Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:41:44 -0700
Reply-To: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Andrew Grebneff Memorial Fund - Final Status
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=fBYYJeeS-b0u+pQA=G7R8wxwzTHdi0d+TVt1q@mail.gmail.com>
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Dear fellows ...
indeed we do have a wonderful community ...
yet the thing that makes us what we are associated for does indeed draw us
together
i belong to a particular group that has it stated with in its definitions
... we are a group of persons who would not normally associate and yet we
are bound together with a common problem and more importantly a common
solution ...
those who know this particular set of words know that each of us has been
pulled from the particular peril the way a drowning man seizes a life
preserver ...
also .. in my own town just over 100 years ago a mill was built and the
workers began the Powell River Company Employees Sick & Benefit
Societybegan a fund to look after sick and injured workers in the
company town ...
eventually setting enough money aside to build a hospital ... all from
catching a 1$ or 2$ per pay packet ... they managed the $$ in that society
for nearly 50 years ... then morphed into an auxiliary society to support
rather than fund .. .
and to quote my other favorite singer .. Leonard Cohen ..in his song
Suzzane ... and jesus saw from his lonely wooden tower that only drowning
men would need him ...he said then all men shall be sailors ... until the
sea can free them ...
so i believe there is a state we recognize as people ... a state of
hopelessness ...
many answer by saying oh those poor folks ... i hope someone does something
...
others offer calls and cries to a deity ...
some purchase an item they saw on the list of complaints and mail it to the
persons
You know something interesting .. i one managed a small apartment building
that burned down one sunday morning ...
the call went out to the community to supply items to the 25 newly homeless
families and individuals ...
there was one fellow in the town who was very marginalized ... george .. a
fellow who spent his days with a shopping cart picking bottles ...and often
having to bear the brunt of the non understanding who threw bottles and cans
at him .. sometimes rocks too ... george had something called a flat affect
... anyway george shows up at the scene of the fire in the early afternoon
... shopping cart in front of him ...and he presents me with two large
packages of Toilet Paper ... enough for every one to have a roll ... i says
gee george that is amazing ..and he replies in his flat scowl like way ...
everyone needs this ... ... from him this was a smile ... and most certainly
from me it was ...
i have been surrounded by various communities of people who have protected
me ... loved me ... sheltered me... funded me ... and in a couple of cases
they have included the sisters of mercy sweetening my night (again leonard
cohen)
the van commuinyt simply offers me an opportunity to give back some of what
i have been so richly given in my life ... through the PIFF
yours
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 8:28 AM, Loren Busch <starwagen@gmail.com> wrote:
> RE: Vanagon Community
> Joy, you have touched (very well) on a subject that comes up around the
> WetWesties campfires frequently, the sense of 'community' we all find on
> these Internet lists and especially on the road and in camp. I've thought
> about it a lot, it is unique in my experience. I've explained, in detail,
> to other friends of mine not part of this community, the origins of PIFF
> and the things that have been done through PIFF . I usually get a blank
> stare, total lack of comprehension. I'm sure there are other groups that
> come together because of a common interest but I have yet to hear of
> anything like the Vanagon community. A great subject for discussion around
> the campfire especially with a glass of good wine in hand....
>
--
roger w
From Proverbs:
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
servant who becomes king ...
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