My Unbelievable Life- Part 1: From Switzerland to Tibet

So at work tonight, I was having a heart to heart with a fellow warrior. This is what Marines do. When they stand duty, whether in a guard tower, a fighting hole, an embassy gate or a duty desk, they tell their life story to each other. It's part of our bond of brotherhood. We're a family, and we hold back no secrets. We tell our war stories- the time we almost got blown up, the people we killed or didn't kill, the nightmares we relive every night, the stupidity in the ranks, the heroics of our comrades. It all comes out: the highschool girlfriends and fights, our wives and children, our hopes and dreams. If you stand duty with a guy, he becomes your brother in some way, forever.

I realized, though, as I talked to this fellow what a bizarre and extraordinary life I've lived. By the end of the night, I'm sure the guy must have thought I was a compulsive exaggerater. I'm not, of course. I've just had a lot of adventures (or misadventures, as the case may be). I decided that maybe truth is stranger than fiction. I think the only reason he believed my stories was that you could never make this stuff up. You wouldn't want to; there would be no point. Nothing was overly impressive (about me, anyway). I didn't brag or gloat. I just told the truth. And now I think I should write the truth. If anything, it will serve as a measuring stick, a history, and a good laugh for somebody, somewhere, someday. This is the account as best as I can remember it.

I'll start at the beginning. Way back. With my ancestors. A few of my ancestors are a bit famous. I'm a direct descendant of William Brewster, co-author (with William Bradford) of the Mayflower Compact. They landed famously on Plymouth Rock in 1620. I don't know the names of ascent/descent, but my grandparents once had it mapped out on a chart at their home somewhere... And some 4th great-aunt of mine had a sister or cousin who married Edgar Allen Poe, or something... (Actually it was Virginia Klem, I think, who was 13 years old, and his own cousin.) And somebody once figured out that we were related to both Abraham Lincoln and George Bush, Sr. Okay, but seriously...

My family really has kept an extraordinary record of our genealogy. There were a few holes here and there, so I used modern technology and did some genealogical research to put the pieces together.

The real history of my father's family is actually pretty well defined. Without listing 16 generations, here's the summary. The bearers of my surname came to America 120 years after William Brewster's pilgrim party. In 1740 Hans Jacob Jagely Bar listed his home in Zurich, Switzerland as he manifested on a ship bound for the New World. He and his sons settled in the Shenandoah River Valley in Rockingham County, Virginia. They anglicized their name (the "a" had an umlaut) in variations of Bear, Baer, Bare and Bar. They spread their families amongst the Pennsylvania "Dutch" (or Deutsch, rather, meaning German-speakers) of Pennsylvania (of course), Ohio, Virginia and off into the Appalachians, and down the mountains into the Ozarks. A few later migrated to central Illinois where for at least a few generations, they demonstrated a propensity for marrying celtic women.

At the end of the 19th Century, a few of them moved West in a covered wagon and settled in Antelope County, Nebraska. They homesteaded around the Snake and Niobrara Rivers. My Great-Grandfather was born December 16, 1892 in Grecian Bend, , Nebraska. Norton Henry Bare became a Doctor and at some point was filled with the missionary fervor of a big tent revival. He married a no-bull bronco-busting cowgirl. This 4 foot, 11-inch gal was an all-state track sprinter and acclaimed thespian. She could alternately break a horse, set records in the 100-yard dash, and quote lengthy passages of Hamlet and MacBeth from memory.

In the late 1920's, they boarded a ship to Shanghai, with an ultimate destination of Tibet. Dr. Norton Henry Bare wanted to study the psychiatric implications of the animistic and occult aspects of Tibetan Buddhism. Lois (Catherine) Nichols Bare likewise went to spread God's love to a people more attuned with ancestral and malevolent spirit-appeasement than the philosophical teachings of Siddhartha Guatama. Their religion was a brand of early American fundamentalism, and fell somewhere between New Testament Originalism and the Campbellite Restoration Movement. They weren't Pentecostal by any means, nor were they Orthodox.

On their way to Tibet, they were literally "Shanghai"ed. In the infamous city, a common thief snatched Lois' purse and took off down the street. In the purse were the entire family's passports, visas, cash and other important documents. The 90-pound lady immediately sprinted after the rogue, tackled him down to the dirt and reclaimed her purse. She shook her finger, scolding him, telling him he should be ashamed of himself. The crowds had all quieted and craned their necks to see this little white women embarassing a local hoodlum. The brigand skulked away into the mass of people, and the Bare's continued on their way. The irony of the whole thing is that Norton was over six feet tall and nearly two-hundred pounds. He was a virtual giant in Asia, and yet it was his wisp of a wife who had saved the day.

She would need strength of her own to bear 5 children in this barren land. She would need strength to bury one before his second birthday.

My grandfather was born in the Himalayas, somewhere near the ancient city of Lhasa, on a plateau overlooking the rest of the world. Orlando Garland Bare was raised on yak-butter tea and barley paste, among the chicken droppings and swarming flies. He develop the legendary lungs and legs of mountain dwellers, but has been plagued for 86 years from the nutritional deficiencies of a third-world existence.

Lois Nichols passed her days writing poetry, and had three volumes published from her time in Tibet. While Norton was away on one of his many research expeditions, some bandits came by to rob the house. They demanded food, clothing and money. She rebuked them, "My God won't allow you to rob me. But because He loves you, He has told me to give you what you need, and nothing more." She fed them, clothed them and sent them on their way. They apologized ashamedly for their threats, and left with their heads down, profusely thanking her for her generosity.

Norton travelled frequently conducting research. But he made it a point to keep some of the family traditions. In lieu of a church organ, they took a beautifully hand-carved wooden German accordian. The family would sing traditional hymns and folk songs. But Norton also made it a point to connect with the locals. He would go out late at night and find where the local men sat in smoky rooms drinking fermented spirits. He'd listen to their songs, and then learn to play along on the accordian. Word spread quickly of this white doctor who played Tibetan songs on a squeeze-box. He won their hearts, and gained access to their minds.

After nearly 10 years of sharing a primitive life among the Tibetans, Dr. Norton Bare published the findings of his studies. They were ultimately summed up in the following:
-Not all mental illness is caused by demonic influence.
-Not all demonic influence results in mental illness.
-However, demonic influence can cause some mental illnesses (and thus could be cured by casting out the demon).
-And mental illness can make a person susceptible to demonic influence through weakened mental acuity (thus, psychiatry was a genuine form of Christian ministry).
-Finally, the subservience to malevolent spirits (demons) can be debilitating to a culture and is easily manipulated by those in positions of authority, whether political or religious. For example- the Tibetan lamas (who were not all like the popular image of the bearded wise man on the mountain top) often extorted inordinate fees and taxes from the local populace by offering claims of protection from evil spirits. The villages lived in squalor and fear, while the lamaseries were places of relative opulance and comfort.

Take it for what it's worth. They were there. I wasn't.

By the time my Grandfather was 8 years old, China was in upheaval, and the shockwaves reached even the vast peaks of the Himalayan Plateau. The Communists were stirring up trouble, Imperial China had it's sights set on Tibet, and there were plenty of local bandits looking for a piece of the pie. British and American nationals had set up outposts in the outer frontiers of China and Tibet for their various diplomatic reasons, and there were a handful of Christian missionaries scattered about. Marxist rebels destroyed Tibetan monasteries and Christian schools alike. The Chinese Army was expelling foreigners and the bandits blocked the mountain passes, extorting from everyone.

Norton had gone over the mountains for some reason or another, and Lois and the children were nearly stranded alone in a strange and hostile land. At 9 years of age, little Garland was an old soul. The oldest child and the man of the house, he led an expedition of refugees over frozen mountain passes, dodging bandits, rebels and soldiers. Along the narrow mountain ledges, some pack animals in the caravan fell thousands of feet to their deaths, taking food and supplies with them. At one point, young Garland saw a white human-sized ape, climbing through the rocks. The creature initially froze, then turned and looked at him and finally wandered away into the snow. My grandfather had seen the rare and mysterious Yeti, or "abominable snowman". He didn't think the thing was really all that abominable. Curious maybe.

At one point in the journey, the pass was blocked by bandits. Lois saw the roadblock from quite a way back and had the children dismount and hide behind a rock. She told them, "Pray to our God that I would be full of courage and that the bandits' hearts would be full of fear." She returned a few minutes later and retrieved the children. Without further explanation or delay, the caravan moved on. The bandits were seen trudging off away from the road. They finally arrived in Lhasa and later met up with Norton in China. They returned to the United States. Norton set up practice in various midwestern cattle towns and Lois continued to raise the family. And my grandfather, Garland, grew up a good Midwestern boy, fluent in Tibetan, Chinese and a few tribal languages. (to be continued...)