[Oe List ...] "In my house..."

[Del Morrill]

Dear Doris, Marsha, Shelley, Pat, Scott and the rest of the family and
mutual friends around the world.  

During the service for Charles I was struck by the New Testament line, "In
my house are many mansions," a favorite of mine and, if I understood
correctly, of Charles'.  At the time, I quickly jotted down just a few
words, thinking to reflect upon them at a later time.  In the wee hours of
this morning, when I could not sleep, I looked at those few words and asked
myself why, when I reject so much of religious language, do these words
particularly strike me? And why might Charles have chosen them?

I realized that, most of my life. I have been bothered whenever others have
been left out by language, style or action because their language, style or
action doesn't "fit". This concern, no doubt, arises from my own struggle to
belong. Somehow, as I was growing up, and even as an adult, I just did not
fit in the way it was expected and either shunned or, more often, pressed to
fit in. Many times in my journey I experienced the pain and loneliness of
that. This, and my difficult health journey, affected, ultimately, my choice
of career in later years and how I viewed those who came to me - wounded
perhaps, but still accepted by the same creative force, and courageous for
having come this far.  As a counselor, in order for healing to take place,
it was necessary to be receptive to the views of others, trying to use their
eyes to understand what's behind their way of knowing, doing and being. 

It has been a long journey in learning from others' views, their religions,
their cultures, their processing of the world.  It was late in my life that
I finally was able to shed the judgmentalism that so pervaded my being. I no
longer feel that I must argue my point against another's. I am more likely
to perceive the "other" as traveling the earth in whatever way creation has
taken them; and unless they are doing harm to themselves or others in a way
that allows me to interfere positively and safely, I will not quarrel with
the path they have chosen. The knowing, doing and being of each person on
this earth creates an amazing patchwork quilt of existence in which is
joined different scraps of color and design in odd shapes which, through
patience, fit together perfectly to create something that is strangely
beautiful in its wild design.     

In no way assuming that someone had the same journey as I, and realizing
that no one is fully known by another, this is the Charles I think of ,
choosing this section of the bible. As I listened to the remembrances of
others, I realized that the quotation reflected his life  - a man who
believed that all are accepted at the table; receptive to the views of
others, therefore not prone to argument, the quiet listener, a man of
practical solution, responding only when he felt it necessary and, most of
all, allowing whomever he met to be part of the quilt. 

 

Thank you, again, for finding a way that would allow so many of us across
the world to celebrate his life, and for giving me an opportunity to reflect
upon my own.

 

Del

We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth. 

(George Bernard Shaw)

 

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