THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180303
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT MCCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 73 lines
He says he's walked more than anyone on earth.
For the last 22 years, Ed ``The Waver'' Carlson has tramped some 200,000 miles across the United States, waving to passers-by and spreading his vision of love and peace.
Carlson came to Chesapeake Sunday and addressed a crowd of nearly 300 people at Unity Renaissance Church in the Greenbrier section. The visit is part of an ongoing tour to publicize his book, ``I Walked To The Moon And Almost Everybody Waved.'' He plans to stay in Virginia Beach for the next week.
Carlson shared tales of an unstable career, a breakup with his wife and family, and a vision on a California mountaintop that led him to a life of walking, waving and meeting people along the road.
``An inner voice told me to start walking,'' Carlson said in his raspy voice. ``Waving is my occupation. I give and share and speak to people, and I'm provided for. I have no car, no material things. I don't want anything. When your wants and needs are the same, that's when you are happy.''
A resident of Reno, Nev., where he lives in the homes of friends, Carlson advised all who would listen to find their own ``vision of peace and love.''
``You can only find happiness by loving yourself and others,'' he said.
The Waver believes in God, but adheres to no particular denomination. He relies on his own ``inner light'' as a compass and follows a turn-the-other-cheek philosophy.
``I've had people call me a freeloader, give me the finger and even punch me out, but 95 percent of the people like me,'' Carlson, 59, told the crowd. ``If you love people no matter what they do to you, that negative energy will eventually go away.''
Unity Renaissance Church has a congregation of about 800 and is part of a worldwide organization based on Christian-centered religion with metaphysical leanings and a focus on the individual.
``I think he is awesome,'' said church member Sunni Southland, 54. ``It's about all of us becoming aware that the more love we give away, the more we get back.''
Carlson's ``heart-stone story'' moved the audience. Passing a cemetery outside Los Angeles in the late 1970s, he placed a stone shaped like a heart on the grave of a recently buried child. He later was given a ride by an elderly lady whom he gave a stone as a gift. She told him about a heart-shaped stone that she found on her granddaughter's grave years before and felt it was a sign from Jesus.
``There are no chance meetings,'' Carlson said to the congregation. ``Everything's in divine order.''
Following his talk, which included impromptu chants and humorous anecdotes, more than a hundred people lined up for a book signing.
``He was pretty inspirational,'' said church member Monty L. Pyburn, 35, of Chesapeake. ``His stories imparted something to me. If he can believe like that, why not me?''
Carlson came to Hampton Roads after spending several weeks at a friend's home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He has been invited to stay with a Virginia Beach resident for the next week and will be waving and walking in that city before heading to Richmond for other speaking engagements and book signings.
The Waver said he will give the proceeds from his book sales to his divorced wife, three daughters and two grandchildren, who live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He also has plans for a sequel, stories about people he will befriend on the road in the future.
``For 23 years I've lived on my feelings,'' Carlson said. ``People like to have me in their presence because I'm so positive.'' MEMO: To obtain a copy of ``I Walked To The Moon And Almost Everybody
Waved,'' call Stillpoint Publishing in Walpole, N.H., at 1 (800)
847-4014. ILLUSTRATION: TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot
Ed Carlson, known as ``The Waver,'' has walked and waved his way
across the country spreading his version of love and trust for the
past 23 years. His route is now taking him through Hampton Roads.