Many people are seeking love, but sometimes it is infiltrated by hate. We all have our desperate needs. We need freedom from spiritual confusion and Worldly darkness. We need to know for ourselves. One of the great truths of the Restoration is that the Heavens are open—that we too can receive light and knowledge from on high. However, we must be wary of a spiritual trap. Some people believe that with the right dope and good pictures in their heads that they do not need anything more. The prisons are filled with heroin vibrations. Junkies involved in the ancient cult devotion to Mother Opium, and the graves are full of people devoted to Father Fentanyl. Some go to prison with certain naïve, liberal hypothetical prejudices against self-defense. Insulated from the threat of violence, starvation, disease, brute force, they are nonviolent, seeped in middle class serenity not shared by the majority of the World population. Now, they have to figure out what they will do when armed violence threatens their life and their freedom. The needle or the gun? Often, individuals enter prison with a fear of Lady H. (heroin). Logically, they know that no one has the right to put anything in their bodies. However, they maintain a moral superiority about drug users. This is not good because often times when we judge people, we will learn why they suffer the way they do. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25

 “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” reports Matthew 7.1. Your brain controls everything your body does from breathing to calculus. It is as high-tech as it gets. The various parts of your brain work in a miraculous combination to run your entire body. However, drug abuse can seriously alter how your brain and body work. Harmful narcotics change the way you think and feel by posing as unhealthy substitutes for chemicals that help your brain run normally. These mind-altering drugs can cause addictions that are not easily overcome. And even one-time use can be harmful. After just trying heroin once, every cell in your body whispers her name. One-time drug abuse can be harmful, and even lethal. Continued recreational use of drugs causes brain damage and increasingly compromises your ability to make decisions. Habit-forming drugs not only affect your body, but as you surrender your body and will to them, they will also destroy the other command center of your body—your spirit. Choosing to disobey the Word of Wisdom will lead you away from the Lord. Trying drugs “just once” can physically harm you in some cases. However, “just once” will always harm you spiritually. Narcotic addiction serves the design of eternal death, for it disrupts the channel to the holy spirit of truth. Addiction has the capacity to disconnect the human will and nullify moral agency. It can rob one of the power to decide. Agency is too fundamental a doctrine to be life in such jeopardy. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25

Stay away from all drugs that are not prescribed by your doctor. Drugs that are not meant for you, can absolutely destroy you. They will take away your powers of reason. They will enslave you in a vicious and terrible way. They will destroy your mind and your body. They will build within you such cravings that you will do anything to satisfy them. The same goes for abusing prescription drugs or any other addictive substance, including alcohol and tobacco. Each of us has had times in our lives when we have made poor choices. We are all in desperate need of the redemptive power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Each of us must repent of any rebellion. “For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.” He cannot because he knows what it takes to become like Him. Many of us have allowed weakness to develop in our character. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we, like the Ammonites, can build spiritual fortifications between ourselves and any past mistakes that Worldly people attempt to exploit. The spiritual protections built around the Ammonite fathers blessed and strengthened themselves, their families, their country, and future generations. The same can be true with us. So how do we build these eternal fortifications. The first step must be sincere, thorough, and complete repentance. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, each of us can become clean and the burden of our rebellion will be lifted. Remember, repentance is not punishment. It is hope-filled path to a more glorious future. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25

The ancients, even though they believed in destiny, believed primarily in nature, in which they participated wholeheartedly. To rebel against nature amounted to rebelling against oneself. It was butting one’s head against a wall. Therefore, the only coherent act of rebellion was to commit suicide (not recommended). Destiny, for the Greeks, was a blind force to which one submitted, just as one submitted to the forces of nature. The acme of excess to the Greek mind was to beat the sea with rods—an act of insanity worthy only of barbarians. Of course, the Greeks described excess, since it exists, but they gave it its proper place and, by doing so, also defined its limits. Achilles’ defiance after the death of Patroclus, the imprecations of the Greek tragic heroes cursing their fate, do not imply complete condemnation. (Edipus knows that he is not innocent. He is guilty in spite of himself; he is also part of destiny. He complains, but he says nothing irreparable. Antigone rebels, but she does so in the name of tradition, in order that her brothers may find rest in the tomb and that the appropriate rites may be observed. In her case, rebellion is, in one sense, reactionary. The Greek mind has two aspects and in its meditations almost always re-echoes, as counterpoint to its most tragic melodies, the eternal words of Edipus, who, blind and desperate, recognizes that all is for the best. Affirmation counterbalances negation. Even when Plato anticipates, with Callicles, the most common type of Nietzschean, even when the latter exclaims: “But when a man appears who has the necessary character…he will escape, he will trample on our formulas, our magic spells, our incantations, and the laws, which are all, without exception, contrary to nature. Our slave has rebelled and has shown himself to be the master”—even then, though he rejects law, he speaks in name of nature. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25

So long as anyone lives in a state of uncontrolled emotion, and especially of ungoverned desire, so long does he remain unready for entry into the higher consciousness. For he is unable to bring his mind into that unruffled balance state which is necessary to reflect like a mirror the truth and peace of that consciousness. When anyone is carried away by an emotion, in most cases it happens before he knows it. This is why some sort of training in self-awareness, self-observation, and self-control becomes a requisite. If the day itself is reviewed at night, all of these can be practiced during the day at odd times more easily and effectively. The emotional agitations will certainly come to an end when he finds his real inner peace, for he cannot have the two together. To have the peace he has to give up the agitations. There will be no relief from this continual oscillation between opposite moods until he reaches the sixth degree. His capacity to recover quickly from, and react positively to, the unexpected shocks of life will be one of the benefits of this cultivation of calmness. When uncontrolled, emotion may be very destructive to oneself and to others, but controlled it becomes constructive and beneficial to all. If they uselessly seek to achieve moral perfection, they may hopefully seek to achieve inner peace. The man who holds to this discipline of the emotions will not be easily embarrassed when friends desert him or enemies attack. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25

Where the hands of another man may may tremble, his heart bleed, and his eyes fill with tears, the philosopher will know peace. The impression which other persons make on him are to be separated from the emotional and personal feelings they arouse in him. How else is he to know the truth about them? The practice of calmness frees a man from the fretful, nervous tension so many carry around with them; he brings a pleasant air of repose with him. This coolness where other men might see them with passion or emotion, this detachment from events and persons, things and places, is exacerbating to those who misunderstand it. Why was it required of candidates for entry into the Pythagorean School of Wisdom that they be of a “contented disposition”? Why does the ancient Christian Scripture forbid the teaching of the deepest knowledge to one “who is not tranquil in the mind”? The practice of calmness means that no emotions are squandered, no negative thoughts entertained. Walter Hilton, the medieval English religious mystic, remarked on the fact that the advanced Christian is no longer bubbling with religious devotion or weeping with religious fear, since emotional feelings are subject to changes, hence unstable, for he “is now wholly at peace, and there is little outward indication of fervour.” The pathological resentment in their hearts contributes toward the ideological resistance in their heads to truth. He who values inner peace will resist being swept away by strong negative emotions, will try to keep in command when the pressure of fear, anxiety, wrath, or hate threatens this peace. As we win control of our feelings, they become less a source of negative thoughts and more of upholding ones. #RandolphHarris 6 of 25

We use the term “emotionalist” in the same derogatory sense that we use “intellectualist.” Only an unflinching devotion to truth and an unyielding exercise of reason can see through these insincerities of sentimentality. Intelligent generosity is philosophical. Sentimental generosity is not. So long as he mistakes his own longings for actualities, so long will disappointment wait for him in the end. If we let it stay in the mind long enough and feed it often enough, a worry can easily become an obsession. Human power in controlling the emotions consists solely in the Understanding, it follows that no one rejoices in blessedness because he has controlled his lusts, but contrariwise his power of controlling his lusts arises from the blessedness itself. The passage from jealousy to hatred is not a long one. The negative, discordant, and disruptive emotions require treatment by psychological means just as much as the physical body may require treatment by medical, surgical, herbal, naturopathic, magnetic, or manipulative means. The first step is to deny every form of outward expression to those emotions which are definitely harmful to his spiritual progress: to resentments, wraths, envies, and hates. If he let them envelop him in a haze of excitement or of emotion, how can he discover the truth that some of his strongest desire arise out of imagined needs? #RandolphHarris 7 of 25

If the value of a calm stability in our emotional life could be sufficiently known and appreciated, we would have less unhappiness, less tragedy, and less inefficiency. In moments of usual calm, he may recognize the truth of these statements, but never in moments of personal agitation, whether it be painful or pleasurable agitation. He must learn to master his baser emotions and to free himself from emotional frailties which, while not objectionable in common everyday life, may weakened his capacity to comprehend the truth. The free indulgence of undesirable personal emotions leads to neuroticism. Those who most need the excellent discipline of checking such emotions by the power of will and eventually extinguishing them by the activity of reason, are unfortunately those who are least ready to submit to it. If he asks himself whether when dying he would like to remember that he had reacted to it in a negative way, when he could have reacted optimistically, he may put each irritating situation of his life in a truer perspective. Since a kind of order reigned in Nature, it should be made by men to reign among themselves. They ought to live in an orderly manner and thus they could live in civilized harmony. This requires them to control emotions and not allow themselves to be swept hither and thither. The individual who is touch and irritable should be lest his traits flare up into open anger, still more least anger grow by degrees into intense hate and aggressive spite. These neurotics seeking comfort, who invade mysticism to its determent, display their self-willed, petty egotism by resenting the discipline of their emotions, and thus contribute to their own further suffering. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25

Th man who is constantly petulant and consistently pessimistic obstructs the inflow of higher forces. Structural caste, or alpha reality, involves the genetic division into specialized functions—such as worker hum-ant, warrior hum-ant, drone hum-ant, and builder hum-ant-that characterize hive organisms like social insects and civilized hum-ants. Structural caste in insects is easily identified by visible morphological-ana-tomical-differences. In humans’ neurological differences are more important in determining the behaviour of each caste. Obviously, highly complex neurological differences characterize insect hives. It may well be that individual insects have more illusions of individuality than we credit them. The nervous systems of juvenile worker-ants are imprinted with specific culture cues. Each corridor of each ant hill has its highly characteristic odors, textures and humidities that identify the inhabitants. We are reflex-chauvinists when we naively deny that ant hill cultures—100 million years in building—offer their caste members any less sense of individual and hive uniqueness than is offered the average hum-ant. Structural caste is genetic-anatomical templating that produces involuntary-robot behaviours. For example, a drone bee looks different from worker bees and queen bees. Structural caste differences characterize homo sapiens. Male and female—is one structural caste difference. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25

Big, muscled, hyper-adrenalized aggressive are a separate caste—the warriors, the Amazons. Danity, fragile, nurturant minister—types are another caste. Chestmasters like Bobby Fisher, FBI top-cops like J. Edgar Hoover, feisty politicians like Bella Abzug and sultry singers like Aaliyah Haughton and actresses like Marilyn Monroe are caste-exemplars. The caste distinctions are blatantly visible. It is interesting to note that politically repressive countries forbid talk about genetic caste-differences. Discussion of genetic types is taboo among modern humans. For example, Marxism held that society determined behaviour. Caste theories, to a socialist, reek of elitist racism. Although politically incorrect, these differences exist nonetheless and were taken for granted by earlier societies. In western democracies, the Intellectual-Scientists-Caste denies caste differences because of the hive commitment to equality, the revulsion against Nazi, Arab and Zionist genetic fanaticism makes caste discussions verboten among liberals—and most scientists are liberals.  By contrast uneducated, lower-class people readily accept the reality of racial and caste-differences. Country bumpkins and illiterate farmers are aware of the effects of breeding and thus are far more ethnologically sophisticated than liberal Nobel Prize laureates. Common sense suggests that there are a limited number of basic genetic castes that characterize the human species, and that new caste differences will emerge as homo sapiens continue its accelerated differentiated evolution. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25

Transactional analysts did not start out with the idea that human life plans are constructed like myths and fairy tales. They simply observed that childhood decisions, rather than grown-up planning, seemed to determine the individual’s ultimate destiny. No matter what people thought or said they were doing with their lives, they seemed driven by some inner compulsion to strive for a final payoff that was often different from what they put down in their autobiographies or employment resumes. Many who said they wanted to make money lost it, while all around them others were growing rich. Some who claimed to be seeking love found hate even in the one who loved them. Parents who declared they did everything to make their children happy ended up with addicts, convicts, and children who suffered mysteriously from death by suicide. Righteous Christian Bible students committed murders and child rapes. These were the contradictions which had existed since the beginning of the human race; they were the ones that operas sang about and that sold newspapers. It gradually became clear that while none of this made Adult sense, it did make sense to the Child part of the personality. That was the part that liked myths and fairy tales, and believed that that was the way the World once was or could be. It was not surprising, therefore, to find that when children planned their lives, they often followed the plot of a favourite story. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25

The real surprise was that these plans persisted for twenty, forty, or eighty years, and that in the end they usually prevailed over “common sense.” Working backward from a death by suicide, car crash, delirium tremens, jail sentence, or divorce, and ignoring the “diagnosis” to find out what really happened, soon showed that these outcomes were nearly all planned because the age of six. The plans or scripts had certain elements in common, which formed a “script apparatus.” The same apparatus seemed to be at work in good scripts: creators, leaders, heroes, venerable grandfathers, and people eminent in their professions. This apparatus had to do with how the life time was structured, and turned out to be the same as the apparatus used in fairy tales for that purpose. In such stories, the programming is done by giants and giantesses, ogres and witches, fairy godmothers and grateful beasts, and sulky magicians of either gender. In real life, all these parts are played by the parents. Psychotherapists know more about “bad” scripts than about “good” ones because they are more dramatic and people spend more time talking about them. Dr. Freud, for example, cites in numerable case histories of losers, and about the only winders in his works are Moses, Leonardo da Vinci, and himself. Only a few winners bother to find out how they got that way, while losers are often very anxious to know so that they can do something about it. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25

As we deal with losing scripts, where are knowledge is quite precise, keep in mind that the script apparatus consists of items, translated by the child into Martian imperatives. The parents tell the child how to end his life. “Get lost!” and “Drop dead!” are death decrees. So is “Die rich.” “You’ll end up like your (alcoholic) father,” is a life sentence. Such a command is called the script payoff, or curse. They then give him an unfair negative command that will keep him from lifting the curse: “Do not bother me!” or “Do not act smart!” (=Get lost!) or “Stop complaining!” (=Drop dead!”). This is the script injunction or stopper. Injunctions are given by Controlling Parent or crazy Child ego state. They encourage behaviour that will lead into the payoff: “Have a drink!” or “You are not going to let him get away with that!” This is called the script provocation, or come-on. It comes from a mischievous Child ego state, or demon, in the parent, and is usually accompanied by a “ha ha.” They also give him a prescription for filling in time while waiting for the action. This is in the form of a moral precept. “Work hard!” may mean “Work hard all week so you can get drunk on Saturday night.” “Take care of every penny!” may mean “Take care of every penny so you can lose it all at once.” This is the antiscript slogan, and comes from a nurturing Parent ego state. In addition, they teach him what he has to know in real life to carry out the script: how to mix drinks, how to keep books, how to cheat. This is the pattern or program, a form of Adult instruction. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25

The child, on his part, has urges and impulses which fight the whole script apparatus that is laid on him by his parents. “Knock on the door!” (vs. Get lost), “Act smart!” “Take off!” (vs. Work hard), “Spend it all now!” (vs. Save every penny), “Do it wrong.” These are called scripty impulses, or the demon. Tucked away somewhere is a way to life the curse. “You can succeed after you’re forty.” This spellbreaker is called the antiscript or internal release. However, often the only antiscript is death. “You will get your reward in Heaven.” Exactly the same apparatus for structuring time is found in myths and fairy tales. The payoff or curse: “Get lost!” (Hansel and Gretel) or “Drop dead!” (Snow White and Sleeping Beauty). The injunction or stopper: “Do not be too curious!” (Adam and Eve, Pandora). The provocation or come-on: “Prick your finger with a spindle, ha ha.” (Sleeping Beauty). The counterscript slogan: “Work hard until you meet the prince!” (Kari Woodengown), or “Be nice until she says she loves you!” (Beauty and the Beast). The pattern or program: “Be kind to animals and they will help you in time of need.” (Pretty Goldilocks). The impulse or demon: “I will take just one look!” (Bluebeard). The Antiscript or spellbreaker: “You can stop being a frog when she throws you against the wall.” (The Frog Prince), or “You will be free after twelve years of labout.” (Hercules). #RandolphHarris 14 of 25

This is the anatomy of the script apparatus. The curse, the stopper, and the come-on form the script controls, and the other four items can be used to fight them. However, the child lives in a fairy-tale World, beautiful, mediocre, or gruesome, and believes mainly in magic. Thus, he seeks a magic way out, through superstition and fantasies. When that does not work, he falls back on the demon. However, the demon has one peculiarity. When the demon in the child says, “I am going to defy you, ha ha!” the demon in the parent says “That is exactly what I want you to do, ha ha.” Thus, the script provocation and the scripty impulses, the come-on and the demon, work together to bring about the loser’s doom. The parent wins when the child loses, and the child loses by trying to win. Interpretation of experience is another matter. It is easy to go haywire on that, particularly if I insist on one interpretation. When I was sick, my sickness was diagnosed “organic”—the somatic part of psychosomatic—but I did not feel sure about that, so I studied myself. I discovered that while I could decide for either psychic or somatic, as soon as I removed my decision there were both—interacting now as they had through all my life. Next, I asked me if I had brough my sickness upon myself (as some people said). I went into this deeply and found that I could build an equally good case for my sickness having been dealt out to me as a punishment (to make me learn). Or it could be retribution. Or simply cause and effect. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25

In a groping, unclear way, I wrote to Aldous Huxley “Perhaps it is all of them and they are all the same thing seen differently.” My difficulty in accepting the truth of my own discovery was purely and simply that I did not know anyone else who saw it as I did. Each person had one view, and that was the way that I was supposed to see it. When I said (experimentally) that my sickness was organic, some people got mad. When I said that it was psychosomatic, others got mad. When I said that it was both, everyone got mad. The effect of everyone being mad at me was to make me feel that I must be “mad” myself. When I tried to express my stumbling beginning knowing that the same experience can be seen in many ways and expressed in different concepts or theories, any of which may be useful to me if I like it and use it wisely, then I was “mad” to other people. “Willam’s smart, but if he thinks he knows more than the experts, he’s crazy.” Which experts? At that time, I didn’t know the ones who would agree with me. I hunted them out, over a period of years, to prove to me that I was not crazy, because when I thought that I was, I became a little crazy—mixed up and everyone else around me was seeing. I am no longer troubled about being “crazy”—for probably the first time in my life—because I know that I can become confused, but also, I can become unconfused. If I let myself to along with it, I can let myself go into confusion with confidence and I will come out all right. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25

Many followed the idea that loyalty is more essential than success. This point of view is entirely false. Loyalty in itself is not something that can be seen. It is best expressed through accomplishment. I am no longer afraid that this in itself may be crazy—to let myself go into a kind of madness, to explore it—no matter how many other people may think that it is. Without the fear, there is nothing to be afraid of. I can accept my own experience and know it to be me. It is often difficult to distinguish between a need and a want. Wants are infinite in number, and they change moment by moment. I want an Icon yacht, but I do not need one to survive right now. I may, however, need a yacht to achieve the status that is essential to me. Wants are a person’s interpretation of what he or she needs in order to achieve happiness or wellbeing. Needs are what scientists agree a person requires to sustain life and to foster growth of desirable human potentialities. Incentives, rewards, and reinforcers are what other people believe will move you. A man needs food. His wide knows he really likes rare roast beef. She may reward (or reinforce) his attention to her wishes by cooking it for him. Whoever possess the means of gratifying needs and wants has power to influence action, this makes a person vulnerable to being controlled by others in ways that can undermine personal freedom and dignity. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25

A person is vulnerable in this way, however, only when others know what he or she needs or wants—what it takes to “buy” that person. Competence at gratifying one’s basic needs can protect one from being controlled by others. There are situations in which self-concealment may be required in order to elude control. If a person wishes the love of others, on the other hand, they must “open” themselves and disclose their needs and wants to the beloved ones, who can then act in their behalf. It takes trust to accept the love of another. The other must earn this trust by being trustworthy. What do persons need for a healthy personality? What does one need for oneself in order to be free to give to the World as well as take from it? Maslow presents an authoritative analysis of needs. He stated a need can be adjudged basic if: its deprivation breeds illness (mental or physical), gratification of the need prevents illness, identification and gratification of the need restores health in a person who is presently ill, the deprived person prefers gratification of this need over any other, under conditions of free choice. The need is not in a state of tension or privation in healthy persons. A subjective feeling of yearning, lack, or desire prevails when the need is not fulfilled. Gratification of the need feels good; gratification produces a subjective sense of healthy wellbeing. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25

There is further implied the idea that when the need is met, the person does not think about it until the next time it arises; he or she is free for other pursuits. While there are may systems of needs, Maslow’s hierarch is perhaps the best known. Without specifying which of the needs are explicitly basic, the system does imply that the lower needs are prepotent, that is, that they must be satisfied before the other, higher needs can be taken care of. Maslow’s list from basic to higher order is as follows: Physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love, self-esteem, self-actualization, cognitive and conative, aesthetic needs. Keeping in mind the entire rage of needs, one may get a perspective on the importance of the basic needs. The concept of the basic need is easier to demonstrate with animals than it is with humans. In animals the maternal drive is usually considered to be the most fundamental. Even Maslow’s system for humans has been challenged by some recent research suggesting that the hierarchy of needs is not unassailable as theory. Nevertheless, the system is useful in providing a perspective over the whole need system of the human. Opinions among biologists and psychologists vary about the precise number basic needs in humans. Agreement can be reached on what is required for sheer physical survival, but not on what humans need to fulfill their unfathomed potentialities. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25

The City of Sacramento Fire Department proactively and aggressively protects life, property, and the environment with a culture of safety and leadership. They serve all with integrity, respect, and professionalism. “I was working the night shift when an alarm went off. The street side of this old loft building was a lamp store, filled with heavy smoke and high heat. We started to go in for our salvage operation, and one of the firefighters said, ‘There’s no sense going up there because the heat is too high.’ So we backed down. There was nothing for us to do at that point because the fire hadn’t been located yet, just the heavy smoke and high heat. So our officer sent three of us around to the Street side, Pete Pearly, Bob Sampson, and myself. The fire companies came around too, Engine X and Ladder X and one other. One of the battalion chiefs told us to force the door of a store on that side of the loft building, a lingerie store. We did that, and the store was clear. No smoke. We came out and went next door to Wonder Drug. The door was already forced, and there were fire companies in the cellar. Y was one of the lieutenants there. The drugstore was clear. We went down in the cellar to see if there was any salvage operation that we could do. There was nothing. The cellar was clear of smoke. The firemen were pulling ceilings in the back where there was a cinder block partition. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25

“We went back upstairs to the drugstore level and started to check it out. We felt the walls, and the wall in the rear was very hot. But there was no smoke. There was a fire in the walls and flooring, but nothing was visible. I learned later that nine successive layers of flooring had been laid there, and that acted as insulation for a time. As we were going out, a chief’s aide was coming in, and we told him what we found. He said, ‘Yeah, we’re brining a line in.’ A couple of guys from X Engine were brining the line in, there was a probie and a guy outside the door feeding the line in. I knew the location of these men as I passed them. We walked out, went next door, and started up the staircase to go above the fire to see fi there was anything we could do, and a fellow from A Truck said, ‘Patrol, get out of there, the heat’s building up, and it sounded like there were cracks.’ We took off down the stairs, and the minute we hit the street, the drugstore just lit up. Heavy flames. A pure white flame. Super heat. Guys were tugging on the line Engine X had taken into the basement. We ran over and tried to help, but we couldn’t pull it. Guys from Ladder X were coming out. Lieutenant Y was burned on the ears and I don’t know where else. Everything happened so fast. Nobody knew what really happened, or who was in there, or if anybody was missing. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25

“I tried to tell some chief that I had an idea of where the men were, but in the excitement, he seemed to be devastated. I didn’t realize the building had collapsed. I didn’t hear anything, all I saw was the pure white flame coming out. So firefighter A, B, and I went to the store on the other side of the drugstore, which was a camera store, and we went down in the cellar. I know there was a truck company in the drug store basement, Ladder X, and an engine company, I didn’t know which. I figured, if they’re where I think they are and if they’re alive, we can breach this wall and get to them. There was a wooden partition along that wall, and when we got behind it, we saw that the foundation was built of boulders. We started at it with a pickax, and Chief C heard the sounds. He came down, thinking they were tapping noises from the trapped men alive in the cellar next door. The didn’t see us at first behind the partition, then we showed ourselves and explained what was going on. Then our own officer came down and he had me go up and talk to Commissioner D. I drew maps of the drugstore layout and showed where the men might be. We went to the basement next door again and went over it again with Chief C. I had no pencil or paper, so I drew my map on a cardboard box with a nail. I really didn’t feel that the men were dead at that time. I thought there was hope. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25

“Then the chief said, ‘All right, everybody get out of here.’ I started to leave, and he said, ‘No, Patrol, you stay.’ The rescue company came down, I remember it was definitely Rescue X and may another company. I pointed out to them the two places where I though the men might be. They brought down jackhammers, and they had to rig slings with rope from the beams, so that they could wield the heavy jackhammers against the wall. When they opened the hole, that’s where a couple of men were. D from Ladder E, I remember seeing him. And Lieutenant F. They were burned, legs and arms. So we found a couple right off the bat. As the night went on, and the next day, they started to pick them out from upstairs, too. There were twelve who died in this fire, one the largest in the history of the Sacramento Fire Department at one incident. I stayed on the scene for two days, just doing what everyone else was, making a chain, passing debris, until the men were found. I saw a lot of love, a lot of family. There were firemen there from all the districts. It was like one whole family just came together like bees to a hive. They all took their turn on the line. It was a real sad scene. To see six firemen carrying out another dead brother in a wire basket and everybody taking their helmets off as the body passed by was sad. Some of them—grown men—were crying though most of them didn’t know the guy. It didn’t matter, he was their brother. Like being in a battle and seeing one of your comrades go down, you take care of your own. Outsiders don’t realize, even my wife doesn’t understand the comradeship and the closeness. There’s really a family in the fire department. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25

“I saw a fireman’s wife outside, crying. Later, after the funerals, she took the time to write me a letter, thanking me. I really think that going through the wall was the quickest way to get to the trapped men. When Chief C wrote me up for a department medal, he stated in his report that I had pinpointed exactly where the men were. That made me feel good. I had felt bad initially when I was not acknowledged by a member of the fire department. Later on, I saw the reason: it was just the excitement and confusion. I think he was in a state of shock himself. The ordeal took its toll on me. I went back to the fire patrol house and stayed there for a whole day, sleeping. At the funeral, the fire patrol was stationed up front, right in the front of Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. I guess that was kind of an honor. To this day, I couldn’t say if it was a rainy day or foggy or what. It was sad to hear the muffled drums and to see the lines and lines of firefighters who came from all over the country. It was a big shock for everyone to see the apparatus carrying the deceased members. It was quite an experience.” We all have life events that, when we recall them years later, acquire new and important meaning. There is a great benefit in seeing one’s treasures through someone else’s eyes. My concern is that we often take for granted the unique and valuable blessings that we have of membership in the Lord’s Church, and in a state of underappreciation, we are more likely to be complacent about our Church membership and are less valiant contributors to building a community of Saints. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25

 We are blessed with a great and noble heritage that offers a pathway to truth that veers dramatically from the so-called ways of the World. We need to remind ourselves about the value of our heritage so we do not underestimate its worth. The Sacramento Fire Department has a firm adherence to a code of moral and ethical standards: Honesty, Trust, and Accountability. You can help save lives by donating to the Sacramento Fire Department. Also, it is important to raise your children to love America and to be patriotic. By having pride in America, and purchasing American made cars and other goods and services, we can make America a creditor nation again and ensure that this sacred land will be enjoy by your family for generations to come. Teaching children to love God and Jesus Christ will also preserve our American heritage and allow us to make sure our children are set on a path that will lead them to success and help them reserve a seat in Heaven. The Ten Commandments in the Christian Bible are a good guideline of how everyone should live. Furthermore, by respecting law and order, we will ensure the tranquility of this great nation and make sure that we are setting an exemplary example for other nations to follow. And by treating others with dignity, respect, and compassion, this will ensure that we are following the golden rule, “Do on to others as you would have them do on to you,” reports Luke 6.31. By following the golden rule, we will attract more of God’s grace into our lives and others will treat with respect. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. Earthly longings bid retire, quench the passions’ baneful fire; to the wayward, sin-oppressed, bring thou the divine behest: Thou shalt rest. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25

The Winchester Mystery House

The basement is calling! It says to send some snacks…. and your bestie for emotional support! 🔦

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion. For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/