Dave just texted me. “Can you call me?” In about 5 minutes I was going to head to the gym to workout but I love hearing what Dave is thinking about. So fuck the gym. Dave took an unplanned roadtrip from Nashville, TN to Asheville, NC this week. “It was cloudy in Nashville,” he complained to me. This morning, he was sitting in a park, enjoying a cigar. He noticed a group of girls from a private school, sitting down in groups with homeless people, having conversations. Dave approached one of the moms and asked what was going on. They explained that the school had partnered with a organization to partner the students with willing homeless individuals to talk about their experiences. How they came to be homeless. What’s it like? It was an opportunity for these privileged girls to gain empathy and to see the humanity in those who are homeless.

Dave shared that he found it so beautiful to behold. The humanity. As he was watching, he was listening to a song entitled “I Will Not Resign” by Greg Laswell (video & lyrics below this paragraph). The phrase “I will not resign” meant to Dave his friends’ commitment to him to go with him all the way and not resign. Not give up. Not let go. Live all the way through and support him to the end. Dave felt profoundly emotional as he sat there, thinking, of this “moment of human beings being human beings. It’s what makes life so precious. Humans being kind to one another, loving one another.”

Lyrics:

Pardon me
While I oversimplify
I’m not here to slight all your reasons why
I know you’re justified lingering in your pain
I’m not the first to say it
So I’ll whisper it here today

Keep your head up
Keep your head up along the way
Keep your head up
Never mind what you think it takes

I hear you asking, “What Now?”
Not sure that I know
But I miss the days I used to
And I miss your afterglow
It’s been a long farewell to yesterday
I won’t pretend to know how
We’re not defined by our choices
But our response to them now

So keep your head up
Keep your head up along the way
Keep your head up
Never mind what you think it takes

And of the never-ending goodbye
I’ll see you next Sunday
I’m not the first to say it
So allow me for my sake!

Keep your head up
Keep your head up along the way
Keep your head up
Never mind what you think it takes

I will not resign
I will not resign
I will not resign
I will not resign
I will not resign
I will not resign
I will not resign

Dave didn’t like the cloudy skies in Nashville so he drove to Asheville, NC.

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Dave just called me to let me know he’s taking a random road trip… now! LOL… he’s on his way to North Carolina and might detour to South Carolina as well. Back to Nashville on Saturday.

We have done a lot of work to get him scheduled as a guest on many podcasts and are now working on efforts to do in-person presentations (e.g. humanitarian groups, atheist groups, freethinkers groups, conferences, college classes, etc.). Dave is looking to travel and is covering his own expenses, so it doesn’t matter where you are. Please reach out at daveslastride@gmail.com to schedule.

Today Dave visited two Death & Dying classes:

“I spoke at 2 college classes today on death and dying from an atheist perspective rather than a Christian one… and also talked about living your moments and attempting to carpe the fucking diem… mentioned the bracelets- positive response… 😊”

“as a follow up to that: after the 2nd class, a girl waited to ask me a question… she said she has a disease that has a life expectancy of 40 years- so she has about 20 left…she asked me what advice i could give her help her to make the most of her days. I encouraged her to grab as many moments as she could and have a perspective that helps her differentiate the mundane from the important…you know my message… She was, in effect, asking…”what would Dave do?”… We shared a big hug then…both cried a bit…and had a beautiful fucking moment!”

Today Dave is speaking with a literature class about Death & Dying.

Tonight Ryan Bell is recording an interview with him to talk about the same.

Hey there! It’s me, Marie, Dave’s assistant for life.

New Travel Information:

Dave will be in LA/Thousand Oaks/Malibu/Beverly Hills from April 25 (3:30pm) through April 30th (10am). To schedule time with him, contact us at DavesLastRide@gmail.com.

While Dave is out there, he’ll be visiting Ryan Bell and being interviewed by David Smalley (90% confirmed) on Dogma Debate to talk about his experiences with dying outloud and what he’s noticed in terms of the different reactions from his secular community versus his religious communities.