Crystallization -
Summing Up a Life's Journey
How does one understand the fragments of a life as a coherent whole? I know that under certain conditions formless material can suddenly turn into crystals, suddenly taking on shape and clarity. For me, that moment arrived when I participated in a coast to coast television program focusing on the Normandy invasion.
At that moment, the various aspects of my life, which had sometimes felt like a disjointed jumble of events, suddenly lined up. I could see how all the pieces had brought me to where I was, and more importantly, where I could, and should be going.
Developing a purposeful life is the work of many years—in fact it takes a lifetime. Activism to bring ones life work to bear on issues that can affect the lives of millions of people by inspiring myself and colleagues into vigorous advocacy regarding some major concern of our time has become my deepest focus and orientation, as well as a major source of satisfaction in my life.
However my path arriving at this clear focus has been circuitous and sometimes tortured. Born with a silver spoon in my mouth, the spoon later melted and left me scorched. As a result, love came and disappeared before I had a chance to savor its fruition. This and other experiences challenged me and taught me sufficient patience and compassion to understand the difficulties of others, and gave me some of the skills needed to be a successful activist.
I was located at the very center of the Normandy invasion during World War II. Seeing battle up close gave me a fuller realization of the importance of individuals in determining outcomes. The capacity and willingness of individuals to take responsibility could make a real difference. This awareness led me to notice that it is possible for people to find alternative approaches to problems in ways that might help people, individually and collectively, without causing any signigicant harm in the process. Because I was concerned about my experiences from the Second World War, I was especially interested in finding solutions to tensions without the violence of war. I was especially attracted to ideas that suggested that it might be possible to address international tensions and conflict without war.
My experience in business gave me additional understanding of the role of ambition and greed in moving people forward; it also gave me an appreciation for the skills necessary to make an enterprise or a project succeed.
I have been blessed and cursed, blessed by the accident of being thrown into some of the major historical events and arenas of my time, and cursed by other experiences that led to personal failures followed by personal growth.
What I have learned has given me an ambition and an ability to persevere, tackling tasks that many would view as hopeless, and at least some ability to apply my vision and energy to promote ideas that can help create preconditions for a world without war. This I came to believe can be done by transforming some of the world institutions that exist into institutions that would be more respected and more fully adequate for a peaceful and relatively just and prosperous world.
This book reports my journey with its many obstacles, and it celebrates the possibilities of a life of purposeful activism designed to serve the common good.
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"LIFE IN THE MARGIN" by Morton Gladstone