It is always a quiet and reflective moment when we lose someone we have
trusted to show us the pathway. I often begin to feel alone and forget
how "un-alone" I really am. I can choose to be alone in a crowd or I can
choose to be part of the community. I believe that one of the greatest
tributes we can offer to such men and women who have led and taught us is
to be the leaders and teachers they hoped we would become.
If you've never heard this poem, perhaps it will have some meaning here
for you in this thread on Don Schon's passing.
By Annie Dillard (Holy The Firm).....
There is no one but us.
There is no one to send,
nor a clean hand
nor a pure heart on the face of the earth,
nor in the earth,
but only us,
A generation comforting ourselves with the notion
that we have come at an awkward time,
that our innocent fathers are all dead --
as if innocence had ever been --
and our children busy and troubled,
And we ourselves unfit,
not yet ready,
having each of us chosen wrongly,
made a false start, failed,
Yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures,
and grown exhausted,
unable to seek the thread,
weak and involved.
But there is no one but us.
There never has been.
John
--John Dicus | jdicus@ourfuture.com CornerStone Consulting Associates | http://www.ourfuture.com Building Learning Communities Through-Whole System Change Consulting | Facilitation | Workshops | Seminars | Speaking 2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City OH 44280 800-773-8017 | 330-725-2728 (fax) **Experiences In Stewardship Gathering - Nov 2-5 **
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