Courage

Sometimes there comes an individual into the periphery of our lives, and if we are very lucky, that someone touches us directly and powerfully overwhelms us by their quiet presence. They may not be flashy and draw attention for their dynamism, but if they do catch our eye it is not because of the flash that we are touched in some way. It is a quality that is deeper than surface, something within, that comes through to capture our imaginations and dreams – this is what we call heart…

One may be diminutive, either because of age or physical stature – one may stand tall, but it isn’t the physical that brings their frame into our view and into our lives – one may be readily identifiable because of their visage, or anonymous because theirs was not a life story put forth by circumstance to bring their face into our circle – one may be powerful in ways that move nations, or powerful merely because of a presence of mind about simple things that matter in life and who brings that to bear in the life of someone else – and, for most of us, we are the true beneficiaries of their often unintended gifts…

Courage comes clothed in many faces – it always touches us deeply, because it always vibrates with an appeal that is archetypal and universal, and we cannot help but be awed for the privilege of being witness to it…

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About journeysofabentmind

Gordon is a Nisei, a second generation American of Japanese descent born in 1938 whose family owned a farm outside of Atwater, California in the San Joaquin Valley. His world was abruptly changed when on December 7, 1941 Japan’s Imperial Navy launched an early morning attack on Pearl Harbor. Thus began a chain of events that resulted in his family’s forced evacuation and internment in a “relocation center” in Colorado during the war. After the war Gordon spent his teenage years in school and working on the family farm. He attended U.C. Berkeley and graduated in 1960 and went on to the Graduate School of Social Welfare at Berkeley earning a Masters in Social Welfare in 1963. He worked in a number of social service settings and last worked as a case manager for developmentally challenged clients in San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin Counties until he retired in 2000. When his wife Barbara retired in 2007 they moved to Eugene, Oregon following their children and grandchildren. Gordon lives with his wife of 55 years and close to the four grandchildren and life is just good.
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