The last couple of posts have been about walking through the recovery from a serious injury. I’m still on that path. However, not all experiences are positive. Sometimes it’s better to not get to know the neighbors.

By Don Lacey  ·  July 2026  ·  AZAtheist.com  ·  7 min readCustom printed badges

Introduction

Before I begin, I’d like to note the passing of a good friend. Brian Arnold. He has been my friend for well over 10 years. I’ll miss him.

I’m a good person. I usually have a positive attitude and do my best to share my skills and abilities for the benefit of others. For example, on my second walk today, I was bringing some badges I recently printed for a Safeway cashier that I printed for her son and his friends. Her son goes to Mica Mountains High School and is on the baseball team. She asked if I could make her some badges. My 3D printer was idle, and I needed a project to distract me from the Net Flix and nap day that I had planned so I told her I’d make some up for her. I printed an example yesterday and showed it to her this morning on my first walk. She liked it and asked that make a few more for her son’s friends. It was easy for me to bring up the file I designed yesterday and make four copies. The printer produced the copies in about an hour. After applying the backing and the magnets, I was ready to take them back to Safeway when it was still morning. She works from 6 A.M. till about 2 P.M. so there was time. In a good mood and on my way back to Safeway, I ran into someone that I had seen walking in the neighborhood. He stopped and we had a brief conversation. It didn’t go well.

The conversation began pleasantly enough. I talked about my recovery and mentioned the 3D printing project I was doing for the Safeway cashier. Then the subject turned to politics. He claimed to be independent and unbiased but soon began praising the current administration. That should have been my cue to wish him well and move on, but I stayed. Before long, he was praising Pete Hegseth and arguing that killing people in the Gulf of Mexico and giving “no quarter” was not really a war crime because the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court. Again, I should have recognized the ignorance and walked away. Instead, against my better judgment, the discussion continued. It shifted to Medicare for All. I said I did not think the government should provide universal health care only to people whose qualifying condition is being over 65. I also said for-profit health insurance is a bad system because it works against the people who pay for it: they hand over their money, then often must fight in court to get coverage when they need it. He responded by closing his eyes theatrically and launching into a speech about capitalism being best in all circumstances. I told him there are situations where socialism makes more sense. He insisted that socialism is never appropriate. At that point, I had had enough. I told him libraries and fire departments are socialist examples. Then I flipped him off and told him to go fuck himself. I did not make a friend today.

“Reason is the greatest engine of human progress — and the surest defense against those who would substitute authority for evidence.”

We All Have Different Motives

When I retired a few years back, I knew that I would have to find something that would get me out of bed each day. I remember when people retire, they often don’t last long unless they have something that keeps them going. For me it was the pursuit of reason.

I became active in the American Atheists and took over the Tucson Atheists Meetup group. I also started the Skeptics of Tucson Meetup Group and joined the local Humanist group called, at that time, the Tucson Center for Inquiry Community. That was in March of 2008.

Not All Growth is Sustainable

The growth in my activities was phenomenal. I had a bit more energy back then. I was a bit younger back then too. There were other things that kept me busy. I became the webmaster of the Classic Chevy Club of Tucson. The Tucson Hiking Meetup Group was another organization I supported. There were a couple of events that took a great deal of time and effort. Every year, I put on a big Halloween event along with a Winter Solstice party.

As mentioned, there are always bumps. Getting older is unavoidable. Perhaps the COVID pandemic was avoidable, but it happened. One of my organizations suffered a rift. Avoidable? Maybe, but inevitable when leadership ages and younger people decide to strike out with their “better” ideas. Your feelings about that situation will depend on what side of the fence you’re on.

There has been a real, measurable decline in group participation since the pandemic. It’s happening in many civic groups.

People didn’t just lose the habit of gathering — their social metabolism changed. The pandemic reshaped comfort levels, routines, expectations, and even the meaning of “community.”

Then, the unexpected happens. I got run over by a bicyclist while performing the community service of maintaining a multiuse walking trail. The changes that I’m going through are more personal than social. They are personal. I’ve often said, “I’m a cardboard box short of being a hoarder.” What that means is I have a lot of stuff. My stuff is organized, however. Much of the stuff that I have are unfinished projects and raw materials for future “un-started” projects. That bounce on the pavement on the Loop made me reassess some priorities. Now, I must decide which projects need to be permanently abandoned because there is not a chance that I’ll finish them in the time I have left.

Bumps Are Not Unscalable Mountains

Sometimes bumps are beneficial. My accident led me to get rid of a Bow Flex machine that wasn’t being used and it caused me to pass along a Pine Wood Derby track. It is driving me to get rid of a few other things as well. The bumps are not only beneficial to me. My neighbors a now enjoying their new exercise machine. A Boy Scout pack will benefit from their electronically scored track which will make their events argument and trouble free. It’s difficult to find a good outcome from finding out that a neighbor is a Trump supporter but at least I know now he is not to be trusted, and I’ll know not to lend him tools. That’s something, I guess. Declining memberships opens the door to smaller, more intimate groups. Smaller groups feel safer, more predictable, and less draining.

While we’re making the best of the situation. It’s important to remember that trying to go back to better times prevents us from making the future great.

Conclusion

Every day is an opportunity for a better tomorrow.