[Dialogue] Do good as you gather

[James Wiegel]

 To all those gathering in Techny to consider the future of the Institute of Cultural Affairs, its legacy and mission
   
  I found this quote in a book I bought for a quarter at a Baptist Youth rummage sale in Nova Scotia.
   
  "Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need --  not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation" -- a struggle against the common enemies of man:  tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself."  John F. Kennedy inaugural address 1/20/1961.
   
  I, for one, am standing on tiptoe to see what you all come up with this weekend as ICA USA's next response, next right answer, and to see what new generations will step forward to provide leadership in the coming decades of work.  Hundreds, if not thousands, of others are also watching.
   
  Do good.  Keep in touch.  Tell some stories and read some poems.  Tears are good -- both of grief and joy.  And keep in mind this is serious stuff.
   
  Jim Wiegel
   
  "Unhappy country, what wings you have! . . .
  Weep (it is frequent in human affairs), weep for the terribel magnificence of the means, 
  The ridiculous incompetence of the reasons, the bloody and shabby
  Pathos of the result."
  Robinson Jeffers
   
  But in the midst of this trend toward a less primitive conception of ourselves and our world, we have somehow, without anyone really intending it, stumbled into a military confrontation where we have come to feel that our honor is at stake.  We have in a moment of uncertainty been tempted to rely on our overwhelming physical power rather than our intelligence, and we have, in part, succumbed to this temptation.  Bewildered and unnerved when our terrible power fails to bring immediate success, we are at the edge of a chasm the depth of which no man knows."  Robert Bellah
   
  "When a nation is very powerful but lacking in self-confidence, it is likely to behave in a manner that is dangerous both to itself and to others.
  Gradually but unmistakeably, America is succombing to that arrogance of power which has afflicted, weakened and in some cases destroyed great nations in the past.
  If the war goes on and expands, if that fatal process continues to accelerate until America becomes what it is not now and never has been, a seeker after unlimited power and empire, then Vietnam will have had a mighty and tragic fallout indeed.
  I do not believe that will happen.  I am very apprehensive but I will remain hopeful, and even confident, that America, with its humane and democratic traditions, will find the wisdom to match its power."
  J. William Fulbright.
   
   


401 North Beverly Way   
Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401
+1  623-936-8671
+1  623-363-3277
   jfwiegel at yahoo.com

Now and then it's good to pause in the pursuit of happiness and just be happy.  Guillaume Apollinaire
       
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