This world is more curious than I can possibly imagine. A hundred days ago, a rather bitter poet named Mark Baumer started walking barefoot across America to spread the news about the claimed imminent and immense dangers of climate change. He was a barefoot preacher delivering sermons about Thermageddon. He kept a daily online journal of his travels and his thoughts on his blog.
Along the way, the election of Donald Trump interrupted an idyllic journey and left him very concerned. I pick up the story three days ago, on the hundredth day of his journey, after he’d walked from Rhode Island to Florida, with all images from his daily online journal:
He wrote in his journal of his thoughts, a most curious, semi-poetic, troubled, and sad recounting. He is obsessed with imagined dangers involving Donald Trump
He spoke of the climate … and of course of hating Trump …
And we can’t forget his hatred of Trump, not to mention his hatred of the world and of himself … he’s all about equal opportunity.
Finally, having moved past anger and depression in the stages of his grief, after bemoaning the climate, he gets to bargaining, saying he’ll take everyone’s pain.
The next day, his hundred-and-first day on the road, as he was walking along the shoulder of the road in Sarasota, he was run over and killed. By an SUV.
I have absolutely no idea what the moral of this story might be, and I certainly take no pleasure of any kind at his death—each man’s death diminishes me, as the poet said.
The curious part, and the reason I posted this, was that he foreshadowed his own death. A picture on the last page saying “Killed” with an arrow going forwards? A statement of “bring me your hatred and pain”?
And finally, the ultimate irony of his being killed by his avowed enemy, the CO2-emitting SUV.
Life truly cannot be imitated.
w.
Skating Under The Ice 
I consider myself to be a compassionate individual, I go out of my way to try and help those that are truly in need as well as an awful lot of people that aren’t really in need.
That being said, karma is a b****!!
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john l coghlan January 23, 2017 at 9:33 pm
I consider myself to be a compassionate individual, I go out of my way to try and help those that are truly in need as well as an awful lot of people that aren’t really in need.
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Come on, mental health is not something to trivialize – this young man’s mental status is not right – he needs help.
Can somebody get this man some socks?
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He’s Dead, Jim.
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Okay – you take the tricorder. I get the wallet.
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I’m sure the county coroner can. Why should they?
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#allshadenfreudematters
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Let us not also descend into this kind of morality:
http://www.climatedepot.com/2016/01/21/sick-warmist-scientist-william-connolley-cheers-death-of-climate-skeptic-dr-bob-carter-as-an-advancement-in-science-gloats-science-advances-one-funeral-at-a-time/
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Tomorrow is one year since the sad day of Bob Carter’s Funeral:
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/robert-merlin-carter-9-march-1942-19.html
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Thanks for the reminder, Bob was a good guy.
w.
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For me the amazing thing and the reason I recounted the story is the curious foreshadowing of his own death. I mean, a photo saying “KILLED” on his last post? Life is just too strange.
w.
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I responded to the (ambiguous to me) shadenfreude comment.
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Oops. schadenfreude.
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Willis: Almost seems as though he intended to commit suicide. Any details on the accident?
JimB
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The one report I have seen says the driver “lost” control and struck him, and faces charges. I am familiar with that section of road having driven it a few times. Hard to see a driver losing control unless there was heavy rain and high winds at the time. As with most major roads in that part of FLA it is fairly flat, fairly straight and fairly wide.
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One article did say that he liked to walk on the white edge line because it was smoother and that he would only move over for trucks. Pretty dangerous place to walk, especially if the driver wasn’t paying attention at the time.
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It is sad when a man carries such bitterness and can’t recognize that white, too, is a color. but the thought that struck me when I saw the bitter ending, was this – did he decide, when he took that picture, that the accumulation of anger that he had acquired required him to, perhaps, step in front of the SUV instead of just get hit by it? In a way, it brings honor to suicide if you have it done by your sworn enemy.
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Willis, so weird that last pic, and at the same time, so emblematic of risky… I can just see him, walking down the road, distracted, typing on his smartphone, possibly with wireless buds (i7?)… Never saw or heard his fate roaring up behind him…
My grandfather used to say that if you walk around looking only at the ground, all you’ll ever see is shite…
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“I have absolutely no idea what the moral of this story might be.”
If there is a God, He has a sick sense of humor.
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At first I thought that was a terrible way to finish the tale, until I looked it up and found that, damn, there really was a guy named Mark Baumer and he really was killed.
Which then raises another mystery … why is it that these climate activists always seem to carry on so … in the winter? Seems the young man had started in Rhode Island in mid-October and was in Ohio, when it started snowing, so he took a bus down to Florida, to continue his trek. Why are climate activists so oblivious of the climate?
What a waste.
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Leon, I wouldn’t say he was oblivious of the climate. I am wondering how strong his beliefs really were. After all, he allowed some winter weather to interrupt his holier-than-thou pilgrimage, & took a bus to warmer climes to restart his journey. He was a man of little faith, I think, & then natural selection took over to solve his dilemma.
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Very sad. Lies kill, and Mark Baumer is another victim, like Francisco Lotero, Miriam Coletti, and their two year old son.
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The man was obviously living in agony. One could say he was euthanized by an SUV.
Put out of his misery. Was the driver one of his readers? Or a random compassionate passer-by?
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It just goes to show… he agonized over a fake end, but in the end he died from a very real and obvious risk that he had blinded himself to.
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Excellent take-away thought.
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Would he be any less dead if he had been run over by a Tesla?
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Never heard of this kid till his reported death. Clearly severely mentally ill and in dire need of help. Where was his family, friends, school counselors, hell, the police? After reading what you excerpted here, Willis, I would say he committed suicide by vehicle. I feel bad for the driver of that vehicle, they have to live with this guys poor decision making for the rest of their lives, and I’ll wager Baumer’s family will now, suddenly filled with concern for him, appear and sue them.
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Mark Hummer !
Yeah … Inappropriate, I know. Tasteless, nasty…. All right, all right…
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In a rather ironic way, he is a victim of “climate change”.
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How is it that these lefties have all that spare time to demonstrate? Didn’t this guy have a job? I feel so sorry for his family and friends, but maybe he caused the accident (ie, committed suicide).
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I would have to agree with some of the above comments. This person exhibited several key indicators of mental instability and depression. I would bet he was on medication. A sad story no matter.
I am still in search of the catastrophic part of climate change in a warmer world. We should see less thermal gradient meaning less significant weather, longer and larger growing seasons, more farmable/usable land mass, etc..
What is the bad part that is always warned of, but never specifically disclosed?
Is it a secret or what!
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I’ve always wanted to walk across America just to see the joy and wonder of the marvels of this land.
I have no understanding – none – of someone who wanted to walk across America, eyes blinded by doom and gloom to this continent’s beauty. {shakes head}
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Sad in many ways.
His website: http://thebaumer.com/
I’m reminded of the old Cat Stevens song Wild World. Some people are so naive they fail to see real dangers while fleeing the imagined ones.
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My first thought was that this deluded soul was bemoaning CAGW while utilising the pavement created by the use of fossil fuels – bitumen and the many large, usually diesel-powered, construction vehicles.
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What is is about the left that is so enthralled with symbolism? Walk across America barefoot, drum circles, guerrilla theater, and I won’t even mention some of the outfits at the women’s march. Yes, you see some of it on the right but the left seems to think that somehow that changes peoples minds. Childish in the extreme. That also is reflected in the tantrums that are being thrown about this election. My five year old granddaughter is more mature than some of these protestors.
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Symbolism is all they have. No facts. No reality. No acceptance that they DON’T know everything. A horse and camel handler taught me a very basic tenant of reality. You can lead a horse to water, then you have to force its head into the water until it drowns, because you can not MAKE it drink. It has to choose to drink. That is the Democrat Party, and leftards in general, you can hold them head down in a water jug until they drown, they WILL NOT EVER ACCEPT REALITY. Death will not bring it, they will stand before god, any god, all gods, and refuse to accept reality. They are the enemy of the human race, and they always will be.
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I was out and about on errands today but Mark’s story stuck with me.
Just what was he thinking?!? He started in the Fall from the Northeast states and the snow caught him in Ohio. Most people would have enough clue to expect snow and cold. Did he believe global warming was so far along that he could walk across the Midwest in Winter and not need shoes?
I really can’t bring myself to believe that all the neurons in his noggin were wired correctly. If it hadn’t been CAGW, I’d venture there would have been something else he would have latched onto to give his life meaning.
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Dingdingdingding We got a winner here. This individual had a major mental problem, and he solved it by having a total stranger kill him. What a coward.
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A troubled individual, no different than the 3 or 4 people a day who walk in front of trains and heap all of their fears and problems onto someone else.
He left a suicide note painted on the roadway.
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With a website name of notgoingtomakeit.com, with the photo of “killed”, with the declaration of not walking safely and only moving over for trucks, and his pessimism/depression attitude, I’m not surprised he was killed. I’ve been in the situation where a person or deer dashes into the road ahead of you. It’s quite surprising how little you can do about it when driving at speed.
That photo — is that real? Has anybody located it? Who wrote that on the road and why? assuming it’s not photoshopped.
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One look at that website and you knew which way he was heading.
The Black Dog had him.
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A darwinian ending
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Reminds me of the story about the flagallants during the Middle Ages. Self immolation to ward off Armageddon ( CAGW) or the plague. Some story, different age. Nothing new here. But you are right, Willis, the sign could be more than coincide.
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I think I may have found something about “Barefoot Writer” although I can’t say for sure. This site pushes ‘Barefoot Writer’ as an income opportunity; scam site most likely.
It may have something to do with Mark Baumer, though I couldn’t say for certain.
http://www.thebarefootwriter.com/free/get-started/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GOOE02&gclid=CIC7lKPB4NECFVGewAodu5IF1A
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I suspect that he committed suicide by stepping in front of a SUV. . . .
And in doing so left the driver of the SUV with a lifetime of horrible memories.
I suspect that the driver is charged with whatever, that the driver’s lawyer will successfully make the case that the fellow’s writings revealed that he was contemplating suicide. . . . .
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Willis,
Mark James Baumer’s obituary:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/providence/obituary.aspx?n=mark-james-baumer&pid=183756769
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Another article about Mark Baumer
http://www.providencejournal.com/entertainmentlife/20170810/in-small-state-pf-poetry-tribute-to-author-activist-mark-baumer
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