiography part about the ATOMIC BOMBS AND WHAT THEY CAN DO TO OUR WORLD/PEOPLE their extreme potency now.)
See HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI (1945). SEE DOWN FURTHER!
EVERY GOOD THING comes from obedience to the 10 Commandments.
http://www.ten-commandments.us click on the 10 Commandments if you dont know them!
HERE ARE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS:
(Ten Commandments List
from Exodus 20 from Moses)
WHEN will people start to OBEY the 6th COMMANDMENT? - “YOU SHALL NOT KILL!”
Matthew 5:19
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 19:17
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Matthew 22:37 to 40.
GOD'S 2 MAIN COMMANDMENTS: 37 Jesus replied: "LOVE the Lord your GOD with all your heart and with your soul and with your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest Commandment. 39 And the second is like it: LOVE your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (this is our new testament, Commandments if you follow them justly no one can even break the 10 COMMANDMENTS or do ANY wrong to others, and especially do no wrong to GOD ALLMIGHTY.) LOVE STOPS US FROM DOING WRONG OR EVIL...
Mark 10:19
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Luke 18:20
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
GOD wants to SPEAK to you on a ONE to ONE basis...will you take time to listen and speak to HIM.
GOD is ALSO - THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, AND MUCH MUCH MORE, LOVE, MERCY,GRACE,FREEDOM, PEACE, etc etc.
GOD WILL TEST YOU, but never TEMPT YOU.
This EARTHLY LIFE is also a testing ground for the next WONDERFUL ETERNAL LIFE that GOD HAS PLANNED FOR US ALL, (if we want it!)
PLUS - EVERYTHING IS OUT OF BALANCE WHEN WE DO NOT OBEY GOD'S 3 MAIN LAWS:
1/ LOVE GOD.
2/ LOVE OTHERS.
3/ LOVE SELF.
To forgive - To set free, to liberate, to let go, to release, GOD wants you to FORGIVE OTHERS.
FOR FIGHTING TEMPTATION. - Before leaving this PLANET we will tempted, everybody on all points. We are tempted in "CATEGORIES" Just dont say the thing YOU DO is wrong...we all tend to do the wrong thing in different categories, the KEY is recognizing this and correcting ourselves. The problem with temptation is curiosity also, being tempted alone, is not a sin.
First Corinthians 10:12 says, "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." No one is immune to moral failure!" That's why Jesus tells us in Mark 14:38, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
ALSO FIGHTING TEMPTATION 3 MAIN THINGS - (temptation by Satan/Other/s, for our own selfish needs.)
1/ The Lust of the FLESH.
Do you really need that thing? Or want it by that wrong action? How much do you really want? Can be also - Manipulate the POWER GOD HAS GIVEN YOU, for your own selfish needs.
2/ The Lust of the EYE.
What you think about what you SEE deals with our perception, the eye is a introduction to sin sometimes if we allow it to be! LUST is sensuous appetite regarded as SINFUL.
3/ The PRIDE OF LIFE.
Opportunities to be jealous about "stuff". Pride is Number one cause plus ENVY and, plus the evil THAT PRIDE CAUSES, can DESTROY.
SEE HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI - ATOMIC BOMBING OF JAPAN'S 2 CITIES - in 1945.
http://tamilnation.org/humanrights/hiroshima.htm Click on it. Weapons of evil - Hydrogen and ATOMIC BOMBS...
Old russian song below for more about Atomic Bombs...!
Atom And Evil:
Now brothers and sisters,
I’m troubled to say
Brother Atom is gone astray
Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen
This is the story of Atom and Evil
Their courtship is causin’ a great upheaval
Now Atom was a sweet young innocent thing
Until the night that Miss Evil took him under her wing
Now Atom was an honest, hard workin’ man
He wanted to help out the human clan
But Evil got him drunk on prejudice and hate
And she taught him how to gamble with Humanity’s fate
(So true!)
I’m talkin’ ‘bout Atom, and Evil
Atom and Evil
If you don’t break up that romance soon
We’ll all fall down and go boom, boom, boom!
Now if Evil gets Atom, ‘twill be such a shame
Because a-plenty of big shots are playin’ that dame
Now his sleep will be troubled, and his life will be cursed
Lord, if Atom plays with evil, Jack, he won’t be the first!
(So true!)
I’m talkin’ ‘bout Atom, and Evil
Atom and Evil
If you don’t break up that romance soon
We’ll all fall down and go boom, boom, (boom), boom!
Now Atom is a youngster and pretty hard to handle
But we better step in and stop that scandal
Because if Atom and Evil should ever be wed
Lord, then darn near all of us are goin’ to be dead!
(So True)
I’m talkin’ ‘bout Atom, and Evil
Atom and Evil
If you don’t break up that romance soon
We’ll all fall down and go boom, boom, (boom), boom!
Atom and Evil
Atom and Evil
If you don’t break up that romance soon
We’ll all fall down and go boom, boom, (boom), boom!
We’re sitting on the edge of doom (doom) (doom) (doom) doom!
![]()
Golden Gate Quartet [1947]
Atom And Evil
(Zaret-Singers)
click on chapter.. CHAPTER 1 - 1..MY YOUNG YEARS. and scroll down to atom bombs.
WARS KILL PEOPLE: this is also because our inner WELL-BEING lags so far behind our outer WELL-BEING. The valid research for the future is on the INNER SIDE, on the psychological side; so that we will be able to bring these two into balance, so we will know how to use well the outer well being we already have. (AND MAY GOD GUIDE US AND SAVE US!)
Then I discovered that there were some PURIFICATIONS required of me. The FIRST ONE is such a simple thing: it is purification of the body. This has to do with your physical living habits. Do you eat sensibly, eating to live? I actually know people who live to eat.
And do you know when to stop eating? That is a very important thing to know. Do you have sensible sleeping habits? I try to get to bed early and have plenty of hours of sleep.
PAGE 8.
Do you get plenty of fresh air, sunshine, exercise and contact with nature?
You’d think this may be the first area in which people would be willing to work, but from practical experience I’ve discovered it’s often last because it might mean getting rid of our bad habits, and there is nothing that we can cling to more tenaciously.
The SECOND PURIFICATION I cannot stress too much because it is purification of thought. If you realized how powerful your thoughts are you would never THINK A NEGATIVE THOUGHT. They can be a powerful influence for GOOD when they are on the POSITIVE SIDE, and they can make you PHYSICALLY ILL when they’re on the NEGATIVE SIDE.
I recall a man 65 years old when I knew him who manifested symptoms of what seemed a chronic physical illness. I talked with him and realized that there was some BITTERNESS in his life, although I could not find it at once. He got along well with his wife and his grown children, and he got along well in his community, but the bitterness was there just the same. I found he was harbouring bitterness against his long-dead father, because his father had educated his brother not him.
As soon as he was able to relinquish this bitterness, the so called chronic illness began to fade away, and soon it was gone.
If you are harbouring the slightest bitterness toward anyone, or any unkind thoughts of any sort whatsoever, you must get rid of them quickly.
They aren’t hurting anyone but you. I t is said that HATE injures the HATER, not the HATED.
It isn’t enough just to do the right things and say the right things, you must also think right things before your life can come into harmony.
The THIRD PURIFICATION is purification of DESIRE. What are the things you DESIRE? Do you desire new clothing, or pleasures, or new household furnishings, or a new car? You can come to a point of oneness of desire just to know and do your part in the LIFE PATTERN. When you think about it, is there anything else as really important to desire?
There is one more purification, and that is PURIFICATION OF MOTIVE. (NUMBER 4) What is your motive for whatever you may be doing? If it is pure GREED or SELF SEEKING or the wish for SELF-GLORIFICATION, I would say don’t do that thing!!!
PAGE 9.
DON’T do anything you would do with such a motive.
But it isn’t that easy because we tend to do things with very mixed motives, GOOD and BAD motives all mixed together sometimes.
Here is a man in the BUSINESS WORLD: his motives may not be the highest, but mixed up with them are motives of caring for his family and perhaps doing good in his community. Mixed motives!
Your motive, if you are to find inner peace, must be an outgoing motive – it must be service. It must be giving, not getting. There was a man who was a good Architect. It was obvious in his RIGHT WORK, but he was doing with the wrong motive. His motive was to make a lot of money and keep ahead of the “JONESES”. He worked himself into an illness, and it was shortly after I met him. I got him to do little things for service.
I talked to him about the joy of service and I knew after HE experienced this, he could never go back into SELF-CENTRED LIVING.
We corresponded a bit after that. On the third year of my pilgrimage route, I walked trough his town and I hardly recognized him when I stopped to see him.
HE WAS SUCH A CHANGED MAN!
But he was still an Architect … He was drawing a plan and he talked to me about it: “You see, I’m designing it this way to fit into their budget, and then I’ll set it on their plot of ground to make it look nice.” His motive was to be of SERVICE to the people he drew the plans for.
He was a radiant and transformed person. His wife told me that his business had increased because people were now coming from miles around for home designs.
I’ve met a few people who had to change their jobs in order to change their lives, but I’ve also met many more people who had to change their motive to SERVICE in order to CHANGE THEIR LIVES.
|
the FOUR RELINQUISHMENTS1. Relinquishment of self-will. You have, or it's as though you have, two selves: the lower self that usually governs you selfishly, and the higher self which stands ready to use you gloriously. You must subordinate the lower self by refraining from doing the not-good things you are motivated toward, not suppressing them but transforming them so that the higher self can take over your life. |
We are not separate from our fellow humans. (even FROM GOD ALLMIGHTY.)
The whole thing is a totality. It is only from the higher viewpoint that you can know what it is to LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
From that higher viewpoint there becomes just one realistic way to work, and that is for the good of the whole.
As long as you work for your selfish little self, you’re just one cell against all those other cells, and you’re way out of harmony. But as soon as you begin working for the GOOD OF THE WHOLE, you find yourself in harmony with ALL YOUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS, you see, it’s the easy, HARMONIOUS way to LIVE
Even as children we need togetherness with GOD - JESUS! WE ARE ALL "HIS CHILDREN"! HE LOVE'S US FOREVER AND EVER!
Then there is the THIRD RELINQUISHMENT, and that is the relinquishment of all attachments. Material things must be put in their proper place. They are there for use. It is all right to use them; that’s what they’re there for. But when they’ve outlived their usefulness, be ready to relinquish them and perhaps pass them on to someone who does need them. Anything that you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions. We are not free therefore.
There’s another kind of possessiveness. You do not possess any other human being; no matter how closely related the other may be.
No husband owns his wife; no wife owns her husband; no parents own their children. When we think we possess people there’s a tendency to run their lives for them, and out of this develops an extremely inharmonious situation.
Only when we realize that we don’t possess them that they must live in accordance with their own inner motivations, do we stop trying to run their lives for them, and then we discover that we are able to live in harmony with them.
Now the last (4th): the RELINQUISHMENT OF ALL NEGATIVE FEELINGS! I want to mention just one negative feeling that the nicest people still experience, and that negative feeling is worry. Worry is not concern which would motivate you to do everything possible in a situation.
Worry is useless mulling over things we cannot change.
PAGE 11.
Let me mention just one technique. Seldom do you worry about the present moment; it’s usually all right. If you worry, you agonize over the past which you should have forgotten long ago, or you’re apprehensive over the future which hasn’t even come yet. We tend to skim right over the present time (NOW).
Since this is the only moment that one can live, if you don’t live it you never get around to living it all. If you do live this present moment, you
Tend not to worry. For me, every moment is a new opportunity to be of service.
One last comment about negative feelings which helped me very much at one time and have helped others. No outward thing – nothing – nobody from without – can hurt me inside, psychologically. I recognized that I could be hurt only be hurt psychologically by my own wrong actions; which I have control over, by my own wrong reactions – they are tricky but I have control over them too; or by my own inaction in some situations, like the PRESENT WORLD SITUATION, that needs action from me. When I recognized all this, HOW FREE I FELT! And just stopped hurting myself. Now someone could do the meanest thing to me, and I would feel deep compassion for that OUT OF HARMONY person, this psychologically sick person who is capable of doing mean things.
I certainly would not hurt myself by a wrong reaction of bitterness or anger. You have complete control over whether you will be hurt psychologically, and any time YOU WANT TO you can stop hurting yourself.
These are the steps toward inner peace that I wanted to SHARE with you.
There’s nothing new about this. I merely talked about these things in my everyday words in terms of my own personal experience with them. The LAWS which GOVERN this UNIVERSAL work for GOOD as soon as we OBEY THEM, and anything contrary to these LAWS, doesn’t last long. It contains within itself the SEEDS of its own DESTRUCTION.
The good in every human life always makes it possible for us to obey these laws.
We do have a FREE WILL about this, and therefore how soon we obey and thereby find harmony both within ourselves and within the WORLD, it is up to us!
(From a KPFK radio talk Los Angeles – slightly added/rewritten by frank niero.)
PAGE 12.
FAITH!
WHAT IS FAITH?
Faith is not just hoping, beleving or somewhat expecting, but faith is KNOWING, Absolutely Knowing...
Faith is believing when all seems past hoping. Although receiving no glimmer of light. Leaving the grieving and doubting, and groping....To those who are living only by sight.
Faith is still trusting in GOD'S Promise when it would almost seem GOD has forgot...
If you've asked GOD for something but haven't seen the answer yet...Dont worry!! If you have real faith, then you'v got the title deed in your hands... And your name is written on it!
It is yours and you will see it eventually.
Faith sees the invisible, belives the incredible, and receives the impossible!
Faith gives us the courage to face the present with confidence and the future with EXPECTANCY.
ALL OF GOD'S GIANTS have been "weak men" who did great things for GOD because they reackoned on GOD being with them...with them ALWAYS.
In a cellar in Cologne, Germany after WW2, were found these words...
I BELIEVE...
I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining...
I believe in LOVE even when I feel it not;
I believe in GOD even when he is silent...
ABRAHAM'S STEPS OF FAITH:
1/ He left all for GOD.
2/ Left all with GOD.
3/ Found all with GOD.
4/ And yielded all to GOD...
Page 13.
SUMMARY
- FOUR PREPARATIONS –
1 / Assume right attitudes in life.
Stop being an escapist or a surface-liver as these attitudes can only cause unharmony in your life. Face life squarely and get down below the froth on its surface to discover the verities and realities. Solve the problems that life sets before you, and you will find that solving them contributes to your inner growth. Helping to solve collective problems contributes also to your growth, and these problems should never be avoided.
2 / Live good beliefs.
The LAWS governing human conduct apply as rightly as the law of gravity. Obedience to these laws pushes us toward HARMONY, disobedience pushes us toward unharmony. Since many of these laws are already common belief, you can begin by putting into practice all the good things you believe. No life can be in harmony unless belief and practice are in harmony.
3 / Find your place in the life pattern.
You have a part in the scheme of things. What that part is you can know only from within yourself. You can seek it in receptive silence. (Listening to GOD’S WISDOM) You can begin to live in accordance with it by doing the GOOD THINGS you are motivated toward and giving these things priority in your life over all the superficial things that customarily occupy human lives.
4 / Simplify life to bring inner and outer well being into harmony.
Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary BURDENS.
Many lives are cluttered not only with unnecessary possessions but also with meaningless activities. Cluttered lives are out-of-harmony lives and require simplification. Wants and needs can become the same in human life and, when this is accomplished, there will be a sense of harmony between inner and outer well-being. Such harmony is needful not only in the individual life but in the collective life too.
PAGE 14.
- FOUR PURIFICATIONS –
1 / Purification of the bodily temple.
Are you free from all bad habits? In you diet do you stress the vital foods – the fruits, whole grains, vegetables and nuts? Do you get to bed early and get enough sleep? Do you get plenty of fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and contact with nature (the CREATION!) If you can answer “YES” to all of these questions, you have gone a long way toward purification of the bodily temple.
2 / Purification of the thoughts.
It is not enough to do the right things and say right things. You must also THINK THE RIGHT THINGS. Positive thoughts can be powerful influences for good. Negative thoughts can make you physically ill.
Be sure there is no unpeaceful situation between yourself and any other human being, for only when you have ceased to harbour unkind thoughts can you attain inner harmony.
3 / Purification of the desires.
Since you are here to get yourself into harmony with the laws that govern human conduct and with your part in the scheme of things, your desires should be focused in this direction.
4 / Purification of motives.
Obviously your motive should never be greed or self seeking, or the wish for self-glorification. You shouldn’t even have the selfish motive of attaining inner peace for yourself. To be of service to your fellow humans must be your motive before your life can come into harmony.
PAGE 15.
1. Relinquishment of self-will.
You have, or it's as though you have, two selves: the lower self that usually governs you selfishly, and the higher self which stands ready to use you gloriously. You must subordinate the lower self by refraining from doing the not-good things you are motivated toward, not suppressing them but transforming them so that the higher self can take over your life.
2. Relinquishment of the feeling of separateness.
All of us, all over the world, are cells in the body of humanity. You are not separate from your fellow humans, and you cannot find harmony for yourself alone. You can only find harmony when you realize the oneness of all and work for the good of all.
3. Relinquishment of attachments.
Only when you have relinquished all attachments can you be really free. Material things are here for use, and anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you. You can only live in harmony with your fellow humans if you have no feeling that you possess them, and therefore do not try to run their lives.
4. Relinquishment of all negative feelings.
Work on relinquishing negative feelings. If you live in the present moment, which is really the only moment you have to live, you will be less apt to worry. If you realize that those who do mean things are psychologically ill, your feelings of anger will turn to feelings of pity. If you recognize that all of your inner hurts are caused by your own wrong actions or your own wrong reactions or your own wrong inaction, then you will stop hurting yourself.
WISE THOUGHTS.
JESUS DOING GOOD TO ALL CHILDREN.
*We can all spend our lives going about doing “GOOD”.
Every time you meet a person, think of some encouraging thing to say – a kind word, a helpful suggestion, an expression of admiration. Every time you come into a situation, think of some good thing to bring – a thoughtful gift, a considerate attitude, a helping hand.
*There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. That criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace? If they have not, there is something wrong with them – so keep on trying.
*If you love people enough, they will respond lovingly. If I offend people, I blame myself, for I know that if my conduct had been correct, they would not have been offended, even though they did not agree with me. “Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power to wound.”
*To those who feel depressed, I would say: Try keeping your surroundings full of beautiful music and lovely flowers. Try reading and memorizing thoughts that inspire. Try making a list of all the things you have to be thankful for. If there is some good thing that you have always wanted to do, start doing it! Make a meaningful schedule for yourself and keep to that schedule.
*Although others may feel sorry for you, NEVER FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF! – It has a deadly effect on spiritual well-being. Recognize all problems, no matter how difficult, as opportunities for spiritual growth, and make the most of these opportunities.
PAGE 16.
*From all the things you read and from the people you meet, take what is good – what you own: “Inner Teacher” tells you it is for you – and leave the rest.
For guidance and for truth, it is much better to look to the source trough your “Inner Teacher” than to look at people or books. Books and people can merely inspire you. Unless they awaken something within you, nothing worthwhile has been accomplished.
FOR GUIDANCE! He is also the TRUTH, the WAY and the LIFE - HE CAN BE ALL THINGS TO HELP YOU!
THE PRINCE OF PEACE - JESUS. Name "Jesus" means - GOD SAVES! (PEOPLE)
*No one is truly free who is attached to material things, or to places, or to people. We must be able to use things when we need them and then relinquish them without regret when they have outlived their usefulness. We must be able to appreciate and enjoy the places we tarry, and yet pass on without anguish when we are called elsewhere. We must be able to be in loving association with people without feeling we possess them and must run their lives. Anything that you strive to hold captive will hold you captive, and if you desire freedom, you must give freedom.
*The SPIRITUAL LIFE IS THE REAL LIFE – all else is illusion and deception. Only those who are attached to GOD ALONE ARE TRULY FREE… Only those who live up to the highest LIGHT, they have found their lives in HARMONY.
Those who act on their HIGHEST MOTIVATIONS become a POWER FOR GOD. It is not important that others be noticeably affected. Results should never be sought or desired. Know that every right thing you do – every good word you say – every positive thought you think – has good effect!
*All people can be peace workers. Whatever you bring harmony into any unpeaceful situation, you contribute to the total peace picture. Insofar as you have peace in your life, you reflect it into your surroundings and in your world.
PAGE 17.
*That which is received from without can be compared with knowledge. It leads to a believing, which is seldom strong enough to motivate to action. That which is confirmed FROM WITHIN after it is contacted from without, or that which is directly perceived FROM WITHIN (which is my way), can be compared with WISDOM. It leads to KNOWING, and action goes right along with it.
*In our SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT we are often required to pull up roots many times and to close many chapters in our lives until we are no longer attached to any material thing and can LOVE ALL PEOPLE without any attachment to them.
*You cannot leave a situation without spiritual injury unless you leave it lovingly.
*If you want to teach people, young or old, you must start where they are – at their level of understanding. If you see that they are already beyond your level of understanding, let them teach you. Since steps toward SPIRITUAL ADVANCEMENT are taken in such varied order, most of us can teach one another.
*Physical violence can end even before we have learned the way of LOVE, but psychological violence will continue until we do. Only outer peace can be had through LAW. The way to inner PEACE is through LOVE.
*Concentrate on giving, so that you may open yourself to receiving.
Concentrating on living according to the LIGHT you have, so that you may open yourself to more light.
*Sometimes difficulties of the body come to show that the body is
Just a TRANSIENT GARMENT – that the reality is the indestructible essence which ACTIVATES the body.
PAGE 18.
*After you have found INNER PEACE, SPIRITUAL GROWTH takes place harmoniously because you – now governed by the HIGHER SELF – WILL to do GOD’S WILL and do not need to be pushed into it.
*Nothing threatens those who do GOD’S WILL, and GOD’S WILL is LOVE and FAITH. Those who feel HATE and FEAR are out of HARMONY with GOD’S WILL and are likely to have difficulties.
*All difficulties in life have a purpose. They are pushing you toward harmony with GOD’S WILL.
*There is ALWAYS a way to do it right.
*What we suffer from is IMMATURITY, if we were MATURE PEOPLE, WAR WOULD BE NO PROBLEM – It would be IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE WARS!!
*Of course I trust the LAW OF LOVE!! Since the Universe operates in accordance with the LAW OF LOVE, how could I trust anything else?
JESUS died for the love of all others, all that ever lived and will live on this planet we call earth, the PEACE THIS BRINGS TO YOUR OWN SOUL IS IMMEASURABLE AND REASSURING to say the least!
*For LIGHT I go directly to the SOURCE OF LIGHT, not to any of the reflections. Also I make it possible for more light to come to me by living up to the HIGHEST LIGHT I have. You cannot mistake LIGHT coming from the SOURCE, for it comes with COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING so that you can explain and discuss it.
*Judging others will avail you nothing and injure you SPIRITUALLY. Only if you can inspire others to judge themselves will anything worthwhile have been accomplished.
PAGE 19.
*Never think of any right effort as being fruitless – all right effort bears good fruit, whether we see results or not. Just concentrate on thinking and living and acting for PEACE, and inspiring others to do likewise, leaving results in GOD’S HANDS.
HE WANT'S YOU TO COME "HOME!"
*YOU CANNOT CHANGE ANYONE EXCEPT YOURSELF!
After you have become an example, YOU can inspire others to change themselves.
*In a conflict situation you must be thinking of a solution which is fair to all concerned, instead of a solution which is of advantage to you. Only a solution which is fair to all concerned can be workable in the long run.
*Your motives must be good if your work is to have a good effect.
NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE.
I have chosen the positive approach – instead of stressing the bad things which I am against, I stress the good things which I am for. Those who choose the negative approach dwell on what is wrong, resorting to judgement and criticism, and sometimes even to name calling!
Naturally, the negative approach has a detrimental effect on the person who uses it, while the positive approach has a good effect.
When EVIL is attacked, it mobilizes, although it may have been weak and unorganized before, and therefore the attack gives it validity and strength. When there is no attack but instead GOOD INFLUENCES are brought to bear upon the situation, not only does the EVIL tend to fade away, but the evil-doer tends to be transformed. The positive approach
inspires – the negative approach arouses anger. When you make people angry they act in accordance with their baser instincts, often violently and irrationally. When you inspire people they act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly and rationally. Anger is transient, whereas inspiration has a lifelong effect.
PAGE 20.
CONTINUES ON NUMBER 3 BELOW.
A few really dedicated people can offset the ill effects of masses of out-of- harmony people… (THIS IS WHAT THE NOAH’S ARK THEME PARKS AND ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES will be able to achieve with the right team and leaders, it’s not about myself – frank niero, I am only the designer and promoter, it is about you out there..ALL OF YOU!)
So who work for PEACE and the welfare of all communities, must not falter. We must continue to work for peace and all the other good things we want to achieve, acting for peace in whatever way we can. We must continue to speak for PEACE and to live the way of PEACE; to inspire others, we must continue to think of PEACE AND THE WELL BEING OF ALL COMMUNITIES…PLUS to know it is POSSIBLE!
What we dwell upon we help to bring into manifestation. One little person, giving all the time available to peace and community, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time make’s history!!
*******************************
1. BLESSED are they who give without expecting even thanks in return, for they shall be abundantly rewarded.
2. BLESSED are they who translate every good thing they know into action – even higher truths shall be revealed to them.
3. BLESSED are they who do GOD’S WILL without asking to see results, for great shall be their recompense.
4. BLESSED are they who LOVE and TRUST their fellow human beings, for they shall reach the good in people and receive a loving response.
5. BLESSED are they who have seen reality, for they know that not the garment of clay but that which activates the garment of clay is real and indestructible.
6. BLESSED are they who see the change we call DEATH as liberation from the limitations of this earthly life, for they shall rejoice with their loved ones who make the glorious transition.
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7. BLESSED are they who after dedicating their lives and thereby receiving a blessing have the courage and faith to surmount the difficulties of the path ahead, for they will receive a second blessing.
8. BLESSED are they who advance toward the spiritual path without the selfish motive of seeking inner peace, for they shall find it.
9. BLESSED are they who instead of trying to batter down the gates of the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN approach them humbly and lovingly and purified, for they shall pass right through.
10. BLESSED are they that support the NOAH’S ARK PROJECTS. The 7 proposed NOAH’S ARK THEME PARKS GLOBALLY and ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES (many), because they will not only be agents of PEACE AND GOOD WILL, BUT UNITE ALL RACES AND FAITHS IN A COMMON BOND – LOVE your GOD WITH ALL THAT IS WITHIN YOU - AND LOVE (AND CARE) FOR YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOU DO FOR YOURSELF.
Also HELP THE POOR – CHILDREN ETC. FEED THE HUNGRY!
“MAKE ALL POVERTY HISTORY!!!”
“SHARE IN A NEW WONDERFUL WORLD/GLOBE REALLY GOVERNED BY LOVE.”
ON PEOPLE IN OUR TIMES.
In order to help usher in the GOLDEN AGE, we must see the good in people – we must know that there is there, no matter how deeply it may be buried. Yes APATHY IS THERE and SELFISHNESS is there – BUT GOOD IS THERE ALSO. It is not through JUDGEMENT that the GOOD MAY BE REACHED, BUT THROUGH LOVE AND FAITH! LOVE CAN SAVE THE WORLD FROM NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION!! …LOVE GOD WITH RECEPTIVENESS AND RESPONSIVENESS. LOVE YOUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS – Turn to them with friendliness and givingness. Make yourself fit to be called a CHILD OF GOD – BY LIVING THE WAY OF LOVE!
PAGE 22.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Is a process the same as physical growth or mental growth. Five year old children do not expect to be as tall as their parents at their next birthday; the first grader does not expect to graduate into college at the end of the term; the truth student should not expect to attain INNER PEACE overnight.
MAGICAL FORMULAS.
There is a magic formula for resolving conflicts. It is this: Have as your objective the resolving of the conflict, not the gaining of an ADVANTAGE. There is also a magic formula for AVOIDING conflicts. It is this: Be concerned that you do not offend, not that you are not offended!
ON IMMATURITY.
What people really suffer from is immaturity.
Among mature people war would not be a problem – starting or conducting a war would be impossible. In their immaturity people want, at the same time, peace and the thing which make “WAR”. However, people can mature just as children grow up. Yes, our institutions and our leaders reflect our immaturity, but as we mature we will elect better leaders and set up better institutions. It always comes back to the thing so many of us wish to avoid – working to improve ourselves.
OUR MESSAGE - FROM FRANK AND THE PEACE PILGRIM.
My friends, the WORLD SITUATION is GRAVE!
Humanity with fearful faltering steps, walks a knife-edge between complete chaos and a GOLDEN AGE. While strong forces push toward chaos. Unless we the people of the World AWAKE from our lethargy and push firmly and quickly from our chaos, all that we cherish will be destroyed in the holocaust that will descend.
THIS IS THE WAY OF PEACE: OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD, FALSEHOOD WITH TRUTH, AND HATERED WITH LOVE.
PAGE 23.
THE GOLDEN RULE would do as well. Please don’t say lightly that these are just religious concepts and not practical. THESE ARE LAWS GOVERNING HUMAN CONDUCT, which apply just as rigidly as the LAW OF GRAVITY.
When we disregard these LAWS in any walk of life, chaos results.
Through OBEDIENCE TO THESE LAWS, this frightened weary World of OURS could enter into a PERIOD OF PEACE and RICHNESS of LIFE – BEYOND OUR FONDEST DREAMS!
GRASS ROOTS PEACE ACTIVITY.
You can start a COMMUNITY PEACE FELLOWSHIP – The NOAH’S ARK PROJECTS could carry it forward GLOBALLY.
Start a PEACE PRAYER GROUP for seeking the way of PEACE and all communities globally living in harmony. Always, ALL seeking the way of PEACE.
Use this literature from a spiritual standpoint, you or your group!
Read a paragraph; dwell upon it in receptive silence – LISTEN TO GOD’S VOICE TO YOU! Then talk about it. Anyone who can understand and FEEL the SPIRITUAL TRUTHS contained thereon is spiritually ready to WORK FOR PEACE AND WORLD COMMUNITY.
Then would come a PEACE STUDY GROUP. We need to get a clear picture of what the present WORLD SITUATION is like and what will be needed to convert it into a PEACEFUL WORLD SITUATION.
Certainly all present WARS MUST CEASE. Obviously, we need to find a way to lay down our arms together.
ALL FAITHS AND DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, RACES, WORKING IN A COMMON LOVE FOR ALL, AND UNITY WE CAN DO IT IS SIMPLE: just forgive the past hurts and start again in “LOVE”.
We need to set up mechanisms to avoid physical violence in a WORLD where PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE STILL EXISTS. All nations need to give up one right to the UNITED NATIONS – The right to make WAR.
We people of the WORLD need to put the welfare of the whole HUMAN FAMILY above the welfare of any group or even any religion. Starvation and suffering need to be alleviated. Poverty and homelessness has to be addressed and a world wide solution found as do FOR FEAR AND HATRED.
PAGE 25.
There are some national problems in connection with PEACE.
Work needs to be done on peace among GROUPS. Our number one national problem is the adjustment of our ECONOMY in a peacetime situation. We need a PEACE DEPARTMENT IN OUR NATIONAL GOVERNAMENT to do extensive research on PEACEFUL ways to of resolving conflicts.
Then we can ask other COUNTRIES to create similar departments, UNITY will be our aim UNITY IN A PEACEFUL WORLD.
After world problems and steps toward the solutions become pretty clear to you, you are ready to become a PEACE ACTION GROUP AND MORE. You can become a peace action group gradually – acting upon any problem that you have learned to understand. PEACE ACTION should always take the form of letter writing – to commend those who have done something good for PEACE, to members of Parliament or Congress about peace legislation, to editors on PEACE SUBJECTS, to friends on what you have learned about peace.
It can take the form of public meetings on peace subjects, Speakers on peace subjects, distribution of peace literature, or paste and copy this whole section and e-mail it to your friends etc.
Talking to people about PEACE and even the NOAH’S ARK PROJECTS by frank.
A peace week, a peace fair, a peace walk, or a peace Float. It can take the form of voting for those who are committed to the way of PEACE.
Grass roots peace work is really important. In this crisis period of TERRORISM AND WARS there should be a COMMUNITY PEACE FELLOWSHIP in every town and city GLOBALLY. Such a group can begin with a handful of concerned people.
IT CAN BEGIN WITH YOU!
DEDICATED TO THE HAPPINESS AND FREEDOM OF ALL BEINGS
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Ask the Next President to Lead on Nuclear Weapons
Dear frank ferruccio charles,
Sincerely,
Sean Meyer
It’s a straightforward fact: the 25,000 nuclear weapons worldwide are one of the gravest, most immediate threats to humankind. The United States and Russia have over 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons. Nine countries possess nuclear weapons, and, if the world remains on its current path, more will follow. Eventually, terrorists will get the bomb.
Fortunately, the next president of the United States can and must change that path and lead us toward a world free of nuclear weapons. Please ask the presidential candidates to make reducing the nuclear threat a major priority in their campaigns.
National Field Organizer
Global Security Program
Subject: Leadership on Nuclear Weapons
Dear Candidate,
I am writing to strongly encourage you to make reducing the nuclear threat a major priority in your campaign and to embrace policies that will lead toward a world free of nuclear weapons. To embrace that vision, I urge you to support a no-first use nuclear weapons policy and ratification of the comprehensive test ban treaty, and to commit to working with Russia and other nations to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. By doing so, our country will be more secure. Sincerely,
Nuclear weapons remain one of the gravest, most immediate threats to humankind. It is unacceptable that the United States and Russia maintain thousands of nuclear weapons that can be accidentally or intentionally launched in minutes.
Warning of a "dangerous new nuclear era," George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, and others are calling for the United States to embrace the "vision of a world free of nuclear weapons."
frank ferruccio charles niero
Tell-A-Friend: The Union of Concerned Scientists relies on individuals like you To ensure you continue to receive emails from UCS,
If you have general questions, comments or concerns about this action, send email to ucsaction@ucsusa.org your email address will NEVER be sold or exchanged.
also click on.... www.oneearth.org
for union of concerned scientists web site. What's At Stake: That path should begin with policies that will reduce U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons and the size of the U.S. arsenal, limit the development of nuclear weapons by other countries, consolidate the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, and strengthen non-proliferation efforts.
UCS is not alone in our efforts. In January 2007, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn called for U.S. leadership toward a “World Free of Nuclear Weapons.” They wrote that, without urgent action, the United States and the world is on the brink of a “dangerous nuclear era” in which many more nations or terrorists would obtain nuclear weapons. The ABOVE is a letter from "UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTIST" to frank niero and other interested persons to take a stand and do something about this VERY IMPORTANT issue.
Take Action!
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this!!
to support our research and advocacy.
Join us to promote practical, science-based environmental and security solutions.
be sure to add action@ucsusa.org to your address book.
Nuclear weapons remain one of the gravest and most immediate threats to human civilization. UCS is engaged in an ambitious advocacy effort to call for a sustained and visible dialogue in the United States that will build political will and broad public support for policies that will lead to a world free of nuclear weapons. A major component of our campaign is focused on the 2008 presidential election, urging all of the candidates to prioritize putting the world on the path toward a world without nuclear weapons.
Note - PEACE, it is coming!
The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles pictures a future time, known as the Millennium which begins with
the soon-coming return of Jesus Christ, and His institution of God's government on this weary, war-torn planet.
The Millennium will be a time of peace, abundance and joy, as the earth’s inhabitants learn the way of give as
opposed to society’s current philosophy of get.
We read in the Bible that Jesus observed the Feast of Tabernacles during His earthly ministry nearly two thousand years
ago (John 7:1-14). And God also inspired the prophet Zechariah to write of a time yet future, when all nations of the
earth will …worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and...keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16-19).
In two days I will be very hungry and very thirsty. I may be a bit lightheaded and physically weakened. But when the sun goes down and the Day of Atonement ends for another year, I will have deepened my appreciation for the spiritually reconciling work of Jesus Christ for all humanity. I will also know we have made another step toward the time when God will end all evil and suffering.
You may have noticed it on your calendars as Yom Kippur. Perhaps newscasts will mention it as well. And you may think it is just a Jewish observance that has nothing to do with you. Much to the contrary, this is a highly significant day in the plan of God for all humankind.
The Day of Atonement shows us there will be a time when evil will no longer walk on the earth, no longer leaving behind its wake of sorrow and unspeakable tragedy. When this time comes, the creation will be unshackled and experience an exhilarating freedom unlike anything we've known. Gone will be fear and anger and greed. Mankind will be able to clearly see the world through a different lens. Emotional and spiritual healing will begin to wash away the accumulation of human nature that has been a part of the human condition for millennia. Truly, the creation will begin to build a structure of peace.
The existence of evil has been a persistent challenge to religion and philosophy. People have always asked, "Why does evil exist?" Every time a mass murder occurs or the horror of terrorism, war or genocide intrudes on our minds, we ask, "Where is God?" and "Why does suffering occur?" No one has come up with a better answer than that revealed in your Bible.
There we see the existence of a powerful spirit being called Satan the devil. Once known as Lucifer, a powerful cherub at the very throne of God, this angel defied the will of God and rebelled, taking a third of the angels with him. Throughout the Scriptures we see his work in constant opposition to God's plan. At the time of Christ's human birth, we see him marshaling the forces of the Roman Empire in a preemptive strike to destroy Jesus as a child. Throughout Christ's ministry He made constant reference to Satan's existence and presence in the affairs of the world. Satan was a very real being to Jesus.
Christ's death set the stage for the final triumph over Satan. We see in Revelation 20 that Christ's second coming will be followed almost immediately by the devil being bound by one of God's angels: "He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished" (verses 2-3).
The Day of Atonement (25-09-2007/8/9 etc..) pictures this event in advance. When we observe this annual Holy Day of God, we are focused on Christ's present role as our high priest making intercession for us before the Father's throne. By fasting as God instructs (going without food or drink), we are reminded of our physical limitations to resist Satan's influence without God's Spirit. We understand Satan's real presence in today's world, and we know the day will come when his destructive influence in human affairs will be removed.
The Day of Atonement represents a crucial step in God's plan to restore the peace of His Kingdom to this world. This knowledge makes the hunger and thirst I experience worthwhile. It is a small price for the spiritual understanding given through this observance.
You can read more about the Day of Atonement in this Good News article and in the "Church of GOD" booklet, God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind. Read these and determine to observe these days in worship of the true God.
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PEACE PILGRIM - ON HER PILGRIMAGE FROM 1953 TO 1981, LIFE – 1908 TO 1981. Altered by F. Niero.
www.peacepilgrim.org/steps1.htm CLICK ON IT FOR THE PEACE PILGRIM OWN WEB SITE - DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND PICTURE.
FRANK NIERO "FROM TRIESTE TO THE ARK" - (+ ADDITIONS) – FOR THE “NOAH’S ARK PROJECTS – 1995 TO/WRITTEN 2009.
7 - PEACE DOVES - for - 7 NOAH'S ARK THEME PARKS. - FOR TOTAL WORLD PEACE AND the LOVE OF GOD AND love OF EACH OTHER - THE DOVE ALSO SYMBOLIZES THE "HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD".
WORLD PEACE SITE... SEE
PEACE OUTCOME. (SHOWING ALL NATIONS FOR PEACE!!)
FUTILE PEACEMAKER. (NOT ALL CARRY PEACE WITH THEM, BUT LET'S ALL FIND IT AND LIVE IT TO THE FULL...)
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DAMN HIPPIE. (LOVE'S PEACE!)
LOVE STARVED. (TILL PEACE AND TRUE LOVE IS FOUND.)
STRIPED PEACE HAND. (SYMBOL OF MANKIND SHARING PEACE.)
PEACE IS OUR HAPPINESS AND MERITED FREEDOM FOR ALL.....
Like the song: "HE" (GOD) has the Whole WORLD IN HIS HAND! (CARING, PEACEFUL!)
PS. It's not just the little me that says, "I am for Peace" it is also The Great ,"I AM for PEACE!!!"
After Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, He appeared to the disciples. His first words to them were, "Peace be with you!" The word grace means "unmerited favor." When someone loves you unconditionally, (without regard to your behavior in return), it becomes a powerful force in your life.
PICTURE OF THE PRINCE OF PEACE "JESUS CHRIST" DYING ON THE CROSS FOR US ALL SO WE ALL CAN HAVE, (IF WE WISH TO HAVE...)ETERNAL SALVATION IN HEAVEN AND IN THE WONDERFUL (PEACEFUL) NEW EARTH (TO COME). AND THIS IS JESUSE'S PROMISE TO US ALL. (NOTE THE CROSS + - A SYMBOL OF GOD'S LOVE FOR US ALL.) He died nearly 2,000 years ago but 3 day's later he resurected to LIFE! He has alway's been ALIVE AND STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE - To come back to Earth one day and help us ALL!!
God made peace through the blood and the cross of Jesus in order for Jesus to reconcile all things to Himself. “All things” include everything in earth and heaven.
Then Paul continued, and you, that were sometime [at one time] alienated…. How were you and I and all men alienated? We were separated from God by sin. We were enemies of God in our minds because of wicked works. We were unregenerate. We had received and inherited Adam’s sin nature, and that caused us to be separated from God, having no communion or fellowship with Him.
Do you really believe that today?
Despite what our culture says, you're not here by accident! You're here by divine Providence...and God has a plan and purpose for you. Not for just the Josephs of the world, but for the Joes, the Marys, the Bettys, the Sues, and the Bills. God has something significant for all of us to do...and that includes you!
Now, success is wonderful. As a matter of fact, the Scripture says that God gave Joseph great success. But beyond success, he had significance.
Joseph certainly had vision, courage, determination, character, ability, and perseverance--all the qualities of a leader. But there was one quality that stood out in this great man's life. That quality was faith.
Joseph trusted God throughout all of his days...in good times as well as bad times. And that faith is what gave Joseph significance!
In spite of the obstacles, against all the odds, this man persevered by faith. He started over many times in his life. He faced circumstances that would have defeated the average, ordinary individual. And yet regardless of the difficulties, he kept believing God. He kept following his Lord. He kept trusting his Master.
Why? Because Joseph believed that God had a plan for his life, and he was determined to discover his destiny. I mean, think about it: Joseph was despised and rejected by his own dysfunctional family! He was kidnapped and left for dead. He was sold as a slave. He was falsely accused and imprisoned. He was used and abused. He was failed and forgotten. And yet by faith he carried on!
And I want to encourage you to carry on by faith as well! Whether you're in good times or bad times right now, God has a perfect plan for you. I hope you will trust in this promise today...and know that as a child of God, you have true significance in Him.
TRUe significance comes from trusting god for your destinY.
A faithful God!
Yes, God is faithful. If we will but put our trust in His promises, we will be better able to receive His gifts of healing and of blessing. Being a Christian does not free us from problems, nor does it immediately make us perfect people, but God's promise that those who truly trust in Jesus Christ will have eternal life (John 3:16-18) is a wonderful encouragement. And God is always there, ever willing to hear and answer our prayers.
And, in 2008 and after that!! God is still working!
CONTINUES - "FROM TRIESTE TO THE ARK." JUST BELOW!
HOPE YOU WILL GAIN FROM MY STORY, MAY GOD BLESS ALL WHO READ IT...
TITLE OF MY BOOK
"From Trieste . . . . .
to the Ark"
THE NIERO FAMILY
SEE PHOTOS ON THE SLIDESHOWS.
Maureen (my wife - deceased - multiple myeloma - cancer, please pray for all others with cancer.)
Jane (daughter 1) Rachel (daughter 2) Frank (me) Adrian (son 2) Paul (son 1)
+ 12 grandchildren. & mother in law Mavis.
MY CHILDREN & their PARTNERS - Jane (divorced) 3 kids - Rachel & Stuart 4 kids- Paul and Marlene 0 kids- Adrian and Fiona 5 kids. (+ Hock Chai Guok - (single - 0 kids) - my God son that I love like a real son ( involved - the ARK projects.) - Malaysian/Chinese.)
Grandchildren = 1/ Jessica (22) + 2 of her kids Fiona, mother - Levi & Mia our greatgrandchildren. 2/ Jessica (18) - Jane mother 3/ Harley (14) - Rachel mother 4/ Dillon (14) - Fiona mother 5/ Zack (13) - Fiona mother 6/ Aaron (11) - Jane mother 7/ Paige (11) Stuart father 8/ Rick (9) Jane mother 9/ Bianca (2) - Adrian father 10/ Torin (10 months) - Rachel mother 11/ Andre - was born - 31-12-2007 - Adrian father (ages as January 2008.) rachel had another baby boy august this year 2009 his heart operation at birth was successful thank
OUR LOVING GOD!
" From sunny ITALY to
AUSTRALIA a new WONDERFUL LAND for us ALL."
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PUBLISH PART, OR ALL OF THIS BOOK AT MY APPROVAL - PLEASE CONTACT ME.
MONEY'S FROM MY BOOK GIVEN, BY ME
TO THE NEEDY!
Frank Niero - 12 Pecan Court Frankston North - Victoria Australia 3200.
click on OUR BUSINESS PROPOSAL. OR ACTION PROPOSAL.
THE FILM ABOUT A MAN - (Evan Almighty) WHO WAS ASKED BY
"GOD" TO BUILD AN ARK.....to somehow help his community/country!
Frank - IN MY CASE! - Build 7 ARK'S GLOBALLY to help all communities/world countries. "EVAN - He decides to trust GOD, obey, and build that big boat". the NOAH'S ARK PROJECTS, that include building "7 - NOAH'S ARK THEME PARKS, GLOBALLY" PLUS ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES ETC. - The "ARK - BOAT?" IS A LOOK ALIKE OUTSIDE, on dry land, and a modern facility inside. A facility that won an award for it's design - practicallity for HELPING communities. (can be built anywhere in the GLOBE) AS BIG (or LONG) AS 1.8 SOCCER FIELDS!! New Testament Cubits are the same as 700B.C. "TIME CUBITS". Most of all the ARK PROJECTS will be inviting mankind to change their hearts to love (GOD AND ALL OTHERS), live in peace, + experience many good things in our lives.
by Frank Niero
(Ferruccio)
FERRUCCIO - SYNONYM = A PIECE OF IRON - (MAN OF IRON)
This book is recommended for persons over
16 years of age.
Distributed by Frank Ferruccio Charles Niero & family.
12 PECAN COURT FRANKSTON NORTH 3200 VICTORIA AUSTRALIA - (NEAR THE BAY OF MELBOURNE.)
(SUBURB OF MELBOURNE) phone (03)9782 5622 - mob 0401 037 635. ask operator for country code outside Australia.
The Ark Theme park Drawings have copyright,THIS BOOK any moneys deriving from it, donated by frank
to the NEEDY.
If copy and pasting gives a bad background - copy and paste to e-mail form it will work. Create a Gmail account at http://mail.google.com/mail/signup. - g-mail gives pictures, font as shown!
1st Print 1994, Second print 1999.
This third WEB SITE print (REVISED) APRIL - 2008.
INTRODUCTION
This book is the life story of struggle and achievement of Frank F. C. Niero and his family. There is a section devoted to Sharing Time and the G.S.A. Complex (The Noah’s Ark Projects. - NOAH'S ARK THEME PARKS and ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES - GLOBALLY) which may change your own life in career and community development for yourself and for the poor and needy.
Readers please note:
Some of the names of the people in this autobiography have been changed to protect others . Any relation to changed names of any living or deceased persons is purely coincidental. But the story is true and it happened in the writer's lifetime, as it is written. The names of Frank and his family are their actual names.
I Frank Niero hereby dedicate this book, my autobiography to my wife Maureen Ann Niero for all that she has been to me these years, for still being with me after all the challenges we had and may our great love for each other. Last forever and a day! And family and friends / brothers and sisters in Christ. - may our love also ..... Last forever and a day!
Chapter - Click on a chapter!
Photos click on the word "photos" for 4 slide shows - model - Jesus - family - plans etc.
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FOR FURTHER SLIDE SHOWS.
SEE http://frankniero.spaces.live.com/ AND http://houseandlandinmelbourne.spaces.live.com/
His mom didn’t exactly celebrate his birth! She named him pain, or Jabez in Hebrew, a moniker he carried with him the rest of his life. As an adult, and apparently as he was about to enter an important mission, Jabez cries out to God asking for three things which the text (I Chron. 4: 9,10) tells us God granted. These requests were...
(1) that God would bless him by enlarging his territory (pasture), and
(2) that God’s hand would be with him, another way of wanting to experience God’s power and protection, and
(3) that he would be free from pain (also, grief or sorrow.) In other words, he may have been asking to escape this negative reputation which he had from birth!
(plus dear GOD the main reason for "getting from you" is to be "a channel" and give to others in need.) There are many in desperate needs in the GLOBE...LET US FUFILL THOSE NEEDS BY PROVIDING GENUINE HELP, WHAT EVER THOSE NEEDS ARE. (WE ARE YOUR WORKERS DEAR GOD.)
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WHAT GOD PUT INTO MY HEART...
"HE" Made me aware of the GLOBAL GIANTS! Spiritual emptiness, Extreme poverty, which even brings on starvation and homelessness to billions...Then disease, Illiteracy, and much, much more, physical and mental/Spiritual grief brought on, often the cause of bad circumstances and leadership and A LACK OF LOVE BY NEIGHBOURING NATIONS/PEOPLE BETTER OFF... THAT COULD HELP OR HELP FURTHER!
We can solve these issues, now there are not enough DOCTORS, TEACHERS and MISSIONARIES to solve all issues in the globe. But there is an ARMY of CHRISTIANS sitting in Churches that could be mobilized to do GOOD in our WORLD, and dont get me wrong...most Churches are doing GOOD TODAY and even interlinked with other churches overseas, but our "arms are somewhat tied" - LET'S TURN AN AUDIENCE INTO AN ARMY, AN ARMY OF GOD...
IT IS TIME FOR CHURCHES IN THE WORLD TO BE KNOWN FOR LOVE NOT LEGALISM...
A time for the CHURCH TO REALLY BE THE CHURCH. - To start DOING AND NOT DEBATING.
GOD WANTS A FAMILY AND HE WANTS YOU IN IT...to be a part of that FAMILY (with RESOURCES - and the ARK COMPLEXES WILL PROVIDE RESOURCES...)
THE ARK'S (7 ?) Will be ACCUMMULATORS AND MULTIPLYERS OF GODLY FAMILIES ON FIRE FOR GOD, AND LOVERS OF THEIR NEIGHBOURS...FAMILIES DESTINED FOR GLORY AND HEAVEN... JESUS is not coming till every person has HEARD what GOD WANTS THAT PERSON TO HEAR... GOD CARES for every one of US Christian or not he loves US ALL.
The WORLD now is full of poverty, people that live on less than $2 per day and the LOST... GOD wants US to feed the POOR AND THE STARVING/HOMELESS and to WITNESS to the LOST.
After all, how can we help broken people if we’ve never been broken? How can we help dry wet eyes if we’ve never shed a tear? How can we comfort those who are grieving if we’ve never experienced great grief.Meeting ‘the Man’ When the woman at the well met Jesus, unlike all the other men she’d met, He addressed her real need. “[He said,] ‘Go…get your husband’… ‘I don’t have a husband,’ the woman replied. Jesus said…‘you have had five husbands, and you aren’t…married to the man you’re living with’” (John 4:16-18 NLT). Because we’re weak, we keep getting into situations that leave us wounded. And those wounds can’t be healed by going from relationship to relationship. After meeting Jesus this woman ran to tell everybody, “Come…meet a Man who told me everything!” (TLB). Her answer wasn’t another man; she’d already tried that! Her answer was meeting the Man, and asking Him to fill the void in her life. The Bible refers to this as putting “on the new self, which is being renewed in…the image of its Creator” (Col 3:10 NIV). If you’re sick of the way you’re living and want to change, remember, the woman at the well couldn’t ‘put off the old man’ till she met the new One. When you’re attached to certain habits and relationships, it’s hard to break free in your own strength. You’ll only be able to disengage when you acknowledge Jesus as Lord of your life. Only by embracing the new will you find strength to say goodbye to the old. So what does all this mean for you? It means coming to Christ as you are, asking Him to save you, and entering into a relationship with Him. James says, “Surrender to God…Resist the devil, and he will run from you” (Jam 4:7 CEV). When you do that, God will give you the strength to forsake those old patterns and begin a new life!
Imagine - (sharing! All the WORLD!)
John Lennon Day
An International Holiday
Celebrating Peace And Love (LIKE THE 7 NOAH'S ARK THEME PARKS GLOBALLY & MANY - ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES WILL!)
The heartbeat of humanity is music. Let us honor our greatest singer-songwriter and the most influential political artist of the 20th century with an International holiday celebrating his message for us of peace and love on Earth. I agree that there should be an international holiday every October 9th to celebrate the life's message of John Lennon, to be known as the John Lennon Day. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one.
This part is for Christians and those wanting to be Christian!
The Great Commission is your commission, and that means you have a critical choice to make: You will be either a world-class Christian or a worldly Christian.
Worldly Christians look to God primarily for personal fulfillment. They are saved, but self-centered. They attend concerts and enrichment seminars, but you’ll rarely find them at a missions conference because they aren’t interested. Their prayers focus on their own needs, blessings, and happiness. It’s a “me-first” faith: How can God make my life more comfortable? They want to use God for their purposes -- instead of being used for his purposes.
World-class Christians, in contrast, know they’re saved to serve and made for a mission. They’re eager to receive a personal assignment and excited about the privilege of being used by God. World-class Christians are the only fully alive people on the planet. Their joy, confidence, and enthusiasm are contagious because they know they’re making a difference. They wake up each morning expecting God to work through them in fresh ways.
Which type of Christian do you want to be?
God invites you to participate in the greatest, largest, most diverse, and most significant cause in history—his kingdom. History is his story. He’s building his family for eternity. Nothing matters more, and nothing will last as long.
From the book of Revelation we know that God’s global mission will be accomplished. Someday the Great Commission will be the Great Completion. In heaven an enormous crowd of people from “every race, tribe, nation, and language” (Revelation 7:9 – CEV) will one day stand before Jesus Christ to worship him. Getting involved as a world-class Christian will allow you to experience a little of what heaven will be like in advance.
When Jesus told his followers to “go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone,” that small band of poor, Middle Eastern disciples were overwhelmed. Were they supposed to walk or ride slow animals? That’s all they had for transportation, and there were no ocean-crossing ships, so there were real physical barriers to going to the whole world.
Today we have airplanes, ships, trains, buses, and automobiles. It’s a small world after all, and it’s shrinking daily. You can fly across the ocean in a matter of hours and be home the next day if you need to be. The opportunities for normal, everyday Christians to become involved in short-term international missions are now literally limitless. Every corner of the world is available to you—just ask the travel industry. We have no excuse not to spread the Good News, love and unity and peace.
Now, with the Internet, the world has gotten even smaller. In addition to phones and faxes, any believer with Internet access can personally communicate with people in virtually every country on earth. The whole world is at your fingertips!
Even many remote villages get email, so you can now carry on “e-vangelistic” conversations with people on the other side of the world, without even leaving your home! It’s never been easier in history to fulfill your commission to go to the whole world.
So what?
· Assess yourself -- Based on where you’re at today, how would you assess yourself?
___ My behaviors, thoughts and prayers seem to indicate I want to use God for my own purposes. Wrong!
___ My behaviors, thoughts and prayers seem to indicate I want to be used for God’s purposes. Right!
· Truth Statements -- Check where you agree – all 4 = 100%
1___ I am saved to serve God for his purposes.
2___ I was created to fulfill a mission.
3___ I am making a difference in this world.
4___ The Great Commission is my commission.
· Pray through your unbelief -- If you do not agree with any of the four statements above, ask God to help you in your unbelief.
As for John Lennon, when he was alive, he did his best to promote...peace and love - stop WAR! That is what we all should be doing, some want "to do it their way", personally (I - frank niero) "want to do it GOD'S way!".....
For those 'Christians' who want rid themselves of their sinful nature: when in HEAVEN - not be called Christians any more but CITAZENS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD - GOD THE FATHER IS CENTRAL .... JESUS THE ETERNAL KING! THAT SHOULD MAKE EVERYBODY WITH GOD IN THEIR HEART HAPPY - WE WILL BE CITAZENS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
www.hallvworthington.com click on it derived material (GOD - TOTAL UNION WITH GOD)
We must die to self on the missing cross before he can rule us as our true lord. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Gal 5:24. Without having mortified the deeds and habits of the flesh, you have no part of Him; for without holiness, none shall see God. Hebrews 12:14. You were sold the false grace which says do nothing, just continue to live in your sinful nature. You have been cheated of true peace and from knowing that you could live in the Kingdom of Heaven within you, while on earth, which does not come with outward signs and visible display; he has already returned to thousands of believers who produced the fruit of repentance, who purified themselves to get ready for him.
And unto them that look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb 9:28
When he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3
For the pure in heart see God; the pure in heart experience the appearance of Christ, his return.
Jesus said: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Matthew 7:22-3. Obviously they called him Lord, and they had enough faith that he was the son of God to perform wonderful miracles in his name; but that was not enough - they were evildoers! Jesus is saying that they have not made them their Lord in practice, who controls their lives in their actions and words; he doesn't know them to be his subjects as their ruling Lord. They say Jesus is Lord with their lips, but keep him far removed from their hearts to really be their Lord and King. To make him Lord, he has to first cleanse us of our sinful nature that makes us unruly, incapable of being subject to a Lord or King. Until he cleanses us, we are a slave to sin, incapable of being subject to a Lord or King. Jesus himself said, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. John 8:34. So we have to seek him to purify us by destroying our selfish, unruly, sinful nature; we have to sit quietly so that he, the Light and the Word, can teach us about himself and search our heart to show us our conditions; lead us to repent, and then cleanse us to be governable so he can truly rule us as our King and Lord. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27
Jesus came so he could destroy the the works of the devil in us - if we go to him.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, [in us] that he might destroy the works [sin] of the devil. 1 John 3:8
If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Rev 3:20. Sitting quietly while thinking on his name is how we learn from Him, get cleansed by Him, be led by Him, and come to know Him. Hearing his voice is not reading the Bible, it is hearing his voice. To hear someone, we have to listen; to listen we have to stop talking, reading, and racing our mind.
For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and does them,
He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; securely.. Luke 6:47-48
He is extraordinarily patient toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
Do not fear, you can experience the joy of real fellowship with Christ. I am not recruiting for any sect. I seek no followers; you have no need of any teacher but the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, 1 John 2:27; Christ in you, the hope of glory. I do not want your money. Everything on this site is free. Nothing is for sale. (Except the - BUSINESS PROPOSAL for the NOAH'S ARK PROJECTS!) - I only want you to know the freedom from the distress of sin. I want you to know that you can be so filled with love, that you go through the rest of you life obsessed with loving others and loving God. You can be full of everlasting joy and peace. You can know the Father. You can become pure in heart and see God. You can have the Kingdom of God and the glorious Christ established in your heart. But, you must pick up you cross daily and crucify your flesh's affections and lusts to be with God. Be of good courage and have faith, for compared to his cross, your burden is light and easy. The cross simply is to go to him. He said, " Take my yoke upon you and learn from me." This is how you learn from him, (you will be taught, shown your condition, and you will receive personalized commands from Him to you):
This is the Inward Cross of Self-Denial
If any will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23
Jesus said: except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Luke 13:3,5
Those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Gal 5:24
See How to Benefit from the Changing Power of God for more detail.
He wants us to come to him so we can be taught and he can show us our condition; and by us repenting and obeying his commands, he purifies us until he and the Father come to establish their Kingdom in our hearts and translate us to paradise, all by grace; a grace that teaches us to live godly and righteously in this present world. Contrasted with the deficit sects' false, instant grace, Paul describes the true grace in letter to Titus stated below:
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world,
looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:11-4
(This is not instant grace; this is a teaching grace, a purifying grace; in this world. This takes time. You must be quiet to listen to be taught by grace, resulting in the appearance of God and Christ and leading you to good works.)
See True Grace vs. False Grace for more. If you think believing or baptism is all that is needed, see the Missing Cross.
See How to Benefit from the Changing Power of God for how to get started listening.
You might be asking, how could this be true? Everyone believes that there is nothing I have to do but believe in Jesus, and maybe get baptized in water. The answer is in the Bible; countless examples in the history of Israel where they forgot the requirements of righteousness and became comfortable in their flesh. In cycles, a prophet would arise, point out their universal error and then get persecuted or killed; then they got punished, they repented and lived correctly until they drifted back into a false religion. The same thing happened in the early church; Jude wrote in 1:4, For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality. All the deficit sects of today are simply variations on the doctrines established by the Roman emperor, and of course saint, Constantine in 325 AD regarding salvation and Christianity; the doctrines were further standardized by later Roman emperors, including the sainted despot, Justinian. Within sixty-five years the true church, with its correct doctrines, was stamped out by the deceptive lure of their doctrine of instant, ritualized salvation, coupled with the Roman Empire's crushing boot of persecution for any deviation from their authorized, state religion. For 1260 years the true church was banished to the wilderness, to appear again in 1650 with the breakthrough of the early Quakers - only to die again by 1880 due to the deception of presumptive salvation. People are eager to embrace the broad, easy way.
Even Adolph Hitler said Jesus was his Lord and Savior; but you saying so, doesn't place him in control of your words and actions.
Read George Fox's Journal, and you will know for sure; just as they were surrounded by godless deficit sects, so are we today in an age of universal apostasy: false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing, blind guides, minster's asking for your money, countless thousands of blind ministers taught by colleges instead of Christ, millions of blind followers in the ditch, still subject to rage, lusts, anger, greed, envy, emotions; with no purity, no peace, false hope, false gospels, false salvation, the missing cross, and no one entering the Kingdom. In response to a question, would many be saved? Christ said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many will go in there: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few will find it."
This story is for everybody 16 and above.
My Young Years. AND AN INTRODUCTION.
Noah…did all that God commanded him.
--Genesis 6:22
Noah certainly lived a life of faith in the Lord. The earth had never seen rain before, so the idea of water falling from the sky was a ridiculous and silly notion in those days. But that didn’t stop Noah from announcing the fact that God was going to send rain.
Noah believed God so much that he built an ark right in the middle in his own front yard. What would you or I do if God commanded us to do something like that? Maybe we would just laugh and say, “Lord, You must be joking.”
But as our society moves further and further away from God, we as Christians may find ourselves being called by God to do things that seem pointless to others. That’s when we need to remember that Christ has a bigger and better plan than we do.
In Luke 19:13, the Lord says to take care of His business until He comes back. God’s business is establishing His kingdom on earth, and it’s our responsibility to be salt and light in this dark world. These are desperate times of sin and unfaithfulness, and you and I have a message of hope that we are to be spreading like wildfire!
The only way to leave a lasting impression for Christ and ultimately change the world is to live a life of complete faith and obedience. That’s something you can do today. And as you are faithful each day, God will use you to do something world-changing!
GOD CALLS US TO LIVE A LIFE OF COMPLETE FAITH IN AND OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST.
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I started life as a happy child loved by mum and dad, (born 30 – 10 – 1945, the year that changed the world – remember? the Atomic Bomb’s!
(potency of atomic bomb destruction is 100 to 1000 times more than the 2 dropped on Japan in 1945! If you take Hiroshima 140,000+ dead one new bomb X 1000 potency = 140,000,000 possible dead - one bomb!!)
THE TECHNOLOGY EXISTS TODAY TO MAKE AN ATOM BOMB 2,500 TIMES THE POTENCY OF THE 1945 ONES!!
It’s a straightforward fact: the 25,000 nuclear weapons worldwide are one of the gravest, most immediate threats to humankind. The United States and Russia have over 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons. Nine countries possess nuclear weapons, and, if the world remains on its current path, more will follow. Eventually, terrorists will get the bomb.
WHEN WILL PEOPLE START TO OBEY THE 6TH COMMANDMENT - YOU SHALL NOT KILL!
http://www.ten-commandments.us click on the 10 Commandments if you dont know them!
GOD TEACHES US TO LOVE HIM AND ALL OTHER PEOPLE - THAT INCLUDES ALL RACES/FAITHS! WE MUST ALSO LOVE, PRESERVE AND VALUE ALL OF GOD'S CREATION!
references of gleaned information and graphic pictures on the web site.
http://tamilnation.org/humanrights/hiroshima.htm click on it!
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima click on it! Also see - enter - Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
MY STORY...UNFOLDS!
Yes I was born in Trieste Italy on the 30th of October 1945. Being the first born to my parents Spartaco and Lidia Niero, I was baptized Ferruccio Carlo Franco Niero in the Chapel of Trieste's main public hospital, the 2nd day after my birth... (31st of OCTOBER 1945) - Baptized by the Catholic Church that day, to be a Catholic, althow my parents being Catholics in name all their lives, had virtually no religious connection, or practicing with the Catholic Church all the years I knew them (BUT my mother LIDIA was a "HOME" believer and always prayed to SANTA MARIA -"HOLY MARY" mother of GOD......Jesus.) My father always struggled, and was somewhat confused in his belief of GOD. It was also a difficult time for my parents because the Second World War had just ended and food, jobs and other necessities were in short supply then. My father was a radio technician returned from the 2nd world war and my mother worked as a tailorless. At the time of my birth my father was twenty-six and my mother twenty-seven years old.
We lived in the centre of the city of Trieste in a six-storey building where our large apartment was on the first floor. This we shared with the rest of my father's family. There was Ada and Edoardo who were my grandparents, Silva and Georgio my cousins, Their mother had died some years before and 'Nonna' Ada was caring for them, and they were abandoned by their own father. Then there was Uncle Stelio and dad's sister Beatrice. She had a child Giuly just a few weeks after I was born. There was another aunt, Ettorina and Ettore her husband - they had two children Nelli and Walter. We all lived in this old partly run-down, somewhat shabby and cockroach infested huge apartment, sharing one kitchen except for Ettorina who had her own, We coexisted with one toilet and no bathroom. The local public bathhouse provided all those needs or we washed in the kitchen or the laundry which was also the entry to our apartment, off it a small courtyard.
Mum, dad and I, ‘the new baby’, shared one bedroom. This was all we could afford and the Italian Housing Commission had seemingly forgotten about us. As for my mother's family, Ida my grandmother, Erna, Gina and Elda: Two of my aunts never married and Elda's husband was Francesco. My second name was chosen after my grandfather Carlo (Karl) on my mother's side. When my mother was only six years old, after years of illness, her father Karl Wallner an Austrian Jew by birth from Vienna..he decided to end it all - his mental illness led him to jump out of a high storey window to his death, leaving his beloved Ida a widow with four daughters. That tragic day he bellowed out to his wife “CIAO IDA” and dived out the window to his death!
My Aunt Erna was the eldest daughter in the Valneri family (a name change for the family from Wallner). At sixteen whilst working in a cousin's textile shop, in burst a bandit who violently threatened Erna with a gun. This was enough to bring on her first episode and very little was known about her passed on mental illness in those days. Since that time once or twice a year she would lock herself in her room and would be heard to say, 'they're coming to get me'. The ignorance in those days wasted many lives through death and misery. Her attacks would last between 3 to 6 or so months. No medication was available and she had to bear the pain and distortion. Her sisters kept her at home.
On my fourth birthday my father gave me a puppy, a Saint Bernard. As the months passed he grew too large for a small courtyard, my father built a cart big enough for me to be pulled by the dog. Alas, to my displeasure, he was sent to a farm and I never saw him again.
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Trieste was full of communists in those days. Our apartment windows faced one of the city's main streets, we could see the Red Flag parade below (we were opposite the main market). One day a Red funeral procession was passing by, and I picked up a large potato that was sitting on the ledge, thoughtlessly threw it, just missing the coffin. People below shouted it came from the first floor window they spotted me ! The commotion ended but not without a reprimand from my mother, which made me feel remorse. But as usual with my mother, all was forgotten by dinnertime. As revenge would have it, we were awakened later that night with the sound of splintering windows, the communists had returned and smashed most of the apartment windows, there was a lesson in it for all of us it really shook all of us up to be targeted in such a way with flying stones etc..
There was another surprise waiting for me: my mother Lidia was going to have another child. In mid-1950 brother Claudio was born. He was fine and healthy and I was happy to have him join the family.
The dampness and cold of the apartment contributed to my mother's asthma which made her extremely ill, causing her to be sent to hospital to undergo a series of major tests which apparently had an adverse effect on her system resulting in a mental breakdown. She was transferred to a mental hospital in Trieste where she remained for many months before returning home with little recovery, and was soon back there for further treatment. This caused another problem. What to do with Claudio and myself. The relations took Claudio and I was sent from home to home, and camps in the mountains and later to Lake De Garda where I learned to live with some unruly children. Life was not easy but you knew it was good to be alive. By this time I was eight years old and my mother received her discharge from hospital.
Mum and dad came to pick me up on their Vespa scooter and when they arrived they saw that I was hobbling. After removing my socks they could see my foot was infected and puss was evident. The infected area covered most of the foot and the camp infirmary drained the poison. A few well-chosen words were exchanged with the management for their obvious neglect, I was glad to leave after many months of being targeted by bullies and unsupervised children that played with filth from an overflowing toilet and cruel jokes played on me and most of the other children I remember it as a camp of horrors.
On returning to Trieste it was discovered my tonsils had swollen so my father arranged a bribe to jump the queue of children at the local hospital. I was whisked into a darkened room, placed in a metal chair, held down by two men, while a third who was the doctor wrenched the infected organ out, with no painkillers of any kind. It was then the practice to shuffle you to another room to spit into a bucket of blood. An orderly told my dad to get me an ice cream and take me home. Younger brother Claudio was to have this done to him some time later. He seemed so young, which made it all the worse. The medical system in Trieste was barbaric to say the least.
After I recovered I was again able to enjoy my family, and although I was only eight, I was to play a part in helping my family to survive. My mother made Disney figurines out of a special cloth material of which her best were Bambi's. They were given as prizes in a lottery in Venice. I sold the lottery tickets to shops and houses and awarded the prizes at a later time. This lasted for a year and my mother returned to hospital. My father lost his job in the English Occupation Forces R.E.M.E. because the Allied soldiers were withdrawing from Italy. Consequently, the food parcels stopped and all of Italy thought it would gloom from then on.
PAGE 2 - CONTINUES NEXT BLOG.PAGE 3.
My Young Years CONTINUED.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2.
My father rented an old shop on the outskirts of town (salita di greta Trieste) and renovated the shop to resemble a technicians workshop he spent all he had then to do it.... At nine I was made his errand boy for half of each day whilst Italy's schooling system operated on a half a day basis. Dad's business was to fail soon after and he was forced to sell. Across the road from the shop there lived a family named Cerne who were befriended by my father who convinced them to board me for quite a few months.
The Cerne's resided on the first floor of this beautiful Italian villa where the grounds were landscaped and well cared for. They were in their fifty's, and their children had since moved away, but they still retained a servant. I slept in the library whose owner was a newspaper editor. They were well off and were good to me. Later that same year a depression came over me a taste of what was to come for me in my adult life. I could not function well was very depressed and lathargic that year the result of years without both of my parents love and attention I thought within! The beginning of my inherited condition - a taste of what was to come for me in my future...and thus I failed my fifth year at the Italian primary school. I left the Cerne's when I was ten; returned home at the same time my mother came back from hospital. Nobody had told me or my brother our mother was mentally ill, it was to be kept a secret for many years. I very often was sent away from place to place, never home with all of my family and this always hurt...
My father wanted to emigrate because of the lack of work in Italy: It was either South America or Australia, the latter of which he moved to within a month of deciding. He borrowed the fare from my mother's sister Gina and said that if things go well he would send for the rest of his immediate family.
My mother wanted me to take my first communion even though they were not religious; it was considered useful to learn about my religion. A priest explained Christmas and Easter and I saw some religious films that also helped in my Christian understanding. I was profoundly changed by what I now understood and became a believer at 11 years of age.
Going back - Aunt Beatrice gave birth to a second daughter Vivian who was about the same age as younger brother Claudio. Giuly was my favourite cousin and we often talked together. Her family could take no more of the shared apartment and moved to new premises elsewhere in Trieste. I was sorry to see them go. My other cousin Silva was a shop window dresser and cousin Georgio was learning to be a technician like dad.
Nellie was a young woman now preoccupied with having a good time, while her brother Walter was continuing to be mischievous. It is amazing how he remained out of ‘reform school’. I always gave him a wide berth when he was naughty!
Favourite Aunt Elda which is short for Eldegarda, who was married to Uncle Francesco lived by themselves and were very kind to me - gave me money for the cinema and were glad to have me on Sundays. They were unable to have their own children and treated me as their own. Aunt Elda would joke that I was like an aristocrat because I would go to a trattoria (a cheap restaurant), by myself, eat, pay and still have some left over to give to the poor beggars either in the trattoria or in the streets. And I used to haunt the cinemas three and four times a week. But my favourite pastime was books and Disney comics.
Aunt Elda took me to see Venice prior to leaving for Australia. On board the Venice-bound train she related to me how at the age of four whilst accompanying my parents at the cinema, I was apparently bored with the film that was showing and shot out of my seat and yelled at the top of my voice, 'That's enough pictures, now let's go home and kill cockroaches.' The audience roared with laughter.
PAGE 3.
She also told me the story of how my father and I were returning from the beach when the Vespa scooter got caught in an oil slick it caused to buck my father off. Therefore leaving me to continue steering for another twenty metres, finally toppling over, me and all. Both of us were badly grazed and shaken. I can still remember the stinging vinegar applied by a lady who took pity on us and brought us in to her house to mend our wounds. I can remember telling aunt Elda about my brother's beautiful long blond hair extending to his shoulders. Mum had to bring a hairdresser home to cut his hair because he would not go to the shop. At home he would even hide under the chair and was a real spectacle to watch.
I will also tell you the story of my father's parents - my 2 grandparents...Grandmother.. ADA NIERO (DE-CARLI by maiden name, daughter of Italian NOBLES - "Horsemen of the Crown" - a title similiar to COUNT'S AND VERY WEALTHY THEN...) She attended UNIVERSITY and had her own carriage and horses and servants, plus was born in RUSSIA while her parents were there on a trade merchant mission, she was born with "a silver spoon in her mouth" but the Monarchy in Italy crashed, Ada's brother still displayed the family crest embroyded on all his linen shirts and got around with the air of a debonair gentleman. I still remember him well, as for their father, my great grandfather...well he must have become frustrated, or of bad judgement because - I was told, he squandered all the great families fortune on the turn of the rullett wheel in European casinos...what a waste of money! After this fall, on growing into a woman, my grandmother ADA met a merchant seaman by the name of EDOARDO NIERO, who was to become my grandfather, I do not know much about his life of travels in merchant ships, but when I was small he brought home 2 gorillas - not fully grown - lets call them. bert and bertha, well they were "people broken" and tame but a handfull to keep while they stayed in our courtyard at the large apartment, (that everyone (nearly) in my family lived at one time or another,) bert and bertha got bored with their confines and started climbing the exterior plumbing of the 6 storey building, gaizing into neighbouring apartment windows 5th and 6th floor etc, scaring neighbours enough, that we had to sell them, not suitable for our apartment. But a circus. (they are not to be related to KING KONG - But funnier.)
We also kept a porcupine that lived under the kitchen sink - he ate up the nasty cockroackes and served us well while we had him (he was prickly), it was my habit when I was "small" at our apartment to bring home stray and neighbouring cats and kittens I loved animals, I remember bringing home a big tom cat one day from our neighbouring delicatessent in the same building below...Well !! he must have hated his new adress because when I placed him on the kitchen floor, after having obtained a few scratches in the progression up the stairs, the cat ran around the kitchen table twice in a mad circle then dived out the open 1st storey window and landed on the canvas awning just below to brake his fall, luckily - he did not hurt himself but wandered back to the shop pronto!
I also will tell you a story of war and massacre, it happened to my father Spartaco Niero, he served as a radio technician for the Italians, in the 2nd world war, assigned to one of their ships that went down while in the war, torpedos from enemy English fighting submarine sunk my dad's ship, he was locked in the lower part of the ship, (secure doors are fastned to prevent the ship going down fast!) He managed to crawl out of a tight air passage way and to the top, before it fully sank! Diving into the MEDITERRANEAN SEA he had to rip a live preserver off an italian corpse to survive, the jurney trough the air vent had ripped off 100% of his clothing, here he was in the water nude - with English planes - machine-gunning the water to pick off the survivors, he made it otherwise, I would not be here to tell the story today, 8 HOURS IN THE DRINK till he was picked up by Italians. Later on when the Italians woke up to the evil in the nazies and Mussolini's men - they allied with the English and Americans, happy to have them liberate Italy, just before that my father used to tell me he was picked up by the S.S. NAZIS with a sub- machine gun at his home, un-voluntarily, till the ALLIED FORCES CAME,dad was forced to work for the nazies, fixing their electrical equipment, communication and lighting etc. many were forced to work for them, war is horrible, - NOBODY EVER WINS!! GOD SAY'S TO US NOW WHERE IS LOVE - WAR CERTAINLY DOES NOT HAVE IT!!?
So this is my memory of things and stories I was told - before I became 5 years old and as the story goes things changed but not for the better, (as previously stated).
As for Aunt/Uncle and I We kept talking till we arrived in Venice a long train trip from Trieste.
Venice was nothing like I had ever seen before. The Grand Canal (Canale Grande) with the Rialto Bridge was spectacular and has so much character. The atmosphere of the place is overwhelming. You are transfixed by the ornate detail of the buildings; their old-world charm is still there. St Marco Piazza or St Marks Square and the hundreds of pigeons eager to be fed awaiting the tourists, is a wonderful sight to see. Particularly attractive is the Golden Basilica and the Ducal Palace. The gondolas with their gondoliers add a lot of charm to the place.
When my aunt was about to cross a small footbridge she slipped, grabbed me and both of us nearly fell in the deep murky waters of the canal. We visited a few churches and other wonderfully preserved buildings and aunt Elda bought me a gondola pin that fits on your lapel, a momento of Venice.
We visited a glass blowing factory that I found very educational and by this time we were hungry and feasted on a plate of spaghetti and red wine at a Venetian restaurant. In my enthusiasm to get at the spaghetti I knocked the glass of wine over my uncle's new suit. He was a man of few words, but he said some that night!
Here are some facts about VENICE - VENEZIA...
Venice, known as Venezia to those who live there, is known for its canals. Tradition says it was founded in 421AD on April 25, St Mark's Day. He is the patron saint of Venice. It is built on an archipelago of 122 islands formed by around 150 canals in the shallow, marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea. The islands on which the city is built are connected by some 400 bridges. In the old centre, the canals serve the function of roads.
In the 19th century a causeway to the mainland brought a railway station to Venice, and an automobile causeway and parking lot was added in the 20th century.
Apart from that, transportation within the city remains as it was in centuries past, entirely on water or foot. It is Europe's largest urban car-free area and functions entirely without cars or trucks.
Venice is divided into six districts and its most crowded part is San Marco Square, where people flock to see Basilica di San Marco, one of the most spectacular houses of worship in the world. Modelled on Constantinople's Church of the Twelve Apostles and consecrated in 1094, the church is a mass of domes, arches and golden mosaics and is adorned with an amazing array of plundered treasures.
It has a magnificent marble pavement, and Pala d'Oro, a gleaming gold, enamel and precious jewel masterpiece. The Treasury has booty from a 1204 raid on Constantinople and includes a thorn said to be from the crown worn by Christ.
Above the main door are copies of prancing horses, also hijacked from Constantinople. The gilded-bronze originals are on display inside. The 10th century campanile collapsed without warning in 1902 and was rebuilt brick by brick over the next 10 years.
If you find the queues impossibly long at the basilica, and they usually are, why not go to the building next door?
Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace, was home to the duke and all arms of government for much of the thousand years of the Venetian Republic. Established in the 9th century, the rare example of civil Venetian Gothic it has two magnificent facades in white Istrian stone and pink Veronese marble.
From its main courtyard, several stairways lead to the Duke's apartments which are followed by a succession of grandiose state rooms culminating in the immense Sala del Maggiore Consiglio featuring the Tintoretto's immense oil, Paradiso. And Veronese's Apotheosis of Venice.
A trail of corridors leads to the Ponte dei Sospiri — Bridge of Sighs — which connects to the new prisons on the east side of the canal to cater for overflow from the old prisons in the palace. The legendary 18th century philanderer Giacomo Casanova served time there.
The Rialto is, and always has been, the commercial heart of Venice and the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal was built there. In the 16th century 11,000 prostitutes plied their trade there for visiting sailors. The area is well patronised by locals and tourists for its bustling fruit, vegetables, fish and meat markets, and the bridge itself is a lather of stalls selling souvenirs.
The neo-Gothic arches of the Pescaria are only 100 years old, but the tradition of selling fish there goes back to 1300.
Venice's oldest church, the Chiesa di San Giacomo di Rialto, is in the middle of the market and was founded on the same day as the city itself.
Cross the bridge into San Paolo and you will reach one of Venice's most sublime religious treasure troves, Santa Maria Cloriosa dei Frari. It was built by the Franciscans and features Giovanni Bellini's sacristy altarpiece and Titan's glorious Assumption altar painting.
Venice's famous annual Carnival dates back to at least 1268. The mask has ancient origins and was used for many months of the year. They were permitted from the day of Santo Stefano, which marked the start of the carnival, to midnight of Shrove Tuesday which marked the end. During major events, such as official banquets or other celebrations of the Serenissima Republic, the mask and cloak were permitted.
Venetian masks are intricate and colourful. They are popular the world over, but many are mass-produced in China. For the real thing, visit Sergio and Massimo Boldrin at Bottega dei Mascareri. They have been creating wonderful masks since 1984 using the age-old craft.
Hotel Villa Rosa is in the perfect position for sightseeing. Close to boat stops for touring the Grand Canal, it has just 33 rooms, some with a terrace, others with views of the gardens.
Palazzo Ducale opens between 9am to 7pm from April to October and 9am to 5pm between November to March.
The Carnival of Venice will run from January 25 to February 5, 2008.
Bottega dei Mascareri hand-crafted masks start at around $40. They will be signed by their creator.
TRAVEL TO VENICE - FLY TO MARCO POLO AIRPORT IN VENEZIA AND ENJOY THE OLD WORLD CHARM FREE FROM VEHICLES! A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BACK TO MY STORY!
Some weeks after our trip to Venice it was time for my confirmation. Cousin Georgio took me to the ceremony and gave me a gold chain to commemorate the occasion.
In a letter from my father in Australia, he said he still had his job as technician at Melbourne's Astor factory where they made television sets and other electrical consumer items. The job gave him a regular income and he was now able to make arrangements for his wife and children to emigrate. He had migrated in 1956 at the time of the Melbourne Olympics and it took another year before we could join him. Red tape completed, father forwarded us the required fare.
The last heartfelt goodbyes to our relatives were quite touching. Italians can get quite emotional. Finally, we boarded the train and travelled a seemingly endless journey to Naples and we were ready to depart on the ship, Aurelia.
Mum kept saying how much she loved us and built up excitement for the journey ahead. And we were very excited. Wanting to see Australia and dad again.
We spent over a week awaiting our departure, spent in a large building, full of rooms with large corridors. We toured Naples by foot, it was picturesque but the squalor took away the sparkle of the blue Mediterranean.
Children got about in next to nothing (even nude!) In the slums of Naples, living in extremely humble conditions; some of their parents having a hopeless look on their faces, the squallor and degredation of those immages have left a permanent bad immage in my brain, an immage one day I would like to see changed "MAKE POVERTY HISTORY" Is today's cry...but is this wealthy WORLD doing it ?? Much of Naples looked very poor and we were only to see a few good spots. Vesuvius was interesting and the Bay of Naples quite spectacular. In Italy there is saying, 'See Naples and then die'. Well, I could have died of concern for those poor people we left behind.
As we were leaving the port and Italian shores, thoughts flashed through my mind of the people I had known, the places I had seen and grew up in, the schooling they drummed into you, the love of one's country ITALIA ! Yet, here I was leaving it and the fondest memories to last a lifetime. I could not speak one word in English, but the shipboard lessons did help a little. I was eleven and a half then and here I was on a ship with no friends, with brother Claudio too young to do the things eleven-year-olds like to do. He always stayed with mum and I roamed the decks exploring and meeting different people.
We shared with three other ladies, making it six in five beds in a second class cabin. Claudio and I shared the single.
On deck we caught the final glimpses of my beloved Italy, just off the Sicilian coast. Later we stopped at Malta where we saw men in small boats similar to the gondolas of Venice. They came aboard and left some people then returned in a flotilla towards the docks.
During our voyage I contracted an earache which developed into a discharge: My mother solicited the help of a nursing mother who expressed a small quantity of breast milk. It was very embarrassing to say the least, and the lady must have felt even more foolish - but mum was into old wives tales and had good reason not to trust the medical profession.
We docked at Suez and the red-capped dark-skinned people of the Egyptian Customs boarded along with another flotilla of small craft this time offering an exotic array of bargains to sell or trade with the passengers. My mother bought a leather school bag after much haggling. Anything else the seller said? Mum thought how nice it would be to buy a whip for the horse she wanted her son Claudio to have in Australia. Within seconds the whip was produced, but it felt too stiff to be effective - concealed inside was a long dagger which horrified mum, who ordered it sent back. A couple of Germans bought a large bunch of bananas and ate them in one gluttonous swoop, offering me one small banana that I ate with delight. They're greedy smiles turned to a bad case of indigestion for the next few hours.
As the ship moved through the canal we passed by the pyramids and later to the Red Sea and the port of Aden out to the Indian Ocean. We did the traditional crossing of the Equator with a wild party, King Neptune and all the regalia.
The ocean was full of flying fish and dolphins that played happily close to the ship. For such a boring trip they made us feel alive and expectant.
When the weather turned sour, great waves would break on the ship's bow, this made a lot of people seasick. Compounding this was a report by the captain that one of the engines was out, thus causing the rolling and twisting of the ships travel. I became a victim too and any thought of food turned me sour. We reached sight of Fremantle in Western Australia and the Promised Land “AUSTRALIA” we had so been looking forward too.
There wasn't much to see late at night except for a milk bar and a fruit shop that gave us a foretaste of how things were in this country Australia.
Before long we arrived by ship to Melbourne and caught sight of father on the dock - everyone was screaming with joy - passengers became loved ones and we were no different. We re-united after Customs and it was a very happy occasion, and it was great to see him again, and the feeling was obviously mutual. Dad told us we would be staying at a place called North Brighton - our new home in a new country. Willansby Avenue here we come!
The house was an old villa and would be shared with a family of three and later more who turned out to be very friendly. Dad had everything ready for us. Claudio and I had a room to ourselves, with mum and dad in the adjacent room, somewhat larger than ours. They had earned it after all these years.
We were enrolled at St James Catholic School in nearby Gardenvale and walked there each day. About a month after arriving in Melbourne I complained of a massive earache again and the doctor said if I had come any later I would have been totally deaf. The doctor reacted swiftly and correctly and I believe this helped us restore some faith in medicine and man.
St James has a beautiful old church and I prayed there for my parents and brother Claudio, especially thankful that mum was well now and not on any medication.
It took my brother and I one year to learn English, although my parents struggled with it. Mum had little contact with English-speaking people because she was not yet in the workforce or taking English speaking lessons, only referring to a translate manual.
In our garden we grew loads of vegetables, and kept chooks for fresh eggs. The house we rented was owned by a rich Italian. He also owned the property next door which we later moved into. It was much larger and we could sublet and save more money for a block of land that dad had left a deposit on in Airport West.
We were extremely happy with mum, loving her like no other time; also happy she was thriving in this new land. Her cooking too was superb, as was her looking after us a delight. She maintained her fine needlework among other home interests which kept her busy.
Dad's closest friends were Italian: The Del-Balzo family came from Abruzzi and lived a few doors away and loved to keep bees and make home-made wine, a more hospitable people you could not find. Dino and Bruno and their wives from further down the street, who also came from Trieste, became close neighbours and enjoyed the social life with our other friends. As for me, I had one best friend, Steven Stefanich whose hobby was homing pigeons. We hung out together discussing pigeons and another things that interested young teenagers of our age. One day Steven on the way home from school challenged me to a fight to see who was the toughest ..we fought on the grass..I won !
Claudio and I were thrilled with the bikes dad brought home one evening. I now had the mobility to move around Brighton. A couple of weeks on saw me smashed against a laneway fence with a broken arm whilst out riding with Claudio.
PAGE 6.
Dad took me to hospital and I returned cast and all. When it healed rather than waiting for the doctor, dad insisted on tearing off the cast on my arm, and luckily for me he did not cut my arm - from the initial "power saw" cut - made by my dad. He saved a few pennies in doctors bills but later on the doctor and I were unimpressed at his method of "buzz saw medical treatment".
A few weeks later my father bought our first car, a Standard, green in colour, soft-top and loads of fun we cruised Brighton open top and all feeling like kings with the wind in our faces and a smile from ear to ear, the old standard was rammed by a truck in the rear later on, and we had to scrap our first car.
After two and a half years at St James of which I had to stay back another because of language difficulties, I was enrolled the following year at Brighton Technical School. It was a large school and I thoroughly enjoyed all subjects and their teaching methods. I even received a promotion from 1F to 1B but I was only to spend half a year there.
Dad changed his job and was now at Maples TV Service. He had already built his own TV set and was very proficient in his field. In no time we were to move into our new house at Airport West built especially for us ! The culmination of a life's dream - happy family, full employment, and a house of our own and a company van..pioneer residents but happy ones.
Our triple fronted brick veneer required lots of work to be done on the garden, but that was no bother, because we had what we always wanted, and it felt secure.
Mum continued to keep in touch with the relatives back home in Italy and I changed to Niddrie Technical School and remained in an 'A' form until form 4 when I dropped to 4F because of another year long depressed state - the condition was attacking me again but this time I could not figure out a reason for it...I left after passing form four in 1963 and got better eventually. The Australian Government naturalised me two years previously when I was sixteen. After school I used to help dad with his after hours TV service in a workshop garage we had built, and service calls to the community, I learned about fixing T.V.’S - fit aerials etc.
Dad's mother Ada came out to live with us, following the death of her husband Edoardo some years earlier. She was a jewel of a woman, very kind, so kind I was only too glad to give up my room to move in with Claudio. Ada got homesick after two years and returned to Italy and died later of a heart attack. I cried bitter tears on learning of her death in Italy- Nonna would always be remembered (remember her story earlier, she was and is always in my heart..) and so would Nelly be, my cousin that died shortly after .
Dad now worked as an instrument technician for TAA and continued our after hours T.V. service. As part of my Australianisation I changed my name from Ferruccio to Frank (my 3rd name Franco).
It sounded better to me. Nobody could pronounce Ferruccio correctly. When I left school I tried in vain to gain an apprenticeship in instrument making but I was too old having been kept back due to the language problem. All I could get was a job in the Railways as a clerical assistant, selling tickets. It lasted a year and provided me enough money to buy a Ford Anglia car and a second one, a Hillman Minx, at age eighteen Ownership of cars was to become one of the most marked passions in my life: In my case sometimes it is linked to a Bipolar disorder as I have described in later pages.
In sport I played soccer for Tullamarine as a goal keeper and in the defence and then changed to Aussie Rules to train with Keilor. My main concern was also to shed some weight as well as doing weight-training exercises at home.
Upon leaving the Railways I started with Caterpillar of Australia as a technical clerk. There I gained expertise in machinery and mechanical parts. I was now able to buy car number three, a VW Beetle, even though I borrowed to buy.
Love life did not exist for this twenty-year-old. I had always been aware of girls since as far back as six when I crooned in an innocent amorous tone as the pretty girls passed by.
But I did have male friends in Airport West, one special one, Eddie, whose family also hailed from Trieste. He could play Spanish flamenco guitar like a pro. My trumpet playing was badly in need of lessons. This unorthodox couple, him six foot and I, five foot six tall, tried to jam together but it never worked out, musically for us. I had another friend John who was Polish who introduced me to many of his Polish brethren. We were together since form one - he was sincere and would do any favour for you. These are some of the young friends I'll remember for life! Including lots of other friends….
Weight still played heavily on me, so I joined Michael Hunt's Gym in the City Baths and shed all the unwanted and became a much fitter man ready to conquer the world as it were. This suited my parents seeing a much slimmer and perhaps more eligible bachelor, who maybe ready to settle down with a lovely Italian-speaking girl. With that, they arranged for me to meet with Rosetta an Egyptian girl who spoke Italian. She was a good looker and played hard to get (mad mini driver she was, once on a drive to the country she did a 360 spin on the highway and nearly landed us all in a deep ditch - always drove my own car afterwards!). After knowing her for two months I did not get so much as a kiss or even hold her hand (only once). At the risk of insulting her and her parents I broke our 'non' relationship forever and looked for greener fields.
To console me my father bought a red racing boat and a new Ford Falcon Station wagon to tow it. The racing boat was a “racy two-seater with a triple hull” to which we added a Mercury outboard. We drove it hard and fast on the water and all of us caught the thrill.
Lunchbreak at Caterpillar always saw me at home eating mum's wonderful lunches. One wet and rainy day on the way back to work a car made a sudden stop in my path which caused me to skid head on into the back of an eight-day old Valiant. Luckily I was insured but my car was a write-off. I sustained multiple injuries and came close to death - it was not law then so I also wasn't wearing a seat belt. I payed off the VW with the insurance and I was left without wheels, which is a 'tragedy' for a young man. This wheel-lessness caused me to sell the trumpet to use as a deposit on a Triumph Herald car.
My drawing skills were recognised by crane manufacturers BLH Australia who gave me a position as a mechanical draftsman / illustrator - this was the beginning of a new career. They were happy with my good progress and that gave me great satisfaction.
Friend John asked me and two others Rita and Andrew, to join him on a ski trip to Thredbo. We drove up the mountain in an old forty-six Plymouth, which was very cold and draughty. We took shifts driving the old tank and it sat heavy on the road. When we arrived we all realised John had forgotten to book accommodation, so we all had to sleep in the car - two nights, which were the coldest I can ever remember. We amused ourselves in the snow and soaked in the village atmosphere by day - and froze at night. I'll never leave the preparations to someone else again!
Deciding to buy a new car after joining BLH was second nature to me: Traded the Triumph for a brand new Ford Falcon, new in the job - five cars in three years. Losing the weight, a confident personality, and a new Ford were the right ingredients for more girls than I could cope with. At 21 I learnt quickly on the job of illustrating and drafting, it was reward enough working with mobile cranes for the army etc. it was a good experience.
PAGE 8.
It didn't last long before I was up again investing in a new boat with dad, this time a sixteen footer yellow and white in colour, fibreglass speedboat with an outboard, power plenty for water skiing on lakes and rivers. Poor Claudio tried a little too hard with his skiing debut, with the ski launching itself like Saturn five, hitting him badly in the face. That was his first and last attempt at dancing the waves.
Dad was still working for TAA and doing his bit at night in the garage with me assisting, while mum worked in a clothing factory, Lilliput of Moonee Ponds. Her ‘mental illness’ was still in remission; Claudio dad and I still did not know mum was a by polar sufferer.
PAGE 9. - CONTINUES WITH CHAPTER 2. - EARLY MARRIED LIFE.
Here are some pictures of ITALY (18) - for locations see slide show at end of web site...shown are - Venice, Naples - Capri, Vesuvius and 2 of Unity square - IN TRIESTE my old home town.
Chapter 2
Early Married Life
The Heidelberg Town Hall (the Berg.) Opened in 1937. A civic building located on Upper Heidelberg Road in Ivanhoe, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
Many saturday nights I liked to go to Heidelberg Town Hall (the Berg.) because the people and the bands created an enjoyable atmosphere. Here finally I met the woman of my dreams, the one who changed my life for the better. Maureen Connell lived in Thornbury and I took her home the first night, we kissed and promised to see each other the next day. Maureen had just broken her engagement with a luckless young man and now she was interested in me! Actually the 2nd night she threw the engagement ring at the ex. And dated me seriously.
It was April 1968. I bought an Easter egg that Sunday. I saw her nearly every single day. I became deeply in love with her - this 5' 2" blonde, a good match for my 5' 6" stature. She was well groomed, well spoken and a delight to be near. Maureen worked for "Paton Brakes" as a comptometrist/Typist, was intelligent and caring and really impressed me from the first moment we met…. The first film I took Maureen to see was "CAMMELLOT" with the actor FRANCO NERO, we loved the movie and my name being Franco Niero in Italian, Maureen saw the similarity, but I was not acting out my love for "Lady Gueneveer"....or Maureen in this case.....
Lovers at first sight we could not hold back our feelings for each other. I know it was wrong to then….but we were intimate lovers. And right….always wanting to marry as soon as possible even before the start of our baby! .
Three months later a pregnancy test revealed positive. We were with child! We were so happy that we announced our engagement and planned the wedding day. Saturday, 24th of August 1968, we had secured a flat in Essendon and we were ready to move in, married that day, with all the necessities.
She looked radiant that day despite the overcast sky you'd expect in Melbourne's winter. Brother Claudio was my best man and the wedding took place at Thornbury's Catholic Church. Maureen and I gleamed with joy. The parents in law arranged a wonderful breakfast for everyone at the Windsor - it was an occasion I shall never forget.
I was nearly flat broke, Maureen quit her job, and the necessities took the rest. No money, no honeymoon. Instead we headed for the Essendon flat and spent our first night as husband and wife.
My in-laws were very nice people. Maureen's mother Mavis was a housewife and her father Whyatt, a council worker. Their other daughter Pat was married to Bill Barratt and at that time had two children Jeff and Joanne. This family was very kind to us. They were battlers but with a kind heart, so too were my in-laws actually they paid for the Windsor.
I had to sell my rifle, barbells, dumbbell, and assorted gym gear in order to pay my way till I got back to work at BLH. Two added responsibilities and in love, I thought this was the beginning of a wonderful life together.
As the pregnancy advanced so did the risks of climbing stairs at the flat, and the thoughts of pushing a pram upstairs prompted us to move into a half house in Ascot Vale, which was being let by dad's friend. Alas, the gentleman sold the house without even a word, leaving us high and dry. Luckily we were able to secure a ground floor flat elsewhere in Essendon, with a view overlooking the corporate clothesline. But we made it home.
Nearly in family, with greater financial burden, I met with the manager of a company called Art-Plan who offered me contract drafting and taught me architectural drafting, to replace what I was doing at BLH.
PAGE 1O.I welcomed the extra pay that came with a lot of overtime working on structural and mechanical designs for Albion Reid Quarries. Although a new field for me I learned fast and the work was challenging.
Our first child was born on the 3rd of April 1969 at the Sacred Heart Hospital. The nuns were very strict - strict enough to refuse my gift of flowers for my wife. "Take them back," they demanded. We called our son Paul and both baby and mother were doing fine and I was very happy. He was a beautiful baby, full of life. Everyone in the families loved our boy.
It was a fine autumn day when we took Paul home, together, the three of us with a bright future ahead.
After six months on the Albion Reid contract, Art-Plan's manager Rod sent me to W.R. Grace in Fawkner to design and draft machines for their process plant. The work lasted five months and by this time our enlarged family had moved to a rented house in Niddrie. But it was too close to Essendon Airport, in fact in line with the runway. Low flying planes over our roof caused so much noise and shaking we just had to move back to a flat in Thornbury, the baby, Paul was a nervous wreck with the aeroplane noise !
Art-Plan successfully taught me architectural drafting and design from the start and in no time I was working flat out, into the wee hours of the night becoming a workaholic even. Rod also gave me contract work for P.R.A. Petroleum Refineries in Altona as a piping draftsman - this lasted from 1969 until 1976. Maureen was pregnant again to our delight.
The Thornbury flat was drab and I really wanted a house of our own. One day Maureen was sitting in the lounge when suddenly a man appeared behind her. He was going to hit her over the head with a very large heavy glass ashtray. The blow could have killed her but luckily she turned and yelled out stop! She talked to him quietly and calmly and convinced him he should leave - he did so via the front door. When the Police arrived they told of his entry to the flat next door, and fortunately again, nobody was at home. Upshot of the story is that they caught the man a short time later- I zoomed from Altona to the flat at home in record time to be with Maureen then..when it happened but too late..
It was time for a new car, I said to myself, with the Ford Falcon giving me trouble. This time it was to be a new Holden Kingswood from Kevin Dennis Motors. I borrowed heavily and there was little to spend and on top of that, Maureen was expecting our second child. We were still driven by our desire to have our own house.
Claudio had moved out of home in Airport West he seldomly paid board to them, and mum and dad were now alone. My father, Spartaco, said that I could have the boat to sell and this could raise a deposit for a house for Maureen and I. This was overwhelming generosity from my father and I thanked him. Selling a boat on consignment on a boat yard is difficult, but as the weeks passed by and the boat did not sell, my father did a turn about face and said he wanted to keep “his boat”, and that was that!
We had to raise two mortgages for a house we bought in Greenglade Court, North Blackburn. It was a three-bedroom block work veneer, with a functional floor plan. We paid $18,950, which was a lot of money in 1970 - we raised it without my father's help. From then on, my borrowing became excessive. It was as if I was on a continual high both at home and at work.
PAGE 11.
Jane Ann Niero was born on the 18th of October 1970,a beautiful little bundle of joy. Now I was the father of two and a proud one at that. I loved my family deeply.
The part-time work at Art-Plan began to dwindle, so I started a night job as an electronics draughtsman in Box Hill. The pay was low, but the commitments were high - so I persevered with the only option. I was getting up at six to work at P.R.A. Australia, arriving back at 5.20, with a one and a half hour respite with my family, before returning to night duty at Box Hill, from seven to one in the morning. Five hours of sleep a night, working weekends on house plans. I had what seemed an almost inexhaustible supply of energy a workaholic working up to 100 hours a week or more week after week for years!
I bought Maureen a Honda 360 car to ease the work-cycle I was in. She needed to get out and about. Alas, the Honda proved too small, so I bought Maureen a new Torana. To her, money was no problem, because her husband was looking after things, wasn't he? She respected and trusted my decisions.
My mum and dad always interfered with our decisions and caused many arguments between Maureen and I. We wanted to be free of the meddling, but I loved them very much and I could see they wanted more than an active part of our lives - and Maureen didn't like this either.
To improve my business at home I had a very large garage built big enough to house an office and two cars. Once again this was achieved through borrowed money. I was still mostly high with little thought for our financial future and this was my patterning. I saw little of my wife and children because of work commitments, and this was having a telling effect.
One day whilst Maureen was washing her car she noticed little Paul was missing. She had taken her eye off him for only a moment and he had wandered off. The local Gazette described the disappearance this way: 'Big stir over little boy who strayed [January 1972]. The quick thinking of a family and the vigilance of the Police helped trace a two and a half year old boy who had wandered off from his home in North Blackburn. Little Paul Niero disappeared from his home in Greenglade Court about 4pm on Thursday and wandered into a house in East Doncaster.
"The Box Hill and Blackburn Police who combined their resources and carried out a huge search for the lad, were at their wit's end when the Doncaster family reported his finding three hours later. They said the boy just wandered into their house with his clothes sopping wet. They changed him, dried his clothes and informed the Police. The Police rushed to the house and restored the missing child to his harried parents.
"Paul was sleeping off his 'walkabout' nearly sixteen hours after the event. It had obviously been a big day for him. But how did he spend it? (He must have been kidnapped and then released!). Paul's parents and the Police are perplexed. The distance from North Blackburn to East Doncaster is over a mile, and as the lad is too small to talk clearly, no explanation can be found. The Niero's, however, are more than glad their little boy is safe and wish to express their gratitude to all who helped in the search of their son ..."
In January of 1972 I discontinued my night job as electronics draftsman. The company had moved to Richmond and they wanted full-time staff.
It was then I traded in my Kingswood for a new Volvo. I also spent over $4,000 on office equipment (today worth $40,000). The borrowing did not stop there - we arranged to have air-conditioning for the house and office, a ducted heating/cooling system for the house.
Not content with these new purchases, I then began digging a huge hole in the backyard, big enough to hold a swimming pool. Three weekends of sweat and toil, digging by hand to make way for something I was going to have a hard time paying off. I called someone in to take away the five truckloads of clay dug out. The new pool was surrounded with timber decking, landscaping back and front yards; the house looked a pretty picture.
With a lull in part-time drafting, I started selling girl's glory box trousseau's part-time. This lasted three months, and during that time I was 'crowned' salesman of the month three times. The problem was, I ended up buying over a thousand dollars worth of items myself, gifts for Maureen.
My wife was having problems with the Torana so we traded it in for a more expensive six cylinder GTR Torana - our tenth car in seven years. I was still working in the refineries during this time and then I got the idea of opening up a drafting/design business. It would have a drafting and design section run by a staff member, and myself part-time, whilst still holding down the refinery job. My brother Claudio would be employed and paid by me as a partner. He was to manage the plan printing and copying side of the business. We found a location in Whitehorse Road Mont Albert and there the business remained from October 1972 until 1978. We renovated the premises and spent many thousands of dollars on equipment. This I borrowed for and it was a real gamble as sole investor and wages…
I sold the Volvo and purchased a new Datsun 240Z sports car. A red one. My passion for cars was escalating and not even I could understand why I changed cars so frequently, except that I felt on another high. .I thought nothing was impossible.
Concurrent to my daily business activities, I was attending tertiary classes being conducted by Technisearch at RMIT. The course was 'Becoming an architect!' and I did well but found the going tough with all my other commitments. I gave it up with my dream of registering as an architect, at least for now . . .but remained a building designer.
Claudio's side of the business was under-utilised and we were showing a heavy loss, and after months of operation I was to approach the bank for a further big loan to carry him for another three months. Regretfully, I had to regretfully dismiss my brother after that final period. I had tried to teach him drafting but Claudio was not gifted in this field. He returned to the automotive spare parts industry. I had a trainee architect Andrew working full-time in the business. He was very talented and we got along very well. He would work by day and I would begin at 7.30pm till the early hours of the morning, but even with that effort, we did not keep up with the debt and the overheads - I maintained my day job with the refinery still working the odd 100 hours weekly, I was a dynamo then!
The Datsun 240Z was clearly unsuitable to carry our children, so we upgraded to a 260C
Of course, a new one. Shortly afterwards we traded in our GTR Torana for a new Datsun 120Y sedan. This was rather a step back, but we were feeling the pinch. I had to earn 'masses' of money every week just to keep up with the debts. It was a cruel and ever turning spiral that was taking us to the depths.
It was in 1974 that I became interested in solar heating of swimming pools and after successfully building a unit on my own garage roof, to work in my pool below. Within a short time I was designing tailor-made solar pool heaters and installing them with the aid of a plumber, but all to no avail, because, simply, the business was unprofitable.
The love between Maureen and I continued strong and baby number three was on its way. I stayed home more with the five and three year olds, traded in the Datsun 260C for a Leyland P76, which was a huge mistake quality-wise and financially - one of the biggest lemons I'd ever had. December 24th arrives and my wife gives birth to a baby girl, Rachel. Beautiful and much loved by the family. We were as happy as anything; Rachel was another gift from God we adored her and her sister and brother and thank you GOD...
A little while later I traded in the P76 for a used XJ6, Jaguar and it bit the dust, needing a massive infusion of thousands of dollars to get it going again. The car dealer could not repair it - so argument lost, I went out and bought a new Ford LTD. We sold our place at Greenglade Court and moved to a two-storey house in Ealing Court, Glen Waverley. It had a double garage, three bedrooms, study, an owner-builders pride built into to every corner. Consistent with what we did in the past, we borrowed heavily, combining old debts into bigger loans, whilst we maintained two loans from my father. We took out two loans in 1974, one for $8,000 secured by my father's furniture and one for $30,000 secured by my father's house. My parents agreed to this because they believed that they were getting us out of financial trouble and giving us a new start. The amount is worth at least 8 times that today!
In 1975 TAA, by this time, had retired my father because of his illness - a dementia which was said to be 'incurable, and where his years would be numbered'. This upset my mother so much that she had an episode. She had to be admitted to hospital. I cried so much to know my father's days were numbered, and that for the first time, I learned all about the full details of my mother's type of mental illness - and getting those two loans secured by them. I felt guilty. What if I couldn't meet the payments? I answered this distressing question by committing myself to working harder; believing everything would be all right.
Foolishly I left the Refinery job and now was working solely for my own business. Work was thinning out and I had to let go another young staff architect whom I had been teaching project documentation and some design. Mum was better, and she returned home.
The LTD became too expensive to keep, and I sold it to a pig farmer. Shortly afterwards I was to buy a new Holden Monaro, and a caravan for a summer holiday in Alpine Victoria, the family and I were to embark on.
In 1978 I sold the business, or gave it away, to a new owner for the price of the second hand furniture and machines. Fortunately, I received a contract from an architect for the design of a Government building that kept me going for the next four months.
Mum could not cope at home looking after a husband with a deteriorating condition. I tried in vain to have my parents stay in an old people's home, but with their special needs this was not possible. I turned to Government social workers who helped me find suitable accommodation.
My wife announced that she was going to have another baby making it our fourth - I was thrilled with this good news and made a celebration. To show my appreciation to Maureen, I traded in her Datsun 120 on a brand new Toyota Cressida Station Wagon. Car eighteen in thirteen years, top of the line model.
Buoyed with the news I opened up a new office in Canterbury Road Surrey Hills. It was a room on the first floor of a building, which housed three architects. The going was slow. We bought two colour TV's, a stereo, an expensive organ that nobody could play and two pedigree chinchilla cats, an Irish setter and an Afghan dog and a number of other things..
Because the drafting/design job was not progressing well, I turned to video productions: Training of which was through a community video enterprise. I targeted architects through direct mail but none at the time were persuaded to take this now commonplace practice of presentation. I purchased video camera, film camera, and 35mm pro. photographic equipment. I made my own architectural tapes, 'Planning to make your future home a success', plus an 'Audio-visual Centre at Glen Waverley, ' both ran for half an hour. This was the beginning of a new interest , something that absorbed nearly all my time and energy.
Our fourth child Adrian was born and that made it two boys and two girls. We were all once again over the moon with joy at the new arrival.
This time I decided to landscape the rear yard of my home and the front yard at my parent’s home. I purchased a trailer, cement mixer, rotary hoe all new and expensive and various other tools to perform 2 jobs. Two weeks of full-time work at my parent’s house, including gates and fences, I had run out of steam to do a 'professional' job on our own.
In October 1978 I video taped 'Camber fest 78' for the Camberwell Council. It went for one and a half-hours and showed the events of the day.
My financial affairs were in a big mess, so I sold the caravan for the payout figure and lost all the landscaping equipment, the stereo, organ, and the Siemens colour TV. Even the Monaro was sent back to the finance company. I bought a small used van and had it sign-written for video productions. I tried to keep my audio-visual business going but there was not enough work to survive.
We tried to sell the house at auction but the bidding was too low and our financiers would not allow sale at that price.
In between time I found a job with the Mars project as a drawing checker. The money was good and the work easy for me. I met two people who belonged to a Christian following, I suppose they could see how down I looked. The fellowship group seemed to have love for one another, respect, faith and so on, which was expressed in their books.
This kick-started my faith again since the time I was a child. The Mars contract ended at Christmas of 1978 and resurrected my interest in following GOD sparked by these people actually it was the Jehovah witnesses that worked at the Mars project..2 of them.
National Mutual took possession of our house due to arrears in 2 payments. We were forced to rent in Alderford Drive Wantirna.
We gave away the dogs, to the displeasure of our children. Remembering how I lost my dog as a child, I took pains to point out that we would get another dog when finances permitted.
A meeting of creditors placed me in bankruptcy. An accountant wanted his large fee up front which I paid. The video gear etc. and the van were first to go. The parental home had to be auctioned, furnishings sold .... all the foolish borrowings led to my downfall. You are put through so much heartache. How do you compensate for that?
My family the 6 of us began attending the Catholic church, convinced that it would be good for us all. I became faith filled – a servant of Jesus. I believed I had had a change in character, substance, and that I was now dedicated to God. But the worry of mum and dad convinced me otherwise. I was faltering in my faith. They had found lodgings in a home in Brunswick and mum still had to look after dad - this concerned me greatly even though she said the place suited them, I was worried sick for them and felt as an unworthy follower of GOD because I treated my parents badly.
PAGE 14 - CONTINUED WITH CHAPTER - 3. MY FIRST BY-POLAR ENCOUNTER. PAGE 15.
HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF MELBOURNE MY NEW HOME TOWN....IN VICTORIA - AUSTRALIA. See slide show for locations.(18 of melbourne - 1 of frank and grandaughter bianca lidia niero.)
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 - CHAPTER 2.- EARLY MARRIED LIFE.
Chapter 3
My First Bipolar Encounter
The constant worry of my parents, the loss of house and possessions, bankruptcy, caused my head to spin. I managed to hold down a job at Coombs Engineering as an air-conditioning design draftsman, but Christmas that year had been a disaster with no money to buy the children presents or little for daily expenses, and the air of doom that hung over our heads, left their mark. I began to hear voices.
They came out of thin air telling me of a new plan to get on top again. I thought the voice was from God himself or one of his messengers. Days on end I continued to hear this voice and I wrote it all down on paper. Maureen thought I was acting strangely but she wasn't told of the voices. This kept her from over-worrying.
The document grew and I called it 'The Atom Plan', a blueprint for wealth and prosperity. For families to unite and work together in love and prosperity..This wealth was to be divided among family members such as brother Claudio who was to manage a car dealership, my wife and children were to be well taken care of by shrewd investments, and my parents compensated and given bonuses, this was our personal portfolio. Also the 'Plan consisted of a body of twelve people which were to control this organisation. A fine-tuned body of people who would try to their utmost to give the best possible deal to members - it was based on people working in their own businesses but with the guiding wing of the Atom Plan organisation. Not for people to be very rich but for the world to be a better place, more liveable, help one another, love one another…..not a foolish scheme!
The body of twelve comprised: A chairman, a chief accountant, investors one, two and three, manager, spiritual counsellor, social worker, representative for the staff and clients, planning representative, communications representative and twelfth, the members' representative. All done with a Christian outlook on life and to help life’s problems.
My family were not the only ones that would benefit from the Plan, other benefits would flow to all its members through share floats and other means governed by assets of the Atom Plan, and the willingness of people to work hard would ensure this plan’s success. Something for all! Especially families to win by this.
I took copious notes and page upon page of writings to explain this plan. It never got off the ground. I quit my contract at Coombs because I felt a powerful calling to the Atom Plan. Why..Atom plan..because like atoms are revolving matter..we “revolve around GOD” that loves us all and cares for our lives and love of each other on this earth. , YES I called it THE ATOM PLAN – as atoms are – we revolve around the NUCLEUS – which is "THE CENTRAL PART" So is GOD…So HE told me then! When “MEN” are disobedient they cause an Atomic Explosion! upsetting the central and THAT revolving around the central, parts....everything is upset! A DISASTER.
I felt a grave responsibility towards my parents and one day I took them to St Francis Catholic church in Melbourne city to pray for dad's dementia and my mother's condition, they gave themselves to God! They felt much happier after that.
The following day I travelled to the city and I was drawn to a building that was for sale. It was old but it could be renovated without too much fuss. An estate agent opened it for me and upon inspection I decided this may well be part of the Atom Plan for renewal of wealth. I told him I would return in a few days.
PAGE 15.
I returned the next day because the voices had told me that I would 'find things of interest in my travels'. I stopped off at the Gold Bullion sales and enquired about buying gold and how to store it. I saw it as one form of investment for the Atom Plan. Unbeknownst to me, I was on a high. Next stop was at the office of my friend architect John Westhouse. I desired to take him out to lunch and discuss the plan with him. He gladly said, 'yes' and chose one of Melbourne's best restaurants. I explained the framework of the voice-induced plan and he said I had a good network of contacts to make up the twelve. I then offered him a place in the body because I knew he was a man of impeccable character and would serve us well. In my excitement I forgot to pay the bill and John had to remind me. [A couple of days later he was to ring a priest in my parish to have a talk with me].
After lunch with John I sought out a firm of accountants and gave them a copy of the plan and that I would need a hundred accountants to complete the details. They said they could not accommodate me and on that sour note I went home.
Earlier I had arranged for a meeting of architects in the building where I had my office. I picked up copies of the Plan, invited a local Life insurance manager to attend the meeting - the architects thought there would be extra work for them and the insurance manager saw the chance of Life policies from the assembled ones. I sat in front of the gathering and began to explain the grand plan: The architects were puzzled that I was trying to house them in that building in town, far from Surrey Hills, and the insurance manager could not see his part in the plot. So I told him he could be one of the investors. He said his company would not be interested and I said, 'like when they were not interested in my family and took our house away not so long ago'. He got offended and stormed out.
The architects were leaving too, and one of them, Keith, whom is my friend and was sometimes employer, said to the others, 'Frank simply has fat in his head'! But I did not get offended. One of the architects said he had never experienced anything like this before. Keith paused to speak to me after the meeting and enquired why was I doing this? I said, 'I've been chosen to make a start to improve working and living conditions for many people in Melbourne and spread this news worldwide'. 'Who are you', he asked? 'I am the New Adam (and my wife is Eve) this I truly believe (symbolically)'. Keith, being a Christian said that every man is Adam. Then I drew a picture of a tree and beside it a picture of an atomic explosion and I explained that “this tree is the tree of life” while the latter is “death and evil from the men who generate it”.
My 2 pictures - Adam and Eve with the tree of life in the (same) garden of Eden, and an atomic explosion! TREE OF DEATH!!
The conversation ended with Keith offering me a small job again, which I took, and I said I was always happy to work for him I was never to complete the job he gave me but return it later because of events....
The person who did copying for me had been invited to become an 'investor', but his offer of one hundred dollars was laughed off by me. To me that was an audacious offer, not befitting the grandeur of the Atom Plan.
The next morning as I was shaving I saw this horrible face in the mirror and I screamed out loud - Maureen came running in and I told her I was all right. I couldn't work that day. The mood prevented me. I searched the bible. I was still hearing voices but I no longer wrote down what they were saying.
It should be noted that I thought my behaviour at the time was logical and rational - I was not aware of any illness. Even the children could tell there was something wrong, especially Paul who was nearly ten. I went to buy a bible and broke down in the book shop...but I made it home.
PAGE 16.
After dinner that night I stripped down to my underpants and said to Maureen we should visit Claudio. Maureen declared that Claudio's wife would not appreciate you arriving in clothes like that! My mind was making me do things that I had no firm control over. We didn't go out; instead I went to bed.
It was 3am in the morning of the 23rd February 1979, that I was awakened by my wife. I got up and put my robe on and walked into the lounge. There stood a man. I asked him who he was. He replied his name was David. I said, 'But David was a messenger of God'. He said that he was not a messenger of God but a doctor. He then asked me a series of questions to determine my mental condition. He came to the conclusion that I should be committed.
As I would not go voluntarily he called for an ambulance and the Police.
There was no need for the Police because I boarded the ambulance peacefully. My older son was up and in tears. Maureen had packed a suitcase and said she would see me soon. Off I went, headed for a psychiatric hospital, Larundel in Melbourne. We arrived at 5.30am. Underwent a second test to confirm the diagnosis. She had the Atom Plan from Keith, asked me about the tree and the drawing of the atomic explosion. I made my explanations, took off my glasses and threw them to the ground, buckling the frames. I apologised for my emotional outburst and she committed me to the hospital.
'A' ward is a lock-up ward that prevented freedom. This I dreaded. A male nurse showed me around the ward and the more I saw the less I liked the place. A few hours I thought - but this was not to be so. As we walked through the hall a young male patient ripped a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at us. Luckily it missed. Foam sprayed everywhere and gave us both a fright. The young offender was detained by other male nurses and I took my seat in the dining room, which was also used as a day room and for visitors.
Beside me there was a middle-aged man who was staring into space. I spoke to him of this 'terrible place'. He turned and asked if this was my first time here. Wait till you've come many times as I have he stated ! I joined with a group of people and talked about the Atom Plan, but when I suggested to join hands and pray, they all dispersed. Later I met another man and asked why he was in there and he replied that he had tried to hang himself. He seemed kind and was concerned that I had not eaten my lunch and warned of being forced fed. The shock of the place had ruined my appetite. I also noticed the young man who threw the fire extinguisher, was always following me around, staring. I put it down to him and all these people being a lot of strange ones - and I was one of them!
I was quizzed by an orderly, a burly Asian fellow, who insisted on knowing about the 'Atom Plan'. He took notes and left when he was satisfied. The air of the place was depressing. ‘Sick people’ wandered around, muttering to themselves. Often you could hear “them” talking of religious experiences, or talking directly to God. Others sat around looking low down at the mouth. While some looked doped up, the rest just could not cope with their lot or the place.
They dispensed medicine to me thinking I was a schizophrenic and this mistaken diagnosis was to cost me dearly. My episodic bipolar episodes would go unabated, and misunderstood. Later that night I felt I had to contact Maureen to get me out of there.
PAGE 17.
The phone in the hall did not work - an unusual lady passed by and told me my returned 10-cent piece was a Jack saved. I thanked her for indulgence but I was still upset I could not communicate with the outside world. Feeling dejected I went to my bedroom which I was sharing with two others. Tom Young was the very same one who threw the fire extinguisher and the other, Vince, thought he was “Jesus”at the time. At this stage I thought I was “the new Adam”at the time, ready to lead all in a new and better way of life. The voices had told me. By the way, by new Adam I don’t mean ‘Jesus’. Just the spirit of Adam. Remade by God to something worthwhile for our society….A new loving heart for mankind and God’s total Creation on Earth.
On retiring I felt something strange in my bed, it was garden soil, somebody's silly joke I thought. The bible does tell us that God formed Adam from the dust or dirt, so there must have been a 'wise person' among us playing jokes on me. The Asian nurse was watching us closely as we showered and shaved - it felt so strange an environment. Later that morning Tom and Vince played Beetles records that they said gave them wonderful messages. I could not see their point in all the symbolism, so I went to lunch. Maureen's food was always prepared to perfection, and this food was simply not fit to eat. In the afternoon a social worker brought documents to sign which would enable my wife to receive sickness benefits from the government. I flatly refused the request because I felt Maureen had betrayed me by allowing my certification and the placement in this despicable ward. The social worker gave me no ground and weakened my resolve. I signed them. My poor wife had no money to live on otherwise.
When I saw a priest in the ward I quietly thanked God that now I would have someone on my side. He did not notice me and my hopes shattered. I began to think that this was a terrible plot to keep me locked up in hospitals for the rest of my life - I felt hopeless. Then suddenly Claudio appeared in the doorway. He said he was 'surprised to see me in a place like this'. “Claudio, Claudio ! it's a plot to lock me away - call my solicitor and get me out of here," I pleaded. Claudio was disturbed by these words and said he would try. Our commiserations melted as a woman passer-by said we should wait until tonight when God will return. Something clicked inside my brain and I said to Claudio, "Never mind about the solicitor, it's alright, I'm staying here. I really believed what the woman said and I cut short Claudio's visit. He was also glad to leave.
When Maureen came a while later, she told me she had felt scared and alone but glad to be alone because of the fright I had given her. I apologised and told her I meant her no harm, but that a force greater than myself was making me do it - it came and went like in waves. Afterwards, I realised I would be in hospital for as long as my behaviour remained as strange as others saw it. Day three in the 'hell hole' and I was feeling the pressure: I met George who was stumbling and drooling over the phone. People said he often lost composure, as quickly as he regained it. After a bit of a scrub he looked and sounded just fine. He befriended me and was desperate to show something in his room. Laid out neatly on the bed was a Queen's Guard uniform. He was proud of his outfit and the discipline; he used to wear the outfit in England for the Queen. This impressed me. As I looked around the room I spied a large typed edition of the Age and began to read it - stories were about Melbourne's crumbling buildings. I was sure the world was coming to an end. George sharply told me to get my own paper and with that I walked out the room...When in my own room I noticed the bed covers red, brown and blue for the three of us were given to the 'wrong people'. I rearranged them to my satisfaction.
PAGE 18.
Vince who thought he was Jesus Christ now had the red, and Tome the blue, because his head was always in the clouds - brown for me because I was like the earth, humble and ready to serve God. The fourth day saw me sicker than ever. I was seeing things. A nurse’s face became a horror and an evil presence, perhaps a demon's face. Clearly it was a hallucination but at the time I thought I was surrounded by demons and of course that the orderlies and nurses were in league with the demons at certain times, I only saw the staff as the demons. I misheard the motives of a nurse who told another patient they would never get well. This I thought was because we were all here as a form of punishment.
Apparently that night I was looking quite weird as I called out to Maureen who had just walked in the doorway, "Come to me Eve," with my arms stretched out I beckoned her to me. The orderlies whisked me away from her while other patients tried to grab Maureen's handbag. One of them asked if she would sign her out and enquired if she believed in God. Maureen hated the atmosphere in 'A' ward and thought there were too many sick people there. Maureen visited every second day. My father-in-law earlier that day scolded me for leaving my wife and four children and that I should get a hold on myself and returned poste-haste. I was shaken by his outburst because I knew I had the greatest love and devotion toward my family. The effects were attributable to my Bipolar psychosis which was very serious and that was why I remained in ward 'A'. Seriousness of the condition worsened through wrong medication even L.S.D. was widely given to us...for a misdiagnosed schizophrenia! You know . . . you become a guinea pig for lots of ‘medications’. The L.S.D. made me see Heaven and Hell and scores of “Demons in people (staff)”..I though that some people were actually Demons, I saw them, smelled them ….The L.S.D. stays in your system till you die! And cause to re-occur hallucinations etc. - L.S.D. IS A DEMONIC DRUG I HAVE BEEN TOLD!!
'Biblical' people came up to me by the minute. George said I was not Adam, but ‘Noah’. 'The real Jesus would return that night. I waited for this messianic return and improved my snooker one hundred per cent. George said the orderlies were keeping tabs on who came and went and I foolishly checked their list, which made them suspicious of me. I went back to George who told me that the Devil is here already. "Do you want to see him?" We went to a corner of the ward and there sure enough was a man with a ‘devilish face’. He had red hair and green eyes. George asked him what he did best. His reply was that he used to install huge safe doors into banks – wheel them in on a large trolley. I was mixed up and could no longer determine what was fact from fiction. I felt so confused and medicated thus went to bed.
On the fifth day I walked past the television set but what I saw and heard was not a broadcast but a witness to great jubilation, festivities, the world was now totally free of wars and famines, everyone lived as loving brothers and sisters, wonderful music played, neighbours loved one another as they loved themselves, the world had turned for the better, greed and hate had disappeared ..... But then I looked around the ward and no one was in sight, just another hallucination, and a very cruel hallucination.
I was to have several more of these hallucinations that day and other days, always about a better world and the music ...was it heaven on earth ?? The music it played over and over, but the scenery was different. In the end I would not be seen anywhere near the television set. Was this from God or the pills, who knows?
On the night of the sixth day, Tom, Vince and I had all retired to our beds. The two had prepared a 'game' for me: Firstly, Tom and Vince got up and had a shower and upon their returned claimed that they had been baptised, and what about you Frank? Go and immerse yourself they demanded. I could see no harm in this and proceeded to the bathroom and washed my face and hands.
PAGE 19.
After washing my hands I returned to the room with Vince and Tom, they asked if I had "cleansed myself" - (showered)...when I told them that I had only washed my face and hands...They kicked up a hell of a fuss, they said we have cleansed ourselfs..what about you Frank they said you are unclean ! still a sinner !! shame on you...Frank.
Then after much to do we all retired to our individual beds (in one room of 3 beds.) Vince soon fell asleep but Tom said to me one day we will all be on a magnificent mountain .....and I (Tom said) will be in my best white suit and "with glory" you will recognize me there...Tom was not even 18 years of age I guess, his mother had told me previously in a relatives meeting, when she was on our table...(we talked about ourselves and Tom as a boy)..Tom's mother stated to me that Tom had been molested (raped) by a BAD child Rapist, and that Tom never got over that ordeal....Tom even said to other peple..DONT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME ! (in so many words.) He was still deeply disturbed...
Vince was not much older than Tom, he stayed asleep for now but Tom instead of staying in bed he got up in his pyjamas and wondered off up the corridor into the night.
After approximately an hour or so, I was still awake I guess the medication was not agreeing with my system or something – could not close my eyes, I noticed that Tom still had not returned to his bed - (at a glance). Being the father of 4 wonderful children I had a fatherly concern for Tom (especially if he got into trouble again). Worried and not sleeping I got out of bed and asked Vince if he knew where Tom had gone..Vince awoke with anger in his tone, he cursed me and told me off...
Still worried I left Vince and headed for the nurses station nearby, there were still about 6 nurses in attendance, all in the station, I asked one of them kindly if they knew where Tom had got to, I said he is not in his bed, and not for over an hour...the male nurse said "none of your business get back to bed now!" I repeated, he could be in trouble, the nurse yelled out "BACK TO BED !" I felt threatened and pushed the nurse gently in the chest and said ....NO! After all I was human not to be treated like an animal.
The commotion did not stop there, 3 burly male orderlies grabbed me and dragged me up the hall, past lots of patients that were out of their beds now and cheering the proceedings from the door of their room, I put up resistance but to no avail, they finally got me to an empty room, where they threw me on the floor, then there was 5 of them! One got up kneeling on my chest full weight, while the other 4 held my limbs, and prior to pinning me to the floor, I bounced two male orderlies off the wall, I had what seemed super human strength it took 5 of them to finally pin me down, the sixth a female nurse gave me an injection trough my pyjamas to my leg that finally knocked me out asleep..
Prior to be put asleep one of the orderlies that was trying to hold me down bellowed out "THIS ONE IS STRONGER THAN THE OTHERS!" but then the 5 managed to hold me down for a while, then a kind lady patient yelled out to the orderlies "don’t do that!!.. leave him alone" she was put back in no uncertain terms..!
The next morning I awoke on a foam mattress - bruises from head to toe - laying on the floor in a "holding room" with a toughened glass - full glass wall, other patients/orderlies could peer at you there was a bucket in the room for your toilet and not much more, a burly male orderly brought me breakfast on a tray, orange juice and cereal etc. I thought then it had all being poisoned, so cunningly I poured the lot into the lining of the sponge rubber mattress then zipping up the cover afterwards not to be detected.
Sometimes people were on exhibition there naked, so they would not do harm to themselves with their clothes, every time I was in that holding room I would bang on the glass wall with superhuman strength.... even eventually loosening the glass wall from it's retaining studs. (It later had to be repaired).
The time..First time in "A" ward LARUNDEL in those days was like a nightmare to me..Struggling to get well with the wrong or otherwise right medications that had a great effect (what I thought was a negative reaction on my system)..But weeks on after a bit of improvement, always wanting to be free....out of bad bad "A" WARD LARUNDEL (1979). A GREAT STAY!! - I THOUGHT!
On the eighth day the Asian orderly asked me to accompany him upstairs and I was having another hallucination - smelling the fire and brimstone, he looked like a demon, and upstairs the head psychiatrist resembled the chief devil incarnate. We had words and I was quite vague, and after ten minutes or so he sent me back to the ward. Four weeks in ward 'A' , most of them drawing a black void in my mind. The last two days and I began to stabilise my hallucinations, voices and delusions. I wasn't so irrational and even started playing volleyball in a nearby enclosure, cheered on by the well-wishing staff and almost together patients.
I had to have an interview with a group of about 10 psychiatrists in a room – could not answer all their questions, or if I thought I was ready to leave “A” WARD. But I guess that interview changed something for me!
www.youtube.com HAS THE FOLLOWING 4 VIDEOS - GO TO www.youtube.com AND SELECT THE FEATURE YOU WANT TO SEE - DONT!!! CLICK ON THE PICTURE OR TYPING NOTHING HAPPENS. LOVE FROM FRANK NIERO/ BY-POLAR SUFFERER.
PAGE 20. CONTINUES WITH - CHAPTER 4.THE ONGOING IMPROVEMENT.SEE PAGE 21.
Chapter 4
The Ongoing Improvement
To my relief, the next day I was transferred to another ward, an open ward with day rooms, staff and doctors, quarters, sleeping quarters, bathrooms, and a new environment for me this was dull compared to previous experiences.
My wife kept this secret for sometime, but revealed to me, that when I was in ward 'A' the psychiatrist gave her little hope of any recovery, and certainly, 'I would never work again' - USELESS IN HOSPITALS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!! She was deeply hurt by his remarks, and didn't for one moment believe him either.
I missed Maureen and the children greatly. I never had the chance to be with my little Adrian for very long, he was just a baby. Rachel and Jane were two very loving little girls and Paul was my little man. I loved them all very much. Life is cruel sometimes when it separates people. Later I sunk into depression, a chemical reaction in the brain. Sounds simple enough but the repercussions lasted for the next two years.
Patients in the new ward seemed ‘freer’ than those of 'A'. You could step outside and even walk to the shops, but you were not allowed to wander anywhere from the hospital, unless you had obtained permission.
Making friends in the ward was easy for me, and it kept me going. It also made others feel better too, I assured myself. We were all under heavy medication, tranquillising any effect on one another. Hallucinations ceased, and I was glad.
I used to ring Maureen every night and tell her how much I loved her and how sorry I was for putting her through this trauma. Maureen stuck by me and was waiting for me to come home..
Two others were in my room, Johnny, Bret, myself and an empty bed. Johnny, 19, kept mostly to himself, while Bret, nervous, went early to bed in the middle of the day, covered with blankets head to foot, shaking like a leaf. I tried talking to him, but his teeth chattered too much to make himself understood. The days were long, the nights even longer. Except for the occasional walk during the day, I was occupied doing my own laundry and ironing - and being a non-house-trained man, it was a new experience, which helped to pass the time.
Maureen returned the car and her mother offered to buy a good, cheap car. The words good and cheap did not seem to go together, but this was a minor worry compared to other problems. Three friends and I visited a local car dealer just outside the hospital. We took a test drive of an older model Falcon and one of the 'team' members, Jack took charge of the situation and drove it around exclaiming its virtues, although I thought $1,500 was a bit steep, and I didn't have any money, but as soon as I returned to the hospital I called Maureen who had already made a purchase of an older Ford Falcon - all $1,250 worth!
When Maureen visited me I'd ask her to talk to me in the car, drive away somewhere.
PAGE 21.But she couldn't because I was still 'committed' to the hospital. The children seldom visited and once every two weeks, if my wife consented to it, there was weekend leave. It was like another world. Strange to me, because I had become so used to the hospital. The kids seemed to scream so loud. I had forgotten what it was like.. The financial problems would not go away either, nor would the state of my health.. Would I ever be able to share normal family life again? Would I work again? Would Maureen and I be reunited again as it was before? There were too many ifs and buts for any of us to be happy; far too much uncertainty for the future.
Vince, the lad from 'A' ward came to see me and said Tom is still there and that he had been moved close to my dormitory ward. We were not allowed to visit Tom because patients do not have these rights. While we walked around the hospital grounds Vince explained how he got the gash on his arm through scaling the fence to jump in the swimming pool. I asked him whether his obsession compelled him to be 'baptised again', he made no reply. We exchanged thoughts about the ugliness of the design of the hospital and its surroundings that we found depressive, especially these older ones. The service area looked like a 'monkey's breakfast', I exclaimed. I said if some of these hospitals were given a facelift it would be easier on patients and staff.
The head doctor at the hospital gave Maureen a list of things a family should do for a schizophrenic person - she tore it up because she did not believe the diagnosis, and sadly she thought, each person in this institution is treated as just a number.
Most of my illness was due to wrong medication: Maureen said I moved and talked like a robot. A nun who came to visit me and got quite a fright when she saw the way I looked, very unwell and strange.
Next to our ward they erected a new multi-purpose building where we could attend relaxation classes to music, play games or stage a talk show, just to get us out of ourselves, to put us on the right path again as it were. I gave emotional responses to these processes but it did not get me out of my depression and being ill.
Someone in the wards was pilfering wallets, watches, items of clothing, and other things of value, going undetected until one day a fire in the linen room caused staff to undergo a major search, room to room. The culprit was discovered. He owned up to starting the fire and to stealing the valuables. It reminded me of how an illness such as we shared, displayed its different ways, often to the detriment of those around us.
The chief psychiatrist called a meeting of patients and explained that we need not worry what has happened to us. Some people have only one attack, while others may have attacks now and then, and these can be controlled with medication. What manifestation of schizophrenia we each had and the course it would take would remain unknown for now. This was good news for even though then I believed I had schizophrenia I had this underlying compulsion that things would get better because I loved and missed my family so much and I did not want to ruin their future. I prayed unceasingly, it would go away.
Maureen did not feel safe with me on weekend leave. She had made a bonfire of all my religious books and planning documents. Maureen felt ill at ease with my religious bent, although I meant well. It was difficult to explain to her.
Over the Saturday night she would stay awake watching me. The two older children were afraid too, the others, too young to know. I took my Catholic faith very seriously and each Sunday when I was at the hospital I attended mass. I grew closer to God and he became the most important being in my life, surpassing all other love, yet enabling me to shed this love to everyone else, especially my family.
Life in the hospital was boring. Disputes over who wanted to watch what on TV became the highlight of the evening. Films were also shown once a week. Staff also ran a food and dance night but you needed money and I was always broke. The family came first - and who cares for money when you’re 'funny'!
My roommate Brett had at least temporarily overcome his shakes and had obtained a part-time job. He rode his bike to work and still lived in the hospital. To celebrate his newfound independence, he invited me to play doubles with him against two staffers and I hadn't played for three years since Petroleum Refineries Australia, where I used to skip lunch and opt for the court of 'champions'. The hospital version was no Kooyong spectacle but it was great fun. Brett even supplied a bottle of bitter lemon. We lost but enjoyed the experience.
Maureen fought long and hard to make me a voluntary patient and through sheer determination, won the battle. Even though the doctors considered me too ill to let out, Maureen insisted and took me home. They supplied me with enough medication, wrong or otherwise, and fixed appointments to see the hospital psychiatrist at regular intervals. No aftercare was provided, although staff recommended contacting an organisation called 'GROW'. This was July 1979.
I hugged and thanked Maureen.
The family was very happy to be together again.
There were rough patches ahead, the depression remained. I'd sleep late in the mornings not wanting to get up. Everything seemed an enormity. Anger took hold when I could not perform as a designer and draftsman. Things grated. I could not play with the children or communicate with Maureen. It was a miracle that our marriage held together. Maureen must have been a saint to put up with me..(please forgive me my children and Maureen for the distress caused by my illness I know that for years I was not a good father or husband for Maureen.)
I joined GROW and attended my first meeting in August of seventy-nine, at a church in Boronia. I was just well enough to drive. Meeting leader, Anita and six other people were there that night. I wasn't very talkative but everyone was friendly and tried to help me from the start. They said if it took you a long time to get ill, it will take a long time to get well. Their methods work but you must work on yourself to keep pace. The meetings became a welcoming hand and I went with anticipation.
My next step was to visit my parents: Five 'unending' months without seeing them. They never came to the hospital, and I had been too sick to see them. The burden of losing their house and belongings was always in the back of my mind, leaving me with feelings of guilt and shame. Mum seemed glad to see me and said that dad had been sick during those months I was in hospital. Dad had visibly deteriorated. Dad could only waive his hand, and could not utter a word. I could not be sure he recognised me.
PAGE 23.
We recalled recent events and rekindled our special relationship. They had forgiven me for everything that had happened - that I did not 'owe a cent'. They were comfortable in their surroundings and a house would have been too much to handle. The illness, they said, made me do all those things. I was told I would always have their love. We talked for hours and I gave them both a big kiss. It was though a huge weight had just been lifted off my back. That is how I remember my mother, as a generous, kind, loving, giving woman, my father could not speak but he loved me with his eyes, I was forgiven…..
With all these wonderful things happening to me, why was I feeling suicidal? While the family was out, I would write a suicide note. Electrocution was the answer. I placed a screwdriver in the power point and gripped the steel shaft tightly ... but I didn't have the guts to flick the switch. Thus, I was even a failure at suicide. Twice more I tried in vain to stab myself in the heart with a butchers knife, but all I could get was a miserable trickle of a few drops of blood. No courage, NO THRUST !!..... I really wanted to live. My family meant too much to me. I recalled, without anger, how my grandfather departed this world and the effect it had on his wife Ida and my mother Lidia. Death sounded too final a word. Not yet! Plus it would be an insult to God because our body is the temple of God and he lives within us. To wilfully destroy that temple surely must be a sin.
Creditors were chasing Maureen for outstanding monies. Only I was bankrupted so they pursued Maureen to get what they could. We had nothing of value, so Maureen declared herself bankrupt. This move helped keep her own sanity, and kept the wolf from the door. These people create an immense pressure, greater than a bullmastiff at his bone.
We let our eleventh wedding anniversary go by. It would have been the glummest. Times were not happy. It took all our effort just to live and a celebration seemed ill timed.
One day whilst travelling to the psychiatric hospital, Maureen was so uptight, she was speeding all the way. Perhaps this was her way venting her frustrations. I asked her in a polite way to slow down - “I'm driving”, she said. Shortly afterwards a Police motorcyclist booked her with an $80 fine - and this I can say was an expensive day for us, benefits and all.
The psychiatrist at the hospital put me on ‘modicate’, which made me feel worse. None of the medications worked, they were aimed at Schizophrenia!
I continued my group sessions with GROW where I was actually growing in confidence and gaining a better understanding of my situation and others around me - the influence of people who really care for each other was very beneficial to me.
The twelve steps of personal growth by GROW are followed as you progress in the group and in life:
1. We admitted we were inadequate or maladjusted to life
2. We cooperated with help
3. We surrendered to the healing power of God
4. We made personal inventory and accepted ourselves
5. We made moral inventory and cleaned out our hearts
6. We endured until cured
7. We took care and control of our bodies
8. We learned to think by reason rather than by feelings and imagination
9. We trained our wills to govern our feelings.
10. We took our responsible and caring place in society.
11. We grew daily closer to maturity
12. We carried the GROW message to others in need
PAGE 24.
You work your way through the twelve steps week by week and credit yourself for any progress you make. It might take you years to get to the eleventh and twelfth step or you might do it sooner...months, it is all up to you.
These wisdoms have been taken from GROW's Blue Book which has many items of interest to anybody, not just those who are involved in the program. Here is an example of one of these wisdoms which would apply to someone is not coping too well: 'The overall key to mental health' by GROW is a practical formula for mental health and happiness. 'Settle for disorder in lesser things for the sake of order in greater things: And therefore be content to be discontented in many things'. This helped me get through a bad time when I couldn't perform properly even though I had the desire. It is a compromise but one that gives you hope.
Little Adrian, our youngest son, became one in October of 1979. One whole year had passed, a nightmare in our lives. But we had to think positive. And so we had a mild celebration of Adrian's birthday, which made us feel a little better when we blew out that single candle, flickering in the dark. Although Adrian was too young to understand, the other children always brought us cheer. We were a close-knit family.
Little Jane was to be nine in a few days and enquired of me what she would get as a present. Our four year old Rachel said ,'if Jane gets a present I want one too'! I explained to Rachel she would have to wait until the day before Christmas (her birthday) when she'd get two lots of gifts. Paul, our ten-year-old joined in the chorus and said he wanted a new bike for Christmas. All I could say to Paul was to look at us, 'We are barely coping, no promises will be made now, but you can be sure this year you will all have a present ...'
Maureen and I got tired of going to the psychiatric hospital for visits and medication, we found out there was a medical centre nearer to us where psychiatrists accepted bulk billing, because we could not afford to pay for a psychiatrist. There we met psychiatrist Albert Varah who seemed quite competent and wanted to involve both Maureen and I in discussions of treatment. We talked mainly of my depressions and the effect on the family. He changed my medication. We would see him once every two weeks but my condition was not improving and in January of 1980 Dr Varah placed me in a hospital located in Caulfield. I stayed for only a week, mainly for my depression. The short stay was due to it being a private hospital, on a tight budget.
PAGE 25. CONTINUES NEXT BLOG. ON PAGE 26.
The highs and lows it is said, are both affected by a chemical imbalance in the brain, but for now I was experiencing only 'one almighty low'. I was still too ill even to play with the children and the poor darlings must have felt the effect of this neglect and not being able to go out in our old Ford. Maureen put on a brave face and did everything like an angel. I am very lucky and blessed to have Maureen for a wife. She stuck by me waiting for a glimpse of improvement and always believing I would return to work and be normal again.
I surely wanted to be normal again rather than being locked in this chemical straight jacket just waiting for the day when I could burst out.
The three basic GROW convictions came to mind:
1. I am not acting alone, but cooperating with the invincible power of a loving God and with trustworthy and friendly helpers.
2. I can compel my muscles and limbs to act rightly in spite of my feelings.
3. My feelings will get better as my habits of thinking and acting get better.
The three basic convictions help you to get motivated again. You can also associate this with 'the three basic determinations' by GROW.
1. I will go by what I know, not by how I feel; an I will strive to improve my knowledge and understanding.
2. I will deal with only definite problems, and I will consciously tackle my present tasks, accepting various faults as a natural part of my improving self.
3. Meanwhile, I will actively ignore my disturbing feelings and gradually overcome them by the constant surrender of myself to the healing power of God.
With God on your side who and what can harm you. I was destined to get better!
In September 1980 I tried my hand at some work for Keith, the architect. Measuring some churches and preparing a drawing for them was my first successful completion of a task, in doing so, proving my 'old' Larundel doctor wrong. I had worked again and I thought I could keep it up indefinitely.
Doctor Varah said it was time to 'spark you up Frank', and we made arrangements for me to have nine shock treatments at a Caulfield hospital. I consented and hoped for all hope that the depression would cease.
I would arrive in the morning at the hospital, go to a designated room, undress, go to bed, and a doctor would administer a knockout injection followed later by the shock treatment. Later I would awake, have lunch and go to work in the afternoon. Nine shock-visits, a great loss of short term memory that still persists to this day, and diminishing depression from November of 1980 by March 1981, really sums up the effects of this type of treatment. Names, places, situations, events and even computer commands become almost impossible to recall.
PAGE 26.In the same month of my partial recovery I obtained a staff job at a joinery company - a fill in job till I got my confidence back. I was selling windows over the phone but I suppose I was still a bit slow and still not well and they sacked me two months later. This was a springboard to contract drafting again because in May 1981 I began working for APC Altona as a piping design draftsman. The old knowledge came flooding back to mind and I remained there for well over a year.
My mother was happy to see me on my once weekly trip to their abode in Brunswick but my father continued to decline. How long could my mother cope when she would not let him go under any circumstances? It was like caring for a big baby. Mum became ill through the stress and refused any suggestions of 'putting dad in a home' by himself.
Everything improved at our home now that I was working. My self-respect returned, Maureen was a lot happier and the kids were responding well with the tension gone. Our landlord sold our rented house in Alderford Drive and we moved to a nearby house in Wantirna. It was slightly smaller although it did have two bathrooms, a study, family and dining room/lounge and in a safe place for the children.
The doctor had me stabilised on medication throughout the now monthly appointments. Maureen attended with me regularly and actually sold our doctor a Persian kitten. She was very involved with cats - two chinchillas, Bianca and Arrabell. Later we bought a collie dog by the name of Duke. Our rented house became our home, one that our children would be happy to live in. Maureen has all our married life has being a housewife only working for 2 years or so…..of the many years but worked hard for our family….this is because she is totally deaf without hearing aids and has difficulty hearing with them also.
I attended GROW once a week and GROW people kept in touch with one another by phone carrying out the 'twelfth step work'. In GROW you don't give your surname - it is an anonymous organisation, non-denominational and open to all. By this time I believed I was close to meeting 'my three vital needs' by GROW definition.
* TO BE SOMEONE - unique identity and personal value.
* TO BE AT HOME - security and loving harmony.
* TO BE GOING SOMEWHERE - purpose and progress.
And this was partly brought about by:
'The three basic changes' by GROW
1. Change of thinking and talk
2. Change of ways
3. Change of relationships
PAGE 27.
They say a change is as good as a holiday, but remember you can change yourself but you usually cannot change others. They have to change themselves, if they want to, or need to change. 'Change your losing game don't change your winning game'.
The job at APC Altona was wonderful for me. I made friends with all the drawing office staff and engineers and rekindled my friendship with a former PRA Altona draftsman. I started working in the main office and was later transferred to portable huts. I joined a car pool to travel the long distance from Wantirna to Altona. Car pool friends were senior draftsman Wolf Smidth and engineer Rod White.
Most importantly I could do the job - it was another victory. I was a draftsman again.
I was assigned to check all the piping and equipment in the field for the entire plant making sure all the piping and instrumentation drawings were correct. It was a massive task estimated to take up to three years for one man.
One trip to Altona my 'pool mates saw smoke billowing from the rear of my car. I had it fixed the same day. A few days later I was driving again but this time because I was on a high dose of Largactil, I fell asleep at the wheel. The scream from Rod and Wolf awakened me just before I would have run off the road. We were never in danger although I am glad they screamed. My doctor altered the dose of my medication to prevent any recurrence of such a near miss. He was happy with my progress and achievements.
Claudio and I would visit our parents after work each week and watch the slow dementia take hold on our father. He was frail and incapacitated and was a pity to look at him in this way. My mother complained at how difficult he was to handle but refused to be separated from him. She loved him too much. Claudio and I discussed possible steps we could take to make them more comfortable. Mum and dad shared a room in this small flat that was part of the Brunswick home. Staff looked after them and they were part of an elderly community.
In late 1981 I was discharged as a bankrupt and couple of months later the old Falcon was sold and replaced with a Holden Kingswood station wagon. We scraped up the $5,000 cash money to buy car number twenty-one, because nobody would give us a loan.
We took a holiday in December 1981 to Albury, Canberra, Sydney and return to Melbourne via Merimbula. We saw all the sights, stayed in motels, and I enjoyed my photographic hobby. The children were laughing and enjoying themselves, I was happy I had won them back, and Maureen was nearly back to normal again too. I thought the holiday would be beneficial for all of us. The whole air of the holiday was that of the 'honeymoon we never had', only we had our kids along but they were welcome.
In Canberra we went to the Telecom Tower, each night throughout the journey we ate at restaurants and in Sydney we toured the Rocks, took our first ride on a ferry and for the kids, their first ride on a boat. We rode the hydrofoil, saw Marineland, cruised the Bridge, Opera House and famous landmarks.
We went to where Skippy was filmed at Waratah Park. The 'kiddies' train held a great fascination for our children. We traversed the Blue Mountains and overall had a wonderful time in Sydney and its environs. Moving down to Merimbula we quickly made for the beach where the children enjoyed playing in the sand and did some body surfing. Merimbula is a lovely place with many attractions for us. The holiday lasted two weeks and it was something we could look back on for years to come.
When we returned to Melbourne, Christmas was only a few days away. This year there would be no holding back - everybody would get a present, and the holy spirit of Christmas that warms the heart of everyone who believes in Christmas, was surely going to be present in our home. And it was, praise the Lord!
In January eighty-two I started working for APC Altona again. By this time I had become very familiar with Wolf and Rod my car pool mates and learned much bout them. Wolf was a scout leader, a man of many talents and had five children himself. He was pleasant and outgoing and would do you a good turn. Rod was a younger, single man, who took his work seriously, and his faith in God, more seriously. In the time I knew him he planned to become a missionary for his church. He even gave up his gleaming Alfa Romeo for a much cheaper car so that he could afford to pursue his ambition.
The chief engineer took me off the piping and instrumentation checking, to complete an urgent 'turnaround' design they needed fast. There was plenty of overtime for three months and the final day of commissioning the project in the field made me feel proud that it was functional and working well.
I made a lot of money with the overtime and I could have used it for a deposit on a house but instead, I bought a new Sigma motor car - I noticed the high I was having and the ideas in my head about business ventures that would evolve and the people that could be involved. My head spun with ideas and thoughts. When you are high you do things you would not normally do and my money was part of a big splurge. I invited Wolf and his wife plus a married couple from GROW, to a night out at Villa Borgese Restaurant for Maureen's birthday. My treat included dinner, expensive flowers, an expensive gift for Maureen which we could not afford, and meanwhile everyone said I was the perfect host.
Chapter 5.
Talking Directory
Maureen was discharged from bankruptcy in July 1982. Around the same time, son Paul joined the local scout group. something he had always wanted to do. He had many friends in the scouts and was a keen participant.
Doctor Varah picked up that I was high and suggested a few days stay in hospital. I arrive at a hospital in Armadale, bringing with me the Kingswood, cameras, stereo, sports gear and some money to spend as if I was going to a holiday resort instead of a hospital - and the head nurse let me know it!
Maureen was angry with me. The doctor suggested we go to see a film that afternoon, but Maureen never turned up. I went alone. I watched the “jazz singer” but the business venture was well and truly imprinted on my brain.
The idea: To use audio tapes as a medium like a 'Talking Directory' for informing people of goods and services to be offered by a growing group of people. All their skills, experience etc, would be explained on a three minute recorded message and then a central office would offer these tapes to be heard at no charge. Prospective users would be drawn from the community and business. A barter service with trading vouchers for the less financial would also be on offer. The figures I came up with 'very impressive' and I saw a community benefit with this service. I needed a place for people to listen to the tapes...
Maureen and I were not communicating and the doctor saw this, so my stay was cut short to return home to Maureen to sort out the problem. Maureen was none too happy that Dr Varah had sent me home so early and still under the influence of 'being high'.
About a week passed and I took Paul to scouts where the scout leader approached me to become an assistant leader. I always admired the people in the scouting movement and here was my chance to join and cater to my son's needs at the same time. Wolf had already made me aware of the expectations and had even invited me to video his troop in Blackburn. They all enjoyed it and I was to repeat the process in my own troop at a later stage.
Policy changes at APC caused me to lose my job and Maureen and I were still not very happy with Dr Varah. We chose another psychiatrist, Dr Don Fields in Richmond. From our first discussion Dr Fields was able to ascertain that I was, in fact, a bipolar sufferer because of my highs and lows. He said he could pick one right away, 'And you're one'. We were given a book to read on Bipolar illness and that opened a lot of doors. He was the first to even suggest this was my condition - and he was subsequently right.
I owe him much for my accurate diagnosis.
Now that I had the information, we could take steps to remedy the situation. I was put on a controlled intake of medication that would prevent the illness displaying itself.
He warned, though, that it takes up to nine months for lithium to become effective in your system and this was the main controlling medication. In addition, I would have to have regular blood level tests to tell how high the level of lithium was in my blood. Lithium can be a potent poison if not taken correctly and great caution is recommended.
I learned from my doctor, that my illness is caused by a chemical reaction in my brain - which is physical. I am not mad! No cure for manic depression has been developed as yet, so this meant that I had to be on medication for the rest of my life, if I wished to contain the effects. I did and still do. The lithium (I took Priadel) when taken in correct doses, can prevent the illness from occurring, but it will not cure it.
I was very lucky to obtain a job for an engineering company that was working in B.F. Goodrich at the time. Jack Rawlings, the contract engineer, offered me more than I was getting at APC and so I started designing a piping reticulation system for large vessels. They were full of lethal gas and sometimes you had to evacuate the place when the alarm sounded to indicate a leak into the atmosphere. This gas, I was told, could damage your liver. I got along well with everyone.
It must have been the extra money I was earning that caused me to think: 'New car'. Kingswood sold but my name was still 'mud' with the moneylenders. One week later the salesman managed to push it through and I was driving a new van. Why a van? Well, the idea of starting a new business was still afresh in my mind, getting stronger and affecting everything I did. I had so many plans and ideas that I did not know where to start operations. First thing I wanted was to establish a headquarters for the 'Talking Directory'. A large electronics retail store in Boronia was for lease pending sale of its stock. The owner wanted $220 a week and $55,000 for the stock and fittings. It was large enough to take the Talking Directory and there was space for a drafting office.
I did not have the funds to finance the operation so I approached a friend that I knew had the money. He was a draftsman and lived in an impressive residence in Toorak. We talked at length about the venture but he was quick to remind me how I had recently been in a psychiatric hospital. "do you want my wife to evaluate this scheme”, ‘she's an expert at retail and management', he enquired of me. She was not home that evening and my friend turned me down. Undeterred, I advertised for a financial partner and three people replied, two of which were unsuitable, the other who backed out at the end.
'Blow partners', I said. 'I'll do it myself', and applied for office space at Knox Tower. The lease would take two months to process because of a technicality, but we could move in right away and pay rent immediately. And I did. I had about $5,000 from the sale of the Kingswood and this became my working capital.
I submitted plans to the local council to allow me to operate the Talking Directory and a drafting office, they accepted and I placed a partition between the two 'businesses'. Most important was the space allocated for the Talking Directory which would include an interview area, phones etc.
I was still employed at B.F. Goodrich who kept the monies flowing, leaving my venture to another part-time failure. Not enough working capital ruined the whole operation.
PAGE 31.
A couple of days later at about 7pm I received a telephone call from Claudio who sadly had to tell me my mother had died of a massive heart attack. The Home had put a call through to him, just two hours after he had visited with mum. I had not seen her for five days and now she was dead. I could not hold back the tears. They washed down the side of my face and my hands were shaking. Claudio asked whether I would like to be picked up and if I would like to see mum. Claudio admitted breaking down with his wife, and Maureen was tearful also.
Later we arrived in my parent’s room where my mother's body was laid out on a mattress. I gave her a last kiss on the forehead. My brother closed her eyes. We both cried. We arranged for a priest to give her last rights.
Dad was still ill in bed and did not realise what had happened. The next day he was transferred to a hospital until we could find him a 'specialised home'.
I made all the funeral arrangements and we put our mother to rest in a lawn grave at Springvale. Only family members attended the funeral, friends had 'dropped off' during the years, partly due to what she had to endure with dad. I always pray for mother and I know she is in heaven because a person as good as her could not be in any other place, but with the angels. The death of my mother knocked me for a loop. I always believed in a better life after death and this helped to stabilise me.
I was not performing well at B.F. Goodrich and the engineer picked this up. He asked everyone to submit to a blood test to see if our livers were okay because of the gas. My test results revealed the medication I was on and the secret was out. He did not sack me immediately but it was in the back of his mind.
It was about this time I was training to be an assistant scout leader. Group participants were very friendly and cooperative. I finally passed the course after this and that camp, and hours of lessons. I remained an assistant because I did not want to take full responsibility of the Wantirna Scout Troop.
Back to my Dad...he settled comfortably in a new 'home' in Brunswick and I brought him a wheelchair because he was having difficulty walking.
I offered him all the love that I had, even though he did not respond in any way that would have confirmed the existence of his son. He spoke to no one. He was still my father and I would look at him and remember all the good times we had, and all his achievements. Human life is not simple. There are many pains along the way but all that is good and the love you get along the way should never be forgotten and that applies to my mother too.
Claudio and I shared responsibilities to my father - relatives in Trieste were too far away and the two of us wanted to be loyal to him. Always giving him the comfort as best we could.I attended a GROW meeting that week and 'Just for Today' was read.
PAGE 32.
I include this in my story because it expressed what I was feeling:
Just for Today
Just for today I will try to live through this day only and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appal me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
Just for today I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, "most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be".
Just for today I will adjust myself to what is and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my 'luck' as it comes and fit myself to it.
Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out: if anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don't want to do - just for exercise. I will not show anyone my feelings are hurt: they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.
Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticise not one bit, not find fault with anything and not try to improve or regulate anybody except myself.
Just for today I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.
Just for today I will have a quiet half-hour all by myself and relax. During this half-hour, I will try to get a better perspective on my life.
Just for today I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.
Just for today God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
I must have read Just for Today about fifty times during my life and I never tire of it. It is just as meaningful today as it was the first time I read it.
Doctor Fields was still concerned with my high, the lithium was not bringing it down and I had been on a low dose only.
In an earlier month Maureen had given Dr Fields as a reference to the person wanting to let the electronics store and he called the good doctor wanting to know 'what I was on about'. My wife was trying to stop me from going into another venture that would waste all our money. Simply, the highs were ruining us, financially and in other ways...
PAGE 33 - CONTINUES NEXT BLOG. SEE PAGE 34.
Doctor Fields read my business proposal for the Talking Directory and said I would have to fix up the spelling mistakes before I could even make a start. But after the debacle over the Knox Tower office I thought to myself I had better let it rest for now and maybe forever I had given this venture a go and I will not try and resurrected...for now at least!
All this time and for some years before I had been attending a prayer group at my local Roman Catholic Church. As a strong believer in my Christian faith the contact with like-minded people filled a void in my life. Going to Sunday mass was not enough I thought. I must reach out to other people. I never underestimate the power of prayer but I was alone in the family in this matter, Maureen and the children had since given up going to church. She reasoned that these things were bad for me, because, as she put it, they brought on the attacks. To this day I dispute this with Maureen, and explain to her these are two different and distinct matters. My dream is to bring my family back to the faith once known.
I left work early one day. not feeling well, when I drove into our square I could see among the children across the driveway, the image of Jesus. I said, 'Jesus'. Voices kept telling me it was Jesus. I stopped for a moment and looked in disbelief, then all I could see was just the children. The hallucinations were back I told myself? So I turned the van around and headed straight for the Chapel. The priest was there he knew me well and was surprised at my sighting of Jesus. I said we should tell people about this and he countered and suggested it may not be a good idea. Then, I did an about turn and declared I am having hallucinations, that I needed to meditate for a few minutes. My mind was playing tricks. I had come here to pray, if I tell Maureen she is bound to worry about me.
The next day I was to pick up a new Datsun Bluebird station wagon using the van as a trade-in. This was car number 24 and I managed to get a three year loan to buy it. I sustained a great loss on the van.
There were only a few days to Christmas so I broke up at B.F. Goodrich for the year and advised them I would return in 1983.
That evening whilst reclining on the bed I suddenly heard a full orchestra, a symphony playing marvellous music. I had never heard it before. It was coming out of the walls, flooding the room. It went for twenty minutes and then stopped as suddenly as it had begun. I went to the kitchen and asked Maureen and the children if they had heard any music. The negative reply brought me to the conclusion that it was all in my mind. I was reminded of how the great composers heard their music in their minds before they put pen to paper. The only difference, I was not a composer and this music worried me greatly.
That same evening I went outside and I saw some of the neighbours talking and tending to their children. Neighbours in the square kept pretty much to themselves and avoided contact with our family members, maybe because we were renting? We always took pride in the inside and outside appearance of the house and we would help any neighbour should the need arise. On one occasion I can remember my children telling me about young Henry's bike needing repair and I approached the boy's father and offered to fix the brakes if he would buy the parts - he gave a curt 'no need' reply. Back to this warm evening where I found myself on the fringe: I noticed two adult male neighbours come on to the property plucking weeds from the ground.
PAGE 34.
I looked puzzled and could not make out if it was an hallucination or was it for real.
Later I went to my next door neighbour and apologised to them because we were not sharing such a good relationship. All of a sudden one of the neighbours that was picking weeds burst in and starting screaming passages from the bible to me - "Your unworthy", and I said yes I am unworthy to receive your forgiveness for I have been a bad neighbour to you. With this statement the group of people that was around me said I should not be too hard on myself, 'it's nearly Christmas'. The neighbours still did not talk to me and avoided the rest of my family. I know they all laughed at me that evening because they do not understand what this illness can do to you.
I went to bed that night of the 23rd of December 1982, voices and thoughts kept whirling in my
head, but finally morning came and my little Rachel's eighth birthday. We had arranged to visit my sister-in-law's place in Broadmeadows for the day. Bill and Pat Barratt now had five children, Jeff, Joanne, Kerry, Shelly and Michael. We were good family friends and we shared gifts and fortunately I was feeling well for the moment - nothing spoiled the day.
I had booked for the six of us plus my in-laws to spend Christmas Eve at the Swagman Restaurant. There was little Christmas spirit in the noised-filled place, however it turned out to be a reasonable time watching the children dancing, me being high and not realising it.
On Christmas morning there were happy faces, kisses and hugs, presents strewn from one end of the house to the other - but to my horror I was hearing messages again, this time from the walkie talkie we had given Paul. A voice was telling me about Dr Fields, that he is a fraud! A traitor to his country! That he must be exposed! 'You have been chosen to expose his plot Frank, you must take action now!'
I was getting into that sick state when you start to believe the 'voice' but I said nothing to Maureen, although she noticed I was not well. During the television newscast that night the newsreader, to my horror, was talking about Dr Fields that he was suspected of malicious deeds, but this was in my mind only the illness was causing me grief...the illness lets you see/hear/smell things others don't, on t.v. or in the open or in the house etc….you cannot trust your own senses….
In the night I lay awake filled with voices in my mind. They were persistent now telling me I should expose Fields but not to kill or harm him. I could never kill anyone and my 'faith' would prevent me from doing anything like that. Maureen realised my restlessness and began to worry about my state of mind. Next morning the voices told me I would have a lot to do with glass today, but do not be afraid of cutting yourself. Nothing harmful will happen, you must obey these commands.
I felt like I was in a trance. My condition must have put me in a state of hypnosis. The voices said: "using glass, go and slash your wrists”. There was no turning back the voices had me under their power again. I went to the ensuite and smashed one of my wife's glass dishes on the vanity basin. The glass broke in two. I tried to cut deeply into my wrists and all I could do is to butcher the surface of the skin. They were shallow cuts, too shallow to reach the artery. Amazingly no blood flowed. Maureen caught me in the act before I had a second go. She dressed the wounds and told me she had let me go too far.
PAGE 35.
Moments later Maureen was on the phone to Dr Fields and promised to meet in Richmond in a half an hour or so.
By now the voices were telling me to stop Dr Fields at all costs - and fast. Maureen and her father got into the front seats and I sat in the back. It was a hot day and I was only wearing a tee shirt, shorts and thongs. Whilst sitting there I was remembering a big fellow from Goodrich's who always had a 'rude' mouth. He had said to me when someone offends you, call them all the rude names under the sun. This stuck in my brain.
The voices filled in the gaps between reason and insanity. They made me tell Maureen to speed, 'faster, faster'. I yelled out these orders to Maureen, disturbing her very much. When cars would stop or slow down in front of us, I would yell, 'ram them, knock them out of the way'. Maureen kept her cool, her dad Whyatt said very little. At one stage I saw a Police car going in the opposite direction and I swear that the Policeman waived at me and smiled as if to say, 'go and save your country'. After much to do we arrived at our destination.
As soon as the car stopped I dashed out towards the centre's door in the sideway. It was locked and I immediately thought the 'good doctor' had barricaded himself in. I grabbed a big wooden sign with a mighty heave, jerking it from its concrete anchors and rammed the glass door, sending splinters of glass everywhere. I sustained cuts to my hands, feet and legs, luckily Maureen was standing well away. Again there was no bleeding.
I heard a loud voice around the corner, I thought it was Doctor Fields. There was a man who looked so scared, he stood clutching a book in his hand. I screamed out is that your bible? He replied, no it’s my diary. After my inquiry he told me Dr Fields was in the middle of the building. I then rushed to it and doubled back to where I had smashed the door. Suddenly Dr Fields appeared beside me, some distance away though. Two men in suits flanked him (later I was told they were plain clothes Police assigned to protect Dr Fields) and the doctor said to me I had made a nuisance of myself and I was not to do this ever again. He threatened he would call the Police and I said call them if you wish. Fields said they would lock me up in hospital, would I like to calm down and stay here with them?
He was about to give me a needle when I exploded with threats to give him the needle right between his eyes. I called him every name under the sun and he ran off afraid. The three then assessed the situation and I told them I was not afraid and that I would expose Dr Fields. 'Not even broken glass puts a fear into me'! With this I went to the shattered door and punched my fist downward into the remaining pieces causing no further cuts. Maureen was very distressed at witnessing this - the previous bad cuts did not bleed! I told Maureen the doctor did not 'give a hoot' for my injury. The voices had deceived me!
Precisely at that point, the voices and my anger left me. I was more conciliatory towards Dr Fields. Resentment had gone. I half agreed to stay in the hospital. The ‘thing’ that was possessing me had gone! I am sure that thing! Was demonic, making me do bad things…
Giving me superhuman strength and a calculating wit against the good doctor, not good!
PAGE 36. END OF CHAPTER 5.
Chapter 6.. The Richmond Hospital (actually THE MELBOURNE CLINIC. CHURCH STREET)
What Maureen and I did not know was that the Richmond centre abutted a hospital in the rear. Half way up a stairway Dr Fields asked me what a particular painting on the wall depicted and I replied that it was God's creation, but it was time to tend to me. In the upper hallway I noticed a man walking like a robot and I then protested I did not want to stay and be drugged to that extent. Once again Dr Fields allayed my fears and that I should remain calm. He took Maureen and I to a room and I rushed to the toilet and locked myself inside (nature called). Maureen screamed out, he has gone. Fields said not to worry, the place was secure. I came out shortly after and the doctor gave me medication and a needle to send me to sleep.
I slept for many hours, while Maureen dropped off some clothing. When I awoke I thought I was in heaven. There were two beautiful angels at my side. These angels were in fact nurses tending to my many wounds. When I fully regained consciousness I remembered what had happened, those stupid voices had made me look like a fool.
Then later the hallucinations were back, along with the voices, albeit subdued.
I would hear, 'Jesus is coming, make things ready for him'. But this was muffled in the voices of other people just outside my room. It was as though a conspiracy was taking place. Fortunately Dr Fields was not implicated in the voices this time - I respected him now and I was sorry that I caused such a commotion - something that was talked about for a time. It made me feel like the devil was toying with me at the time, perhaps testing me . . . .
The next morning I was alone in a room of four beds. I was high and there was no sign of depression. There I would be confined for the day. I skipped breakfast and come lunchtime a large burly black man called Robert brought in a plate of food. I put my fork into the chicken and it tweeted and chirped during another hallucination. Maureen arrived later. I could hear a typewriter going but it was all in my head. Maureen used to be a comptometrist and typist and I must have made an association in my mind.
I was sure something was setting immages in my mind and sounds (voices)..You know, I looked across the darkness the previous night to a multy storey commission building in Richmond - where the poorer people lived and in the darkness at least in my mind - the lit up windows joined to form this huge brightly lit up CROSS, + as Jesus was still there to help me.
I humbly had to explain to Maureen what had happened the previous day and there were no hostile feelings toward Dr Fields and that the 'thing' had gone out my head and I was looking forward to going home as soon as possible.
The amount of medication had an effect on the frequency and strength of the voices and hallucinations. Blood tests had revealed a low lithium level of 0.3 instead of the required 0.8 or even higher. Surely this caused the breakdown? Who was at fault? I kept up the dosages as prescribed.
Eventually I was allowed out of my room and my high was telling me to celebrate New Year's Eve of 1983. Nobody showed up, patients went to bed. The following morning I was feeling unusually benevolent towards people and I wanted to meet everyone. I greeted the ladies with a kiss and shook hands with the men.
I suppose I went to five rooms, or about twenty people.
PAGE 37.
Even though I was high I felt strange. Coping became difficult and that retarded my capability to get on with the daily tasks. Two days later I met Dr Fields and apologised for the ruckus. He understood the nature of the illness and accepted my apology. He said it is the schizophrenia symptoms in Bipolar illness that made me behave as I did. The right amount of medication would stabilise this condition so that I could lead a normal life. Insurance would cover damage to the building.
The doctor thought it would be wise to return to work as a trial, but it was necessary to live in the hospital. I told fellow workers the scars on my hands were a result of an accident with glass - but my work performance was poor and in consultation with Jack Rawlings it was decided my services would be terminated. The illness took its toll, and they could not wait for my recovery. Three days and I was back in the hospital full time.
Next day I drove to my mother's grave and on the way I burst into tears thinking of her death and in doing so lost concentration narrowly missing a parked car. 'Pull yourself together Frank or you'll be joining your mother', I thought within. Her favourite red roses and a prayer on my mother's grave is what I could offer and again I knew she was happy in heaven .. and how much I missed her.
Doctor Fields said the death of my mother played a big part in my breakdown. It had really shaken my system, and was a visible reminder in what I said and how I conducted myself. The doctor queried me as to why I needed the car after the near miss I had reported - I was too emotional and a danger to myself and others. He took the keys away and restricted me to the confines of the hospital.
The hospital conducted staff-patient meetings for those who wished to attend. I always showed up and desired to lead the meetings because I felt I wanted to help people back to health and believed I had much to offer through my understanding of the wisdoms of GROW. It may have caused the staff to chuckle, but the patients responded enough to want to return and learn how to work on yourself. I added humour where necessary, after all it was a 'depressing' hospital. The buildings were fine, modern and functional, staff tried to be caring, but the depression is in the mind of the patient. This I wanted to repair. I was not depressed, I was high if anything, but still not well enough to return home.
I made many friends in hospital both male and female. They shared their life stories and they were just plain lovely. Loneliness was not a problem because Maureen and the children came to visit every second day. I was a voluntary patient but I objected to not being allowed out of the private hospital.
I felt that the doctor gave me too much Largactil with my medication leaving me with an inability to stand up straight - with an eventual collapse in front of my brother who was visiting at the time. The medications were very potent. I was using Priadel, Serenace, Largactil and Artane. The doctor apologised for making me faint.
The hospital had many modern features and facilities which would allow you to laundry and iron clothes, play billiards, art and crafts, leatherwork, basket weaving, drawing, clay work and other activities. We were able to pass the time in this way.
The fellow patients fascinated me: There was Jack, a farmer from Gippsland who complained of a massive pain in his neck, the physicians could not find the cause, so he was sent to this hospital to eliminate the pain by other means. He was kind and a good sport and later left with his family much better than when he arrived. I gave him an audiocassette to remember me by.
Velma from Balwyn was a forty-two year old, separated from her husband, in a bad state of depression. She could not cope at home, was confused, and would often lock herself in her room to be alone with her sorrows. After a friendly chat, and a coffee I used to bring her, she would feel much better. Let us hope she recovered to take her rightful place back in society.
Matt suffered from schizophrenia, had a religious nature, upset the staff and patients when the 'illness took hold of him'. We befriended one another and shared some insights together. He left before I did.
What about the man who I first described as looking like a robot? He is a German who was placed in early retirement because of his psychiatric condition. We have kept in touch probably because of the long conversations we endured of one another whilst in hospital. Horst had a rough time with medication. Horst enjoys a better lifestyle now, (I saw him quite a few years later).
There was Sheila, a young lady that lived in the hospital. I helped her move her things out of the hospital at the appropriate time, but still I was not allowed to venture beyond the van within the Richmond precincts. Sheila was a very emotional person who had tried to suicide. One wonders why such a lovely person would try - people like this are a gift to this world.
Twenty-one year old Antonio claimed he was an architectural draftsman, something to have in common with me, but when visiting hours came, dozens of Italian people would crowd the visiting room. Antonio was an excellent pool player and I was weak, but he could not hold his concentration long enough to beat me. He kept thinking about 'something'. He recovered after a month and went back home.
Doctor Fields allowed me to step out of the hospital and said I could go for a walk up the street - he felt I was behaving myself. The nurses watch you and make progress notes, which eventually are read by Doctor Fields, who also happens to be part owner of the establishment. I was not fully recovered yet, so my stay continued.
The group leader of the Wantirna Scouts and his wife came to visit me that same night and we went to a venue in the city where we could talk. A cappuccino and a chat did me the world of good. He said the boys missed me and to be sure and come back to us soon. It was a worthwhile visit that encouraged me a great deal.
PAGE 39.
I personally felt better. No more hallucinations or voices confronted me. I was still high, the very reason Dr Fields was keeping me there. I made the most of my time and began attending the local Richmond Catholic Church, St Ignatius, a good walk from my confines. I tried to go each day to pray for my family and mass on Sundays. I would light candles for the living and the dead in my family, touching the statue of the Virgin Mary, hoping my prayers would be heard. (Note: the statues are statues, but I felt the presence of Mary’s and Jesus' spirits with me there.) Jesus always reassures my soul.
I gained a lot of weight because of the change in my metabolism due to the effects of the Lithium. Dr Fields suggested I leave out the desert, but that made little difference.
Barbara was a young lady with a weight problem that would not disappear despite her all-salad meals. She was fond of me, not that I led her on in any way, and one night a 'set-up' was arranged so that the two of us were alone as we were walking - she invited me to make love to her. She said her flat was nearby. I pretended not to hear and walked on, continuing the conversation as if nothing had happened - I was not going to commit adultery, risk my marriage and what I felt for Maureen, over a one night stand! Although bipolar sufferers can become promiscuous, I will not cheat on my wife ! It just takes willpower when the temptation is laid before you, as it were. You cannot take tablets for this condition.
An episode is a physical or chemical deficiency in the brain, it affects your moods and actions and you cannot 'think it away'. GROW also is not a cure-all, but it helps you to recover after an episode or helps you understand when one is coming on. GROW is committed to caring.
PAGE 40.
CONTINUES CHAPTER 7 - BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD. SEE PAGE 41.
Chapter 7 - 1.
Back To The Drawing Board
Dr Fields discharged me from hospital in April 1983 and because we were not fully covered by health insurance, the doctor gave us a discount, the remainder of the bill left us short, once again.
The recession of 1983 was biting and prospects looked dim for paid work. The Sigma was sold at a great loss leaving us with the Bluebird, which we were still paying off - now we had some money to live on. Bipolar illness is a very expensive disease and breakdowns are costly - all I had to do is avoid the causes, live one day at a time and try not to over exceed - and take the medication.
I was glad to be home again feeling well, I enjoyed the children. Paul was now fourteen and attending St Joseph's College and his beloved scout group, Jane was a pretty twelve, and a loving young girl. She had just won a BMX in a competition and was thrilled about it. She cared for her sister and brothers. Rachel was eight, petite, loving little girl who loved pets (we had four cats and two dogs now). Little Adrian was four and very dependent on his mother, and a delight for us all. Maureen and I loved our children very dearly. Coming home also meant that Maureen and I were re-united after fourteen weeks. To sleep in your own bed, play with your children, eat at the table, walk the garden, all these made me feel welcome again in society, especially with my family - all I needed now was a job.
One of the first things I did on my return was to go and see my father. Claudio was keeping up the visits when I was away - I took the children laden with lollies to distribute to the other patients and cheer them up. My flock would brighten the dreary place up and rekindle the memories of the old people. They took a shining to them and I was proud of their contribution. Dad still did not recognise me or the children, he just sat in the wheelchair looking low and silent, although he did munch on the lollies. He was deteriorating and nothing could be done.
I returned to the scouts and had to find $700 for equipment for Paul and I to go to a camp in Fraser National Park in Eildon. It was a beautiful park with plenty of hikes and the opportunity to practice camp craft and bushcraft. The father and son camp only lasted two days, with the accent on service to fathers.
On return to GROW I was asked whether I was back to normal. Normal according to GROW is not synonymous with healthy: The costliest error in life is to think that what is most common, what the majority does, is normal. But you do accept as a sufficient norm or standard for living, which is almost certainly unhealthy. Normal, then means fundamentally sound, wholesome or conducive to growth. This is different from the 'average', which indeed is a norm, but of immaturity or of positive decline and disintegration. The average is by definition the mediocre. The average person is neither healthy nor happy, he or she is inconstant, bored and anxious about himself or herself through faulty thinking, emotional immaturity, a generally weak response to life and especially low aimed.
PAGE 41.
It seems to be a law of nature that the normal in any species is a practical ideal, which is embodied in those individuals who have the secret of survival in the ( *evolutionary struggle).
Individuals are more or less normal in proportion as they approach or fall away from its ideal. In short, the normal is the healthy, the mature or the GROWful. Normal behaviour is a winning game in life: Average behaviour is a losing game.
Is the best in life and love and happiness ahead of you or behind you?
In my travels I stopped to see Father John Brown. He knew I was unemployed and that I did architectural drafting. Father John was planning to build a new church and I offered my services for free because I was part of the parish and wanted to help in any way that I could. I had already been designing and documenting a number of churches but this time the church was to be built underground between two school buildings. After surveying and scale-drawing the church, it proved cost prohibitive, so we moved on to scheme number two which would be erected near the existing parish centre on a slope, saving as many trees as possible - half in the ground, half out, with a trafficable roof. This also proved too costly.
On a visit to Dr Fields he said I would settle down with the new dose of medication, but in fact in the previous ten weeks my graph was up and down like a yo-yo. Admittedly the highs were not too high and the lows not too low but the inconsistency was still there. Doctor Fields said that was how my life was going to be because the medication would not take away all the symptoms, rather would smooth out the rough spots, also doing away with the breakdowns. The lesser ups and downs are much greater than the healthy person would contend with, not to mention the mood sings that can unhinge your life.
Bipolar illness is a disorder of mood whereas schizophrenia is a disorder of thought. My study contains some schizophrenic symptoms because they can exist in By-Polar illness - mood changes with thought patterning.
We used the parish centre in Wantirna as the headquarters for our prayer group. Father Brown was very keen on the group and often took part in discussions, sometimes saying mass on special occasions. For many, praying is a spring of life, one way of coming into contact with the Holy Spirit which is the comforter. The spirit helps you everyday of your life, so we believe and this can bring about very worthwhile changes and benefits in your life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Back to the new church: Father gave me a few examples of churches in Europe and, 'would I be able to copy one of these?' This is not the way designers usually operate but in this case I made an exception and after many hours of research and layouts, field work, investigation, and design, I came up with a proposal that could be built in three stages to save capital. Father John liked the design and asked a model maker in the church to construct a model of my design.
In the meantime an architect did a layout on a church for the site, which the Father liked also. Father John asked me to redesign this time without the cathedral. So, I set out to design a round church that would be functional and nothing like a cathedral. I spent over two hundred hours for the four designs and now they were all rejected - Father John did not like round churches.
PAGE 42.
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NOTE..! PAGE 42 REFERENCE...*
* Frank does not believe in the theory of "EVOLUTION BY DARWIN."..But "God's WORD.." and the full "CREATION" by GOD HIMSELF..as shown in the BIBLE - OLD TESTAMENT "GENESIS ACCOUNT"
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The architect's design was the one chosen for the church, my design of the car
In mid 1983 I found a job working for a consulting engineer in P.R.A. My task was to prepare a computer schedule for parts used in the Petroleum Refineries Australia. The work lasted two months but I was having trouble with my weight. Dr Fields said that if I put on any more they would be carrying me about in a trolley. Luckily my weight dropped from 94 kilogram to 87, still high for my height, but more presentable. No matter what diets I tried, I could not get it below this figure. Jenny Craig would not even take me as a member because of the medication I was on. I tried Weight Watchers too, it was also a flop.
After quitting the job at P.R.A. I accepted a contract at a firm of architects to document the Shepparton College of TAFE. One morning as I was crossing St Kilda Road nearby the office, with the green light, a taxi made a right without stopping and hit me, sending me flying in the air, falling heavily on the road. Luckily I only sustained injuries in my hip, leg and left foot. He gave me his business card and two minutes later he was gone. I later took a tram to the hospital for X-rays which revealed no breakages. The damage was extensive with much bruising. The upshot of this story is that the taxi driver skipped the country and it took me eight years to be compensated, with an out of court settlement of $5,000 - for all the pain and suffering over many years.
I switched doctors from Fields back to Varah because of the high cost involved. Dr Varah gave me the same medication and regular blood test. I was stable now and visited the doctor only once a month.
Unfortunately the architect's contract came to an end, capped off by an afternoon of doubles on the tennis courts. My leg was making it difficult for me to continue, so I finished early.
Even the boy scouts were having a Xmas break up at the Scout Hall. It was a dress-up night in which I went as Elvis Presley. The boys really made the night, planning goodies and surprises for the parents, and that ended 1983.
PAGE 43.
In the new year I obtained a job for the South Melbourne Computer Centre of the Department of Housing and Construction. My mood changes made it difficult for me to arrive some days . Most of the time I dragged myself out of bed because I knew I had to. My work place was in Bourke Street which meant I had to take a train ride, leaving me in a constant state of apprehension - I thought that people were staring at me, as if they could see what was wrong with me. This was disturbing to say the least. The job came to completion and the department was happy with my work over the four months.
My father was deteriorating so much that he was now refusing to eat at times. He lost too much weight and his bones were beginning to show. He was fed more frequently, kept comfortable, and was bed ridden. This broke my heart.
I prayed dearly for my father but the dementia had beaten him, and I thought it was only a matter of time before he would die too. This put my mind into a state of confusion. But I had help from GROW people and the four stabilising questions:
To cut through an emotional upset, to keep order in a crisis, to think clearly and to come to grips with your problem:
1. Be definite
Answer the question: What exactly am I troubled about? My father...
2. Be rational
Answer the question: Is it certain, probable or only possible? Certain...
3. Be wise
Answer the question: How important is it? Very important...
4. Be practical
Answer the question: What shall I do about it? Try not to worry...
No one gets out of this world alive
The thing you fear unreasonably is your master
Why single yourself out for especially harsh treatment you cant stop death?
Another bad episode in the Niero family or what my 13 year old daughter Jane in year 7 experienced. Jane riding back home from school one summer's day, she bumped and disloged a wasp's nest from the ground and rode over it with her bicycle wheel, causing a swarm of wasps to attack her all over and inflict a great multitude of stings.
Wasps being all over her and her face - head especially, she rolled on the grass, screaming "HELP ME" - No one came, Jane said...I tried one house but people locked themselfs in afraid of the wasps, then one lady put the hose on me, it did not do much good, so she stripped me to my underware and put me in a hot shower...then she massaged "sting goes" in my hair, but I felt dizzy,the poison was going to my brain! Next I was on the kitchen floor - out of it! Suddenly I felt free from my body, with no pain, and up on the corner of the kitchen ceiling looking down on my body in spirit...and 4 ladies, much disturbed - (the people in the kitchen were 4 ladies now,) and they were screaming..she's dead I cant feel her pulse! Then suddenly I was going up a bright - lit tunnel and up and up,reaching the top - then a female voice, what I thought an Angel "or my grandmother Lidia" (passed on) said to me! "DO YOU WISH TO PASS TROUGH!! BECAUSE IF YOU DO - YOU SHALL NEVER RETURN" !! I SAID...NO... I DONT WANT TO ENTER..(I thought to myself my father is ill and I have to help mum and I am too young to die!...) As soon as I SAID THIS! I began to go down the tunnel at 3 times the speed of going up! And back into my body, the one lady was still applying C.P.R. Then with great pain and suffering I awoke, she said you were dead for 2 to 3 minutes and we panicked! Jane said to them, I know I heard and saw the whole event! And then the lady took me neaby to my home to fully recover, my mother and father were very distressed. Jane is allergic to wasp stings now and the doctor said if she is stung 3 times more it could finish her off the poison is in her system...
Also from aproximately that episode on or earlier (she predicted a young friend's cruel murder even before it happened, etc. etc.) Jane Ann Niero, my daughter has been gifted with the knowledge of angels and can answer things not commonly known about other people...a gift from GOD.
My son Paul was well over 14 years of age and he had to leave the scouts and he did not want to transfer to the venturers, and so I also resigned as an assistant scout leader. For 18 months we were in the scouts, went to at least nine camps and functions and thoroughly enjoyed it. Scouting teaches discipline and to be prepared.
My next contract was for plant layout design at Fibre makers in Bayswater. Swapping design from architectural to mechanical, to piping to plant design, to electronic, electrical etcetera, was experienced based and like everybody, we are all gifted in some thing's more than others. The project lasted 3 months.
I received a call from my father's nursing home in which the caller said my father was dying. Claudio and I rushed to Brunswick but it was too late. He had died. The nurse showed her displeasure at our comparatively late arrival, but the hour-long distance to travel took its toll and when you are rushing, everything appears to hold you up.
When I saw him with blood on his face, lifeless, the tears flowed down my face. I had always loved him very much. I gave him one last kiss. Claudio made the funeral arrangements, as I had before him, arranged my mother's. We laid our father to rest in a lawn grave in Springvale, with our mother. He suffered no more.
Even though I knew my father was dying, it came as a shock when he finally passed away. I just kept myself busy to keep myself from thinking about him. I gave his wheelchair to the Spastic Society and gave away the few things he had left. I wanted nothing to remind me on how he suffered and died.
PAGE 45 NEXT BLOG. FOR CONTINUATION PAGE 46.
I started a new two-month contract for Cadbury Schweppes designing new machines and eating their chocolates that turned out to be injurious to my newly diagnosed 'mature diabetes'. Yet another setback to contend with. The diabetes and the lithium, which is a natural salt, make you extremely thirsty and would drink many litres of water in a day. And I was always careful not to let anything slip: If you tell your boss you are a bipolar sufferer you can usually waive goodbye to your job, unless your boss is understanding.
Father John Brown said a couple of masses for my father and I was still very active in the prayer group. I am one of those people who need a loving contact with other people. I always remember the song, 'People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world.' I feel lucky because I need the love of Jesus and the love of other people as well. And for their love or not I offer my love to all.
I received another TAFE college contract at Moorabbin, and I was very nervous about it, because of the mood swings I was experiencing. Confident one day, shaking the next. The coordination was at times so bad I wondered if the architects noticed? I kept performing at work even though that can have a real debilitating effect on the system. We completed the job on time and my contract ended.
It is not that I am a shaking mess but it is controllable with the help of GROW and by my own resources. I usually have quite a jovial character and Maureen and I go out to dinner and see friends whenever we can. We have always taken time out to live it up, go to a restaurant, see a show or have a good laugh. But when the party is over some problems still remain.
I later obtained a job for the Gas and Fuel Corporation at the time of the conversion of the Bentleigh Woollen Mill to an office and equipment storage facility. Documentation and much fieldwork was the task at hand, made a little easier by friendly associates. Except for the bosses taunting, "When is it gunner be finished?", our team survived.
One particular GROW evening in Box Hill only three of us turned up, Ian, Kerry and myself. I told my story of suffering that lead to GROW, Ian was very taken by my story because after the meeting he approached me and said 'I was going to take my life tonight! I have a shotgun in the car for the purpose but after hearing your struggle it made me realise that there is still hope for me yet.' I convinced him to hand over the gun that had been specially outfitted with a stick to assist him in the suicide, by placing the barrel in his mouth - the stick was to act as a triggering device. He now wanted to dispose of the gun and not himself. Thank God his life was saved. The Police would not take possession of the gun, I disposed of it Maureen did not want guns, Ian now lives to see another day.
In 1985 I worked for two piping companies, Shell Geelong, and Global Engineering. These were short contracts but more importantly I could see my composure improving and confidence returning.
My psychiatrist Dr Varah was barred from practising in Victoria - he broke the news to me on a visit prior to his departure to Sydney. He gave three religious books to read as a sort of memento. He was a religious man and told me he would bless all the houses in various streets as he was driving in his car.
I usually go to church on Sundays but I do not 'live' in it.
I believe the best religion is loving your fellow man, woman and child, doing good deeds and being a good citizen to your country. At least try and follow the Ten Commandments. Be loyal to Jesus and all he stands for, have faith in GOD and his BIBLE in full.
My next job was for the Department of Construction, various Defence Department construction projects for the Army, Navy and Air force. It was mainly housing for service personnel and it meant travelling around Victoria which allowed me a lot of open air space, a respite from the city's congestion. Later the budget ran out and I left the Department
In 1986 and throughout the years I would work for Keith the architect, on a part-time basis and sometimes full-time, doing mainly churches and related buildings. He has always been a busy architect and a good friend.
Dr Ken Waters became my new psychiatrist and seemed quite a caring and capable doctor. He did not bless you with holy water or give you rosary beads as had Dr Varah. You can go to church and get that at a much lower price.
I began working for a cooperative that handles supermarkets. The job was to design a large supermarket and it lasted for four months but I encounter troubles with this one because of my mood swings. Everybody differs, no two bi-polers are the same, we all experience slightly different feelings and occurrences.
Here are twelve keys for understanding feelings by GROW:
1. Feelings are not facts. My feelings can be stirred as much by imagined as by real causes. Between a feeling and a fact there is always some [at least implicit] thought; and the more disturbed I am the less my feelings are related to reality. My chief task, therefore, should be to keep my thinking true and to go by what I know, not by how I feel.
2. Feelings are like the weather. They are, in fact a sort of internal weather. I just have to go on living through its changes as I do with the weather outside - and the bad weather can't last!
3. Feelings are like children. And I am like the teacher in a classroom. It's up to me which ones get permission to express themselves in words or action.
4. Feelings are good servants, still better friends but terrible masters. Any feeling no matter how elevated or beautiful itself, if not controlled, can unhinge my mind and disorganise my life.
5. To take artificial means [pills, hard drugs or alcohol] to meet the ordinary stresses and crises of life is to weaken my natural and personal resources for living.
6. There is no natural way to 'instant good feeling'. By nature I have only indirect conditioning power to change my feelings - through the direct corrective power I have over my thinking and the direct commanding power I have over my limbs and muscles for action. In the long run, my feelings will veer round and take the direction of my habits of thought and action.
7. Control of feelings is not merely a question of keeping undesirable feelings in, but also of letting desirable feelings flow freely out. For control is regulated spontaneity; and it is possible to have too much regulation or too much spontaneity. Some people are over controlled or under controlled in regard to all feelings. But the commonest form of immaturity is to be under controlled in self-centred feelings [as in habits of crying, anger or resentful silences] and over controlled in more precious and outreaching feelings [such as love, laughter, praise, compassion, song or prayer].
8. The more I seek pleasure directly and need to have it, the more it will tend to evade me. For either my anxiety to secure it will upset the naturalness of the behaviour that brings it about, or [through excess or habituation] I will come under the law of diminishing returns and it will take more and more to satisfy me. On the other hand, the more I run away from suffering and need to avoid it, the less it will take to torment me. It is wise, therefore to moderate my increasing capacity for satisfaction by reducing my wants, for then I enjoy things better; and to learn to absorb tensions, discomfort and trouble, for then they don't bother me so much.
9. There is no way of being simply for feelings or against feelings. Everybody goes by feelings of some kind or other, just as everybody has a particular way of thinking and acting. The whole question is which feelings, and whether my principle of selection is unintelligent and self-centred or wise or loving. Many feelings are negative, blindly reactive and destructive, and deserve only to be suppressed. Positive, personal or constructive feeling is caring. And if I really understand and care for the true values of life, I will always have more important things to care about than how I feel.
10. To face life we never mainly use or mainly depend on spontaneous feelings, but on reflective and deliberate attitudes which must be well-grounded in known reality. Confidence, for instance, is nor a feeling but an attitude of mind. Not only does it not have to supported by favourable feelings, but it frequently operates effectively in the presence of strong contrary feelings of fear, and, on the other hand, countless lives have been made disjointed and unhappy by ungoverned feelings of confidence. The long term effect of subordinating our natural feelings to our personal attitudes is that eventually the attitudes and feelings merge into a single team - as a horse that is well-broken in will do almost anything for a good rider. In this way feelings that first had to be servants turn into friends.
PAGE 47.
11. Growth in mental health means gradually learning the difference between what I feel like and what I really want, and gradually making my chief wants coincide with my own and other's vital needs.
12. More important than actually feeling good are my grounds for feeling good; and these come from my response to life as a whole. My real grounds for joy, gratitude and hope are always greater than my grounds for sorrow, anger or fear. The complete picture of my life is designed to be beautiful, and my ultimate story, if I choose, will be a happy one - because my life, and even my choosing, are in the care of infinite power, wisdom and love.
Chapter 8 - 1.
And Life Goes On ..
Maureen and I were also members of ARAFEMI, which is Association of Relatives and Friends of the Emotionally and Mentally Ill Victoria Inc. This organisation does a lot of good to people that are ill and need accommodation or support. I feel most strongly for this group. ARAFEMI conducts By-Polar sufferers groups and By-Polar Relatives and Friends groups where you get to share information and events. There is no group method like there is at GROW, but a psychologist leads the meeting usually covering a wide range of issues.
At ARAFEMI Maureen and I met Dawn Malvaso the wife of a By-Polar sufferer and the two ladies became friends and arranged for a dinner at our home and also to meet Dr Lewis Malvaso, her husband. He became an instant family friend with his friendly and charismatic nature. He won over the children with just a few words. The Malvasos did not have children of their own and he told me it was a great pleasure to be talking to our four.
Dr Lewis worked as a scientist and we became very good friends. His wife Dawn is American. He never drives because he says it makes him go into a panic attack, and made him too uptight. His wife was also falling apart because of his By-Polar condition.
A week later Lewis invited us for dinner to show us his museum collection of statues and artefacts that he had collected from all over the world. The specimens were worth a small fortune. The strain in the marriage was most evident by the conversation that took place after dinner. He loved his wife very much but that cruel disease was wedged between them prying them apart and appeared to have taken root to rectify the position. A few month's later the marriage broke apart, with Dawn returning to the States and filing for divorce. Maureen and I were broken hearted but we could do nothing to prevent its happening.
My son Paul was working now after leaving school because of conflicts with teachers. He was keen to work and obtained a position as a storeman.
PAGE 50.
By this time I had paid off the Datsun Bluebird and by doing so, went a three-year stretch without buying a new car, in addition to the three-year gap when I was a bankrupt. Now I was looking at new cars again, this time a new Ford Falcon Station Wagon. I borrowed for this one, but I cannot understand why, when the Datsun proved a reliable car and was mine - outright. Impulse purchasing made me realise I had not come as far as I thought I had. No effort had been made to get out of our rented house, we were not saving any money, and our income was modest enough to have a few simple luxuries, including supporting a family of six [and several pets].
I went to work for an architect in Deepdene on a Corowa Bowls project which included refurbishments and additions. The job took us to Xmas 1986, capped off by a break-up party at the Swagman. A Restaurant that has now closed for business.
Dr Ken Waters thought that I was stable and likely to stay that way because my medication was agreeing with me and I only had minor twinges such as mood swings and mainly highs to contend with and the lows were minimal. I could always cope when the swings were not too serious.
Lewis sold everything and moved back to Iraq and we are yet to hear from him. Dawn resides in San Francisco.
In 1987 I worked for a hotel building company redesigning hotels to step up their image. It was a labour of money, not of love, for I am a very casual-drinker and I do not even smoke - and a hotel is definitely not my favourite building because they house the pokies.
I was still a member of the prayer group in Wantirna and I had been prayed for many times because of my condition. But this form of healing had not yet worked for me. Not that I am less of a believer in God and his mighty miracles, but I guess the Lord is not ready to heal me yet, if ever. I can accept that. Like one of the apostles I might have to live as I am now, for life. This form of faith healing has had wonderful results with others - so keep up your faith and you or your loved one might be healed one day.
My life at home was as always, routine. I would get up early in the morning, go to work, work is a privilege which I enjoy doing. I take pride in accomplishment and there is not a moment when my mind is idle. When the workday would be over I would come home, kiss Maureen and greet the kids, then go to gym or catch up on some reading, have dinner, later do some part-time work, watch a movie with Maureen, or tend to the children as was necessary. Sounds like the recipe for a normal household, does it not?
That is precisely what bipolar are - normal people - with a debilitating illness.
They like to be treated as 'people'. Some of the most famous people in the world are bipolar sufferers. Great artists, composers, politicians, actors, the list goes on. It is said that about two per cent of the world's population is manic-depressive (Bipolar) and that about one per cent is schizophrenic. The Americans are working on a cure that is investigating the genes and one day it is hoped, that our children will be free of illnesses like Bipolar illness and schizophrenia - thanks to research and science. This is not to say it is too late for those who already have the illness. At meetings most people show they are coping well with their condition, they are not mental loafers but people with a great spirit doing more than most. This is because they want to keep ahead and also because they care about themselves and others around them. They are true fighters, courageous people that want to take their worthwhile place in society and help themselves ‘out’ of their condition.
When the hotels contract concluded I won another position working with the Ministry of Housing and Construction, documenting work on Police Stations, principally a station in Traralgon. The architect was a beautiful person and I always admired her with great respect. Other stations Deborah had done were flair and professionalism, and she was a pleasure to work with.
In early 1988 I traded in my Falcon for a new Holden Commodore to go on a holiday.
PAGE 51. - SEE PAGE 52 TO FOLLOW.
There was Maureen, Rachel, Adrian and myself with the older ones Paul 18 and Jane 17, left at home to look after the animals and the house. We travelled to Ballarat and also took in the sights of Krial Castle, Sovereign Hill, potteries, Hall's Gap, the Little Desert, Horsham, went swimming, fishing, ate at restaurants and overall, had a wonderful time.
On arrival we were disappointed to find out two older ones had a party, leaving everything upside down, a mess we had to clean up. Maureen was sorry she had ever left for a holiday.
Back at the Housing and Construction office I drew other plans for projects involving the Police work on their major headquarters in Melbourne. Everywhere I work I make friends and the Police Design Division of 1987-1988, no less, I shall always remember.
I had been in GROW for nine years now and I wanted a spell to see if I could manage without the help of the group. Those weekly meetings had become very dear to me, but now I wanted to try on my own resources. When you are in GROW you make a lot of friends and I want to leave GROW for now with Friendship [by GROW]:
The love of friends requires something more than ordinary adult love. Friendship is a love of intimate sharing between mature equals.
To basic adult love, friendship adds a common philosophy of life and support and mutual leadership for life as whole. You can love certain people whom you do not like, but a friend is one whom you like and admire and in whose company you are profoundly at home.
The word friend is used for three levels of relationship. There are:
Friends for play or leisure
Friends for work or advantage
Friends for living
Only the last mentioned are friends in the strict and truest sense.
Friendship is not possible without considerable maturity, for friendship is, in fact, shared maturity, and the sign and gauge of one's maturity is precisely one's capacity to be a friend.
In education for life as a whole nothing is more formative than the mutual influence of friends; and among friendships there is none more formative than that of man and woman.
After leaving the Ministry I found a position with a large firm of architects and began helping to document extensions to the Knox City Shopping Centre. I was a member of the architectural five-person design, documentation team for the $100 million project. We also documented an extension for Chadstone Shopping Centre, which was an $80 million project. These and other projects have been invaluable for expanding my architectural design experience.
PAGE 52.
In 1989 I purchased car number 27, an Astra sedan for Maureen because I had been making lots of money, I began to splurge it again. This was not enough, I also purchased a 1989 Commodore trading in the one year old Commodore. All were on lease finance and I was taking a gamble that my jobs would last. Again, I splurged even further with the acquisition of a new Toyota Celica: Twenty-nine cars in 24 years and most brand new. I was back to the irresponsible style of spending and this should have rung alarm bells for us. By polar illness makes you splurge money etc. because of mood swings...
My daughter Jane was now eighteen and met the future father of her child.
Maureen for the first time since we got married was back at work. Loans and leases were cash hungry to $1,000 per week and Maureen's income would help. She worked for a door knob manufacturer, was capable at her job and enjoyed driving the cars. Maureen, however, had been developing a disability for the past few years - mainly because of the 'big' worry of my condition it had caused her to have nerve and other deafness and she was on her second set of hearing aids, without which she would be nearly totally deaf. Not only the bipolar suffers, the illness drags in those around you.
In early eighty-nine I worked for the Met delegating for an architect until February of 1990 when Government pressure to downsize caused my discontinuation. When you are a contractor you feel like a gipsy because you move around a lot, and leave behind very good workmates. Good for experience, not for putting down roots.
On the 16th of July little Jessica was born to Jane and Rod. We were now officially grandparents. The baby remained in a life support crib for ten days but regained her constitution to come home to as comfortable surroundings as was possible. Rod was thrilled with the new arrival and had participated in the birth.
PAGE 53. END OF CHAPTER 8.
Chapter 9
Spirits And People
In January of 1990 Jane talked Maureen into going to a clairvoyant. This lady had a very good reputation as a medium. I know it is against my faith, but I went along too after all this lady was a catholic! She explained that this was not a defined reading but a probability to work on to see what's recorded on the 'two sides of the coin'.
Here is the reading for Maureen: Dont take this seriously please....
1. Good at doing a course (Not yet)
2. Will do volunteer work (Not yet)
3. You are the Rock - can bear more of the brunt (Yes)
4. Set in her ways (Yes)
5. Could have a 5th pregnancy (Too late)
6. Compatible to Frank (Yes)
7. Need therapy for relatives of bipolar (Yes has done it)
8. Change job and work for the Government (Not yet)
Score for Maureen Four - Yes; Three - Not Yet; One - No
Here is the reading for me (Frank) dont take this seriously !!
1. Very emotional (Yes)
2. Want to save the world (Yes but through Jesus Christ our Lord,)
3. Very conscientious (Yes)
4. Workaholic, don't know how to switch off (Yes)
5. Very talented, nearly a genius [but need's a break] (Wife says yes)
6. Live on tightrope (Yes always)
7. Low resistance to stress (Yes and no)
8. Given away talent (Yes)
9. Inferiority complex (Yes once not now.)
10. Who used to complement me as a child? Nobody! (Yes)
11. I want to be comfortable not rich (Yes)
12. Frightened of own power (Yes sometimes)
13. Know that your going to be successful (Yes)
14. Worried about things that happened in the past - but I had to have the experience (Yes)
15. Improve with age, experience and wisdom (Yes)
16. Lovely family (Yes)
PAGE 54.
17. Brain operation (Not yet) – Brain scan later – operation deferred BY WIFE.
18. Nearly died in car accident (VW), angel sent back (Yes)
19. We will see Italy (Not yet - again)
20. Proposal for change of residence (Yes)
21. Victory, more work, do not undersell (Yes)
22. Moods disrupt household, move off alone and relax (Yes)
23. Phone call contract apartments (much later)
24. Staff job offered (Yes later)
25. You will say no to contract job in Sydney (Yes)
26. We are going to live by water before Xmas 1990 (No - in 1994)
27. My aura looks okay (I can't see it)
28. I've got to watch my weight, not fat, but with a spare tyre (Yes)
29. Not out of work longer than one to two weeks False (No)
30. Win lottery, luck of the draw (3 million approx). (No winnings!for frank..)
Move interstate or warmer climate after (Not yet – if ever)
31. Mother (My mother) has come through to say 'Hi', she's with the angels (Yes) – If it can be believed! but I believe that demons impersonated her then..!
32. Materialistic losses will eventuate (Yes at least 4 times)
33. I will have young man working around me,
very talented. Teaching him how to express and design. (Not yet) had before reading...
34. Ambition to buy a home (it will come) (Not yet)
35. Friend from overseas steers us in the right direction (Not yet)
36. Possibility of another job (Short lived)..then..
37. We will not declare bankruptcy No (We did)
Score for Frank 25 - Yes; 7 - Not yet; 2 - No; One - I don't know (aura) I don't believe in readings, only example...of the riggamarole you get.
The clairvoyant said we opened up so she can go 'in us' at a soul level. The medium did not know us before, yet her accuracy is remarkable with very few 'no's' and the 'not yet' could happen in the near or distant future, so she said. Do spirits guide clairvoyants? Is this in line with Christianity? I don’t think so. So I am sorry I ever went. this is all in line with the "ACCULT" my friends.(I was ignorant of this fact then..)
On completion of the Met job I did a couple of residential jobs plus a Police Station. Work ended in 1990 and the recession hit full time and contract work.
Maureen admitted to me that she, Jane, Rachel and Rod, conducted a séance back in 1989 and had contacted my mother, Lidia. My mother spelled out that I was in for a big win in the lottery and that she was happy in the place where she was staying. Maureen and the others kept this secret from me until the reading in 1990 when the medium said 'my mother has come through to say hi .' I did not win in any lottery !!!
PAGE 55.
Jane had introduced séances to our house after being taught by a 'professional' in the art. Jane would do sneak séances with her brother and sister and I knew nothing about them. Later she included my mother and the rest of the family (now she is sorry). Now that I knew that my mother could be contacted I went against my principles.
To our demize then....We held a s
Next, I contacted my father (who was glad to be communicating after all this time) - he too was happy and answered personal questions correctly. To me then this was proof that all after-life exists and that we can communicate with the dead. Unless a devil’s bluff!. I had one more contact with mum and dad about a month later. Then I tried regularly about five more times without success. I was doing it too much I know it was wrong, but I do know I still love them and I believed at the time they have so much wonderful knowledge to impart? Spirits claim they can read your mind and watch you sometimes and the Bible is against that sort of thing, but why do the spirits try to contact us? Are we really sinners by going to a clairvoyant or holding a séance? YES WE ARE!! I have asked for forgiveness of GOD and I have been warned that these practices can be dangerous and have since ceased making contact. Possession by bad spirits is a potential danger . . . it has happened to my daughter Rachel for 2 minutes or so, she was momentarily changed and displayed a different character, then it left her!! So DON’T FOOL AROUND WITH IT, it is very dangerous….my ignorance of those experiences THEN!!, they offend GOD ! I learned later….you are actually communicating with demons that impersonate loved ones….don't need that! NOBODY NEEDS THAT!!!
Jane and Rod moved to another place. Rod’s true nature surfaced one night when he had a psychiatric attack, using a knife he slashed Jane's finger, cutting the tendon. She said he acted like a 'raving lunatic'. Frightened half to death, she had to have an operation to mend her finger. She returned to live at our home. She was even going to lay charges against him for the attack but later recanted. She forgave him and went back to their house.
Rod had fits of anger and was a heavy drinker. I was worried sick for Jane and young Jessica. They were not even married yet and the problems were enormous.
Rachel met Beau and fell in love at a tender age. Maureen and I could not keep them apart and Rachel threatened to leave home. Beau was only three years her senior and we were forced to recognise that puppy love could be real love. Rachel was working and had a degree of responsibility.
Because of our unemployment we were forced to return the Astra, the Commodore and the Celica to the finance companies. We had to declare bankruptcy in both our names. The recession, the bill's and the borrowed finance made it impossible to continue as we were.
In February of 1991 Rachel and Beau held their engagement party at a hall in Bayswater. Friends and family on both sides turned up. The night was a success at the time...
The strife continued between Rod and Jane and she finally decided to take Jessica and return to the family home. I bought a caravan to house them.
PAGE 56.
Paul left and returned home again - cars and girls were uppermost in his mind and he had trouble with money and buying new cars.
Twelve cars at 22 attest to his being like me somewhat.
My son Adrian likes karate, gym work, body building, motor bikes, computers. He is a very loving boy, but a boy he is. He does not hide his rough spots but he is slowly learning and improving - we love all our children very much.
Paul became engaged to Marlene in 1994. She is a nice and is preparing for the future. They married later in 1997. Rachel was expecting a baby years after the engagement and Beau was keen to become a father. She was not wanting to marry yet because we, the parents, could not afford her dream $20,000 wedding. Rachel was eighteen and made a wonderful mother.
I believe dreams are sometimes inhabited by spirits. We are our soul, which is a mind, will and emotions within our earthly bodies. Sometimes when we sleep our spirit is somehow connected with good or bad spirits. Our spirit sometimes can leave the body (this is known as astral travel or projection and can be dangerous). A ten thousand-kilometre voyage can take a second! So it is generally believed.
I know that I am going against my religion by describing this, however, beings from the spirit world have revealed themselves to me. These have been:
Good spirits Spirit of God and all who have been chosen to promote love and happiness and good knowledge see the new & old testament (Bible)
Bad spirits That of the devil, evil creatures, beings that want to darken your soul ... TO PREVENT THEM...put on the ARMOUR OF GOD see
the Christian Bible Ephesians 6:10 to 18...
I believe that spirits from the other world have in the past caused my 'voices' and hallucinations. This may be bad spirits giving you information or a warning or just music. This can be as dramatic as you have read in this book - or as dramatic as your worst nightmare. Who or what is it that puts all that stuff' into your brain? It cant be just physical and by electrical and chemical reactions, but by the spirit, the mind the will and especially the EMOTIONS can play a big part in your undoing sometimes. Or your emotional trigger can bring you undone and cause you to have a breakdown...if you dont WATCH IT! YOU CAN CONTROLL YOUR FEELINGS !
PAGE 57.END OF CHAPTER 9. SEE PAGE 58.
FOR PREVIOUS CHAPTER 9. SEE PAGE 57.
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BUILD! - Many ARK community AID centres – Globally and in Australia!
I frank niero DESIGNED THEM AND PROMOTING ALL ARK PROJECTS.
CLICK ON ADRESS BELOW FOR "SHARING TIME" AND "ARK COMMUNITY AID CENTRES" http://houseandlandinmelbourne.spaces.live.com/
It is also this web site - Give it to a friend etc.
ANY HONEST - GOOD HEARTED PERSON, WITH A FEW OTHERS, CAN START A NEW "SHARING TIME CO-OPERATIVE" - or start this by other means...(ANYWHERE IN THE GLOBE!) WE THE NIERO FAMILY WILL BE IN UNION WITH IT, SEE BELOW FOR CLICK ON WEB SITE - FULL DETAILED EXPLANATIONS, HOW TO START ONE OF OUR CO-OP'S IN COMMUNITIES!
The DIRECTORS REQUIRED - 5 minimum to start a CO-OP. But we want up to 12 to control/guide, each individual "SHARING TIME CO-OPERATIVE". THE 12 WILL ALSO RECEIVE A SMALL % FEE FOR THEIR POSITION FROM THEIR OWN CO-OP - Do you want to be part of a people that work to the gospel ideal in your community?
Then start praying for other directors with a shared vision and burden for the neighbourhood and for GOD'S wishes to be activated. And commit yourself to getting involved in COMMUNITY. Be the spark that lights a fire in all people, all faiths - give them hope and warm their hearts, HELP THEM TO ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS.
“Where God guides, he provides.” If God is calling you to a monumental task, then he’ll equip you to complete the task –and that equipping includes the Holy Spirit working from inside you.
Be confident in this, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6 NIV)
Explanation 1:
The concept shown below called "sharing time" is for communities to embrace around the world to comply with local laws and income earning laws/TAX... of the land but with a fairer deal to needy people or disadvantaged people and even helping other business people...it is not meant to be used for one or more person's greed but for world wide communities to embrace with love for GOD (be obedient to his wishes for us all) and for people to work in love for "fellow man or neighbour"..I hope it won’t be stolen by people that have great personal wealth making in mind but implemented by communities.... with the noahs ark theme park - 7 in the globe or even hundreds of "ark community aid centres”. Free schematic design issued to "ark community aid centre" builders if they join with our "sharing time" working co-operatives OR OTHERS IN SOME FORM OF UNITY...,
(or even existing churches and other existing community centres to embrace if they have the space and land, FACILITY for the project. WE CAN HELP YOU GET IT!)
If you keep on track for its use to help communities and not profiteer at the disadvantage of the poorer people which it is meant to help.....SIGNED Frank Niero.
"Sharing Time" - (part of my book. - "FROM TRIESTE TO THE ARK." - this book, give it to a friend etc.)
SEE – click on: http://fromtriestetotheark.spaces.live.com/ for my book.
READ THE BOOK AND SEE WHAT THE LORD FINALLY PUT IN MY HEART FOR OTHERS....
Explanation 2:
In 1992 I put together a plan that would help employ a great number of unemployed people in occupations that they would like, of their own choosing, mainly from home or in local premises. My reward is to see my plan “spark off” and to either work as an employed adviser to the plan or as a member [either in architecture or community service of some sort]. I Frank Niero hold the rights to this plan and don’t want it miss-used.
I invite any of you reading this to start a ‘Sharing time’ cooperative in your locality - After you read THIS, you should have a good knowledge of what it is about.
The great talent we have in our own community is virtually untapped. There are people with natural and learned skills that deserve a fair go. People are now demanding the best for their hard-earned dollar and demand still exists for worthwhile leisure, information, goods and services.
‘Sharing time’ members would operate as a cooperative of willing workers, paid servants to our community, doing our best to service every individual that requires our labour. Aiming always to improve what we do and to keep in touch with our fellow members. Also, we would be sharing time among our members. each community is a unique community, working hand in hand with other communities.
We would promote ourselves by distributing a C.D’S or D.V.D. – WEB-SITES directory or computer internet program of leisure, information, goods and services in our local area. Some C.D’S would be available free of charge to the consumer and would advise people of our services. We could publish a directory of Sharing time information until the C.D’S are started. Or place a functioning web site on the net about all the above.
Our group would encourage people of various skills to join Sharing time, part-time or full-time as you wish to run your service within the Sharing time Cooperative. For self employed, even persons with one skill to offer or even existing business that want to join up with us. We would be offering virtually free/chargeable in some cases, for training after yearly membership fees are paid .....A great help to all.
THIS COULD COVER!!
Household
Industry
Entertainment
C.D. DVD. WEB-SITES.
ETC. ETC.
If a person has a unique skill to offer his or her own community in:
Sport
Leisure
Presentation
Art
Profession.
Any type honest – good work. – no fraud or swindle will be tolerated.
The list goes on ...and on over 3,000 skills possible and many other clean, good interests.
We have a unique cash charging system that should keep costs low for the consumer. It is based on an hourly rate charging to the general public, plus a barter system of cash/barter or just barter amongst members only. With a special credit card for bartering goods etc for our members only.
The potential for variation of skills to be offered is almost limitless: