6/2/2021 0 Comments I SHOT AN ARROWThe Arrow and the Song I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong, That it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow A year ago, when I conceived of starting my blog adventure, this poem, that I had memorized in my student days, came to mind. Where would my blogs fly to, and in whose heart might they land? Richard Whittaker is the West Coast Editor of Parabola Magazine, one of my favorite magazines since its inception in 1976. A few years ago, he published a story in Parabola about a man named Laurie who, in the late 1960s, was attempting to live a unencumbered life in San Francisco. He explored being fully content with just the basics - air, water, rest, exercise and a little food. He thought this might give him freedom from worry and allow him the opportunity of roaming around, hanging out alone, and mingling with others. In short, simply enjoying being alive. The story laid out some of his successes and failures and presented a picture of a daring human trying to live an authentic life. The story touched my heart and inspired me to write a letter to Parabola to express my appreciation to Richard. I told him that I also had a wonderful summer experience in 1967 in San Francisco, living in an intentional community / drug rehabilitation center called Synanon. I had written a story about it and wondered if he might enjoy reading it. “Yes, please send it along” he responded. He liked it and, to my delight, he published it in the magazine he founded called Works and Conversations. The magazine consisted mainly of his interviews with wonderful artists. It felt like a privilege and honor that my story was included with such a group. I read his interviews carefully and discovered that he has a wonderful way of asking questions that invites the person being interviewed to go deeper into their own story. The interviews have a quality of depth, candor, kindness and curiosity. In the interviews, there are genuine pauses and moments for reflection, both for Richard and the person being interviewed. His interviews reminded me of the ones done by Terry Gross on her show, “Fresh Air” on NPR that has been running since 1985. I particularly love it when an interviewee would thank Terry or Richard for asking a question in a certain way that allowed them to explore their own lives more deeply. I next discovered that Richard has a website www.conversations.org. Hundreds of his interviews that he has done over the past 20+ years are stored there. They are divided into the following categories – Artists, Art of Living, Art and the Environment, Social Change, and Life and Work. Every now and then I select an interview simply to meet a marvelous person. Richard has even suggested a few he thought I would enjoy. Thus, when I started my blog, I included Richard on my distribution group. Again, to my delight and surprise, he really enjoyed one of my early stories about “juggling as a spiritual adventure” and put it on his website. One day, as I was looking at his website, I noticed a line at the bottom, “Powered by Service Space”. I had never heard of Service Space and had no idea what that meant. On their website www.servicespace.org under “who we are” they state “ServiceSpace is an organization run entirely by volunteers. We leverage technology to encourage everyday people around the world to do small acts of service. Our aim is to ignite the fundamental generosity in ourselves and others, creating both inner and outer transformation”. Their aim reflected my own aspirations. It turns out that Service Space is the hub of a wheel and Richard’s website is one of the spokes. As I was writing this blog and thinking about generosity, a “newsflash” on TV showed a philanthropist giving a commencement speech at a local Massachusetts community college. To the surprise of the students as well as the president of the college, he gave $1,000 to each of the 490 graduates. The $1,000 was given in two checks of $500 each. The first check was for the student. The second check was to be given away by the student to whomever they wished. In follow-ups, it appeared that the students were certainly glad to receive “their” check, but even more excited to share how they had given the second check away. When the philanthropist was asked why he did it, he said that the joy he experiences in giving makes him feel that he is the true receiver. So, the arrow and song that I sent out into the unknown has come back and, like the philanthropist, I feel I am the true receiver.
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