Casual Choices
Page 44
Josh was very pleased that Sarah made it to the ceremony. She had a son on the faculty of the University of Minnesota and used a visit to him as an excuse to stop by for this occasion. She had aged, they all had, but again Josh was taken by how familiar she seemed to him. He immediately could see why he had gotten so close to her in college. Had choices back then been slightly different, he reflected, they might have married and spent their lives together. It would have been a good partnership but likely not a special one. Which is better, he wondered, an ordinary and predictable life, or one that demands engagement and struggle? He knew the easy response but had no final answer.
Others collected to watch this special ceremony, students and university staff and nearby residents from Shorewood Hills. These casual onlookers probably could not quite figure out what was going on. There were readings from the Bible, the Koran, the thoughts of the Dalai Lama, and various secular humanists. Then each of the six participants shared their feeling on this day. There were many sentiments reflecting on the power and place of family. There were many expressions of love and commitment.
What most captured the hearts of the onlookers were two very young girls, dressed in fine new dresses but clearly from a foreign land since they talked in an unknown tongue when they talked at all. Mostly they clung to the legs of Cate and Meena, who had labored so hard to get them out of the squalid refugee camps where their fate was so uncertain. The last to speak was the only male in the group of six celebrants. He spoke quietly of choices and commitment, the need to hold on to what was important and finding one’s center. That was where he ended, thanking all with him that day for helping him rediscover his center. Casual onlookers enjoyed the spectacle and then left, probably without appreciating what was going on that day. They had their own lives to complete, unaware of the full import of what they had witnessed. For them, it was just another intriguing moment in one of America’s more interesting cities.
For the celebrants and those closest to them, it was much more. It was a day of connection and hope. It was a moment of renewal and new beginnings. Most important of all, it was another opportunity to discover the gold at the end of every rainbow and the warmth that resides in every heart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tom Corbett is emeritus senior scientist and an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served as associate and acting director for a decade before his retirement. He received a doctorate in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin and taught various social policy courses there for many years in the School of Social Work. During his long academic and policy career, he worked with governments at all levels including a stint in Washington, DC, where he helped develop President Clinton’s welfare reform legislation. He has written dozens of articles and reports on poverty, social policy, and human services issues and given hundreds of talks across the nation on these topics. In addition, Dr. Corbett has consulted with numerous local, state, and federal officials on various poverty, welfare, and human services issues both in the United States and Canada. Among many other things, he has testified before Congress, worked with the Wisconsin legislature on important legislation, and served on an expert panel for the National Academy of Sciences. His most recent fictional works include Palpable Passions and Ordinary Obsessions along with many non-fictional works. Now retired, the author resides in Madison, Wisconsin.
See www.booksbytomcorbett.com