Jack McCarthy poetry is nice and apropos, and to add to it, the other story which does not romp with the run for the roses, but quietly unfolds knowing itself to be already a winner and free from the gate of individual human existence itself is mine to tell. The biology of my youth introduced me to the image of the 200 million sperms my dad gifted my mother each time they shared a cozy moment, and about 200 of them make it first to the egg my mom had each lunar cycle to be fertilized. The egg, for some reason, does not automatically open its fold to the first arrival. One of the 200 million "gets chosen" (my language), or how many times a cozy moment is shared in the 3-5 days of ripeness, and there, I spin my story. As an I egg, I decided, I was free; as a sperm, I was literally one in millions, a winner. If one considered the odds, given the two year hiatus between I and my elder sister, one can imagine the number of sperm and egg encounters. Competition and the race to the front lines or to the tip of the pyramid hanker back to the Egyptian mounds and has been part of the achievement goals of many cultures to be #1, especially that emanating from Gaul. McCarthy uses "victory" as the holding category. Malthus earlier contributed his layer of "not having enough to go around" justifying the cut-throat competition under empires among the less fortunate hoi polloi since population was always going to exceed food production by his measure, developing social darwinism that the nazis took to its logical conclusion, and developed the high-level anxiety above all others in our determined sense of and search for excellence. There is a quiet meditative and contemplative tradition, often referred to as the celebration of the Way Life Is (YHWH in the old metaphor), that the biology of my youth allows me to reach to the profundity of the Wonder of Life at the gate, without having to race in frenzy into a heightened destination. Gordon, for the few times we crossed path, was rather laid back in his celebrative stance, thus, dying comes as par for the course, a surprise at the timing and the circumstances, but nonetheless, just one of life's wonder-filled "aha"s. His collegium struck me as an invitation, using his own situation as context, like a good pedagogue does, to invite us in the reflection of our own terminus. If one is still running the race of the roses, more power to you. If you had discovered the World of Wonder along the way, one can choose the WOW that life naturally is, let us hear from you. My IMH reflective Opinion. Jaime Vergara Saipan j'aime la vie yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> To: oe <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Tue, Sep 8, 2015 3:38 am Subject: OE Digest, Vol 42, Issue 7 Send OE mailing list submissions to oe@lists.wedgeblade.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to oe-request@lists.wedgeblade.net You can reach the person managing the list at oe-owner@lists.wedgeblade.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of OE digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Two poems, Gordon, from a guy named Jack McCarthy (James Wiegel via OE) 2. Re: [Dialogue] A Very Brief Collegium (RICHARD HOWIE via OE) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 07:59:12 -0600 From: James Wiegel via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> To: Gordon and Roxana Harper <gharper1@gmail.com> Cc: Order Ecumenical Community <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>, Colleague Dialogue <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: [Oe List ...] Two poems, Gordon, from a guy named Jack McCarthy Message-ID: <D3E18888-69BE-4768-BA28-19995A5D2180@yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Some additions to your collegium on death. Jack McCarthy is a character like you, unavoidably urban, a spoken word poet. Two poems of his add to this collegium. Victory. http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/3/0/a/30a4f0ee4af1a59d/indiefeed_jackmccarthy_victory.mp3?c_id=5228309&expiration=1441635253&hwt=4db3f37d1403299e9b5979cf42737046 And, When the Cholesterol Catches up with me. http://youtu.be/OGlwxdSMwF8 Jim Wiegel 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353 Tel. 011-623-936-8671 or 011-623-363-3277 jfwiegel@yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com [We have] been pressed so hard towards useful work and rational calculation [that we have] all but forgotten the joy of ecstatic celebration. Harvey Cox Get ready to Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the ToP Network. January 8-11, 2016. Here in Arizona. http://youtu.be/2uEoJlDC5mg Upcoming public course opportunities click here http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=10 For online registration go to http://www.top-training.net The AZ ToP? Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, 1-4 pm, starting again on Sept 5th at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003 AICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP? courses