[Oe List ...] Mystery

Fri Oct 21 09:45:01 PDT 2022

Dear Dick,

This witness takes me to so many  places!  Let me name a few.

First of, back to Denver in 1971. You and I rode many miles around Denver and Colorado inviting people to come change their world view through an RSI.  Then also to all the long, fruitful, varied, persistent, consistent, successful, substantial (and awesome!) global fund raising you have done for our colleagues and ICA institutions around the world. This life long effort is much appreciated and valued by those of us who have known and worked with you. I also remember the surprise and pleasure it was to see you Sally Stovall blend and use your energies in the One Earth Film Festival and planetary warming issues.  This is probably enough to mention - can’t have your head exploding from being seen!

But back to this witness you shared with us.  There is much we did as a people that could be called into question or forgotten. On the other hand, there are some pieces of our life together that just stick to my skin as a part of my very being. Witnesses fall in this category of being deeply missed. The opportunity to think, then speak aloud to others an experienced truth about life - my life -is unique. Witnessing changed who we were as individuals and who we were as a community. Witnessing was a pearl right in the middle of Daily Office. I miss that opportunity in my current life!  Our nation would be in a different place if people had a regular opportunity to reflect in this way about the Mystery, Consciousness, Care and Tranquility in their lives.

So to repeat what many others have already said, “Thank you, Dick, for this witness,” and allowing us in to your life and the fabulous encounters you had on your Airplane Trip to Africa. And also, “Happy Birthday" - soon to be .
Ruth

> On Oct 20, 2022, at 7:26 PM, Richard Alton via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
> 
> Airplane trip to Africa
>  
> Just copied the Land of Mystery chart from Frank Knutson and then had an awesome trip to Kenya that manifested this mystery. I knew this trip would be different. Being COV19 housebound for like two years, it was a big decision to get out in the real world again… never know what is out there. It was a huge task to just get a Kenya visa. Trying to figure out how to get through the Kenya COV19 public health check station was nerve racking. But I did it and it was an amazing adventure and the people I found out there, made it all worthwhile.
>  
> This has happened to me before when strange people just show up in my life: Found my Chicago seat for the first leg of Chicago to Qatar and then onward to Nairobi. The plane was almost full, but my window seat was still empty- would be a great help if the seat stayed empty. And just then a young lady burst through the plane door with two gigantic bags and came running down the aisle screeching to a stop in front of me. Hands me her passport- “Hold this!”- and throws one of the bags over my head to the seat next to me… “Be back!”. This was the beginning of a thirteen-hour remarkable trip with this thirty-one-year-old American school teacher presently teaching in Bangkok, Thailand. The stories she had to tell about her seven years there. The most amazing part was her side business of raising ten dogs of which none weighed more than 2.2 kilos- so I got to personally meet all ten dogs, their names and each’s adventures- photos, videos and awards. Much better than watching movies. Oh, yes and her name is Kay which just happens to be one of my daughter’s names. And this Kay’s mom also raises dogs- a long family history of dogs… an amazing world we live in that people do such things
>  
> My second encounter was at the Qatar airport. Of course, we missed my connecting flight. The explanation was that since Qatar was hosting the Soccer World Cup between November 18 and December 18 this year and they expected millions of spectators, they had put in a huge number of new systems that were still being figured out like how to get people from the planes to the terminal.
>  
> So I waited my five hours for the next flight and got in line for my Nairobi flight. I am pretty good at chatting with people. The African lady standing next to me- an older woman who had a strange looking passport- so asked her what country she was from. She explained that this was the new East Africa Regional passport. “Nice- you are from Kenya? “Yes”, she (her name turned out to be Charity Gathuthi) had just come back from Australia from visiting her daughter. “Nice. What did she do?”: “A water consultant”. “What do you do?” Well, I am retired in Chicago but still work on local community development and was attending a gathering of people to look at climate change. I used to live in Nairobi- Kawangware
>  
> Charity looked at me really funny, like I was from another world. “Are you with ICA?” Yes, you win the prize for an astonishing guess. “Well, I know and have worked with the ICA staff, Nathan Ambunya, Patrick Mbullu and Henry Mpapale plus I did Kenya Cooperative consulting work for many years with Terry Bergdall. Have been away and have not had contact with ICA for a while.  But you tell Patrick, Nathan and Henry to give me a call.” Now that was amazing- like finding a needle in a haystack. Makes you wonder how many related ICA people are out their wandering the planet.
>  
> Now, I told you about the Thailand Kay encounter. Kay has unbounding energy in relationships with other people. She was standing in the toilet line and started talking to a stewardess and it turns out that they may all look the same, but they are from different countries- part of Qatar wanting to be the future Global airlines. So sure enough, I found two Philippine stewardesses. Found out a lot about the Philippines and other countries like Tajikistan. So, I am sitting there reading a book by Momaday called Earth Keeper in preparation for presenting the ICA’s new Climate Change Manual- look up and there is an African Stewardess standing in front of me; “What a great sounding book- Earth Keeper” I am from Zimbabwe and we need earth keepers. I will come back, and you can tell me more.
>  
> The page I was reading when she interrupted me: “And so Great Mystery you who dwell in the endless beyond, you who spoke the first word and made of your breath the mountains and the waters, the trees and the grasses, the man and the woman and the child, hear me in my small voice. I am your thankful creature. My people and all the birds and animals are your thankful creatures. Hold us! Hold us in your hands and make us worthy of your blessing. Tell us the old stories of your greatness, that our minds and our hearts may be nourished with wonder and delight. Let us see your likeness in the stars and let us hear your voice in rolling thunder and in the wind and rain. Be with us forever in the sacred smoke of your being. These are my words, my offering to you, Great Mystery ( Earth Keeper by N.Scott Momaday)
>  
> And this is just one journey from Chicago to Africa. Life is amazing if you dare to go out and meet it.
> Dick Alton, Co-Director, ICA Kenya, 1980-86; still believes that one should write a witness on one’s birthday and mine is quickly approaching, so this reflection 
> -- 
> Richard H. T. Alton
> ICA Global Fund
> Methodist Eco-Sustainability T/F
> T: 773.344.7172
> richard.alton at gmail.com <mailto:richard.alton at gmail.com>
> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
> Won't you be my neighbor?
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