[Dialogue] Witness- Birthday

Thu Dec 20 04:43:42 PST 2018

Dear Dick, 

In my mind’s eye I can see the young John Cock who we left in Kamweleni with our treasured soy sauce, yellow mustard, and other sauces to eat with Kitheri or Ugali as we packed to leave for the Philippines in winter of 1985. How nice to hear he is back in the ICA saddle on the board!  

You riding the bicycle and battling the leaves and getting a split lip and aching ribs sounds scary, but what are the spots on the lungs?
Life is indeed a Mystery!
Great reflection Dick. 

Thank you for sharing your life with us. We are richer for each witness and each reflection. 
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Kwanza too!
Divali is over, but may good over come (or transform) the evil for everyone!

Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook in Taipei, Taiwan on a crisp and coolish humid 60 f with heating pad, socks, and sweater.  

> On Dec 14, 2018, at 9:09 PM, Nancy Trask via Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
> 
> Thank you, Dick, for these glimpses of the Mystery through your life. 
> 
> Nancy Trask
> 515-505-0456
> nancy50273 at centurylink.net
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Richard Alton via Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> To: dialogue at wedgeblade.net
> Cc: Richard Alton <richard.alton at gmail.com>
> Sent: Thu, 13 Dec 2018 22:29:33 -0500 (EST)
> Subject: [Dialogue] Fwd: Witness- Birthday
> 
> *Oh My God, Life*
> 
> …the things that happen in life are astonishing..being driven to and fro by
> the mystery.. a few recent examples
> 
> I attended part of the ICA USA Board meeting last month. We broke up into
> small groups and I was in a group with John Cock II. He and I were in Kenya
> together. I think it was John’s 9th grade trip. I was impressed to hear him
> rattle off the villages he worked in: Kwangware, Kamweleni and
> Mugumwoini...just like he had been there yesterday. John was a great
> addition. Probably, the first Board member literally born into the
> organization- now an urban engineer with a focus on bike trails. Had his
> middle school daughter with him. I wonder when she is going abroad.
> 
> 
> 
> The afternoon I was there, the Board brainstormed ICA core values- things
> like community development, ToP methods, being a learning organization,
> even poverty, chastity and obedience. I struggled with this question of
> core values. I think the core of the core is the ability to give a
> witness.. to stand present to one’s life and the amazing things revealed or
> that happen to one…the mystery at work in one’s life.
> 
> 
> 
> Like on Halloween night I was coming home late at night on my bike and ran
> right onto a big pile of leaves- it knocked me off my bike, split my lip
> and banged up my ribs. I made it home but the next day was having trouble
> breathing so went to the hospital. They performed a CT scan. There were no
> broken ribs, but the scan showed that I had spots on my lungs...so this all
> happened to catch my attention about my lungs... and on Halloween (the Day
> of the Dead).
> 
> 
> 
> The second part of my Halloween leaf event: it seems the leaves grabbed my
> phone- so the day after the fall, I could not find my  phone- that really
> hurt. I went back to all the places I had been including the leaf place but
> no phone. Finally, after I had given up Sally asked me, “doesn’t Apple have
> an app that will help you find a lost phone?” so on my computer I found the
> lost apple link and sure enough on the screen map there was a flashing
> signal. It was about a 100 yards from where I fell. So I follow the map and
> there is my cell on the curb like it had been waiting for me… think those
> leaves put it there. Is this not The Other World in the midst of this
> world…a Visit to the Land of Mystery?
> 
> These Visits seem to come in 3s. I work on the One Earth Film Fest through
> which we show environmental movies all over greater Chicago and engage
> people in conversation and action in response to the films. So I received
> an email from a Dexter Watson at St Malachi/Precious Blood Parish about
> showing a movie. I set up a meeting with Dexter on the Westside of Chicago.
> It turns out Dexter is not only the parish coordinator but also the former
> Alderman of the area. And yes, Fifth City is in his former Aldermanic area.
> In fact, one of Dexter’s favorite people and a mentor was the late Verdell
> Trice, the head of the Fifth City Auto Center and board member of the
> Preschool. Dexter even tried to have a street named after Verdell at one
> time. This is the second time I have been driven back to 5th City. You know
> we are going to have a great film fest event there.
> 
> 
> 
> Dick Alton, introduced to the mystery in December,1968 and working with the
> mystery on the future of planet Earth ever since. Oak Park, Illinois
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Richard H. T. Alton
> One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF)
> Green Community Connections
> Interfaith Green Network
> T: 773.344.7172
> richard.alton at gmail.com
> **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2019, March 1-10*
> http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org
> 
> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
> 
> 
> -- 
> Richard H. T. Alton
> One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF)
> Green Community Connections
> Interfaith Green Network
> T: 773.344.7172
> richard.alton at gmail.com
> **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2019, March 1-10*
> http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org
> 
> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
> 
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