[Oe List ...] OE Digest, Vol 47, Issue 6

Wed Feb 10 02:10:21 PST 2016

A draft for Tuesday, Feb 16 in the Saipan Tribune (I need the year of birth).  Editing is welcome.

Gordon

The name in our title is that of Gordon Harper (19**-2016),a friend in the US who died February 8 from leukemia he was diagnosed with nottoo long ago.  He expected to end hisexistence within a minimum of 2 months and a maximum of a year.

Leaving off his last name in the title makes it clear thatthis reflection is not so much about the historical particulars of the man, thespacetime he occupied and the roles he played. Nor how he affected other people, including his supportive wife Roxannawho remained effectively in the background. As a senior facilitator of Top@ facilitator, the Technology ofParticipation, he facilitated groups to articulate their vision, identifycontradictions, offer proposals, and most importantly, decide on a course of action.

I do remember him, first, as a staff member in the MaliwadaHuman Development Training Institute (HDTI) to trigger a movement in India of new communities, Nava Gram Prayas, in the plateau of Maharashtraoutside of Aurangabad where the relics of history are carved in the Elloraand Ajanta caves.   I went to learn of their construct only tofind out that whatever they had on their plates emerged collegially from headsbutting against each other around a table, and that conceptually, I was pedagogicallyfamiliar with it. 

As a group, we wanted to take the four-year Liberal ArtsBachelor's program and make it accessible to those who think they did not havethe brain to handle it, nor the resources to pay for the chance.  Gordon worked on University 13.  So when it became obvious that a movementaldynamic was waiting to be triggered in India, we had a contentless constructready to be filled with flesh and blood. In the same fashion, I needed to go to the Philippines, and "justdo it".

I did, on Mactan Island among coral limestone in Sudtongganvillage, with the Altons and company as host, where Gordon and other colleagues joined increating a human development program on the time's new globality for the islandand beyond.  Success in numerical terms,or of awards from the Rotary Club or recognition from the Chamber of Commerce,were not in my agenda.  From Maliwada, asfar as career went, I no longer had any. I learned to "just go do it", ignore the judgment orexpectations of society and history.

We called it HDTS, a school rather than an Institute.  We targeted 24 villages in Mactan, building atraining school in Sudtonggan and invited villagers for replication projects inLangub (the name translates to "cave") north of Davao City inMindanao.  

I used to tell time by Gordon's pouring his 5 pmgin-and-tonic and smelling the waft of his pipe as he lit up for relaxation.  A Baptist minister, I never understood how hecould get away from his habits (I was an ordained Methodist cleric) until Irealized that not all Baptists were created equal!  Nor Methodists for that matter! Gordon was afacilitator par excellence, and I wasprivileged to sit under the smell of his cherry-flavored smokes.  He kept to his gin-tonic routine to himself,not encouraging others to join him.

Since Gordon announced his leukemia, I've reflected moreabout the facticity of aging now that I've passed 70.

I've turned into a "clutch", dropping thingseasily, and discovering that it was no longer facile to get back up from thefloor.  The leg calves cramp atnight, and we visit the bathroom a few times before sunrise.  Brain cells are no longer as quick on thememory as they used to.  I taught sixgraders 2003-2008 and it is embarrassing to recognize faces of former students in Saipan but could not remember names.  Manynow staff NMC offices, and when we go there to see if we can teach a fewcourses next semester, I am greeted by a familiar face behind a desk but the name escapes meall together.

Often, I get into the car to drive to the store, and when Iget there, I forgot what it was that I needed. I connect to the Internet and forget what website it was I wanted.  I am busy at my dwelling everyday, withplenty of trails of things that got started but not accomplishing any ofthem.  I could picture Gordon nodding hishead on all of these, raising a twitch-like lift on one side of his mouth,without letting on that he probably went through this part of aging in the lastten years.  Like Gandhi, he hadplayfulness about him on life's serious matters.

We won't go into "eternity" as I do not think Gordondelve into that much.  Neither do I.  But as one of my students last year askedafter my spiel on the here-and-now: "Are you an atheist?"  Another jumped to answer: "You've notbeen listening.  He just wants everyoneto know he is totally responsible for the 86 years of his existence."

I may be projecting but this is how I picture Gordon on hisbed.  He grimaced at the terminus.  The end cometh, he says.  He lived his life.  Reviewing its fullness is finished; outrospectiondone, he introspects.  With a beatificsmile plastered on his face, he dies his death. As the old metaphor exuded:  GloryHallelujah, praise be!

wangzhimu2031
earthrise consciousness, a gift; earthbound commitment, my choice
yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate!

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Wed, Feb 10, 2016 12:40 pm
Subject: OE Digest, Vol 47, Issue 6

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Today's Topics:

   1. In Memory of Gordon (David Rebstock via OE)

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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 21:40:29 -0500
From: David Rebstock via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at wedgeblade.net>
Subject: [Oe List ...] In Memory of Gordon
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?In thy face I see the map of honor, truth and loyalty? *Henry VI, Part II.*

One could see a loyalty in Gordon that did not waiver, loyalty to family,
friends and colleagues, his church, the Order and the Institutes.

Our families were connected in several ways thru the years.  Gordon was
born and raised in Neenah, WI as was Ellen and Ellen?s dad gave Gordon a
job at a Neenah paper mill during summer vacation in college.  We lived
with the Harpers in Singapore in 78 and 79 and our son Mark attended school
at Earlham College with Stuart and Elena.  While we lived in California we
made an annual trek  to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon with
the Harpers, the Hockleys and sometimes the Cookinghams.  Gordon being the
Man of Letters usually lead the reflective conversations and interpretation
of Shakespeare and the others plays. (always with clear insight and his wry
sense of humor especially eliciting comparisons of the plays to what is
going on in 21st century society)  I recall several long walks with Gordon
there and in Seattle discussing Order history and the NRM.  We had the good
fortune of visiting with Gordon and Roxana in September after he knew he
didn?t have much time.  I hope that I can have the same attitude to the
completion of my life as Gordon had.

As John Dryden 17th century poet said of Shakespeare, he might have said of
Gordon, ?He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets had
the largest and most comprehensive soul.?

David and Ellen Rebstock

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