Charly
(L to R) Ranger, Lisa and CharlyOne day he'll walk from out of this place.
You'll see a quiet determination on his face.
He'll toe no lines. Suffer no fools.
--Man of Principle, Jethro Tull
________________
Through a stroke of serendipitous timing we had the good fortune to meet blog friend Charles Gittings while in California. We had already passed his home on the coast, but as luck would have it, we were all around Santa Rosa at the same time.
Charly is a true Californian, who demonstrates the can-do attitude we saw so often. Chess master, bridge master, computer programmer extraordinaire, humanitarian -- Charly is a little bit of all of it. His current project of the last several years is to bring civil rights to the U.S. detainees. He has recently partnered with attorneys who have volunteered to work in the project, and you can read about the project here: Project to Enforce the Geneva Conventions. Of his own accord, he managed to bring an amicus brief before the Supreme Court, and is currently working on another.
But Charlie is also a raconteur, and my favorite story concerned his 11 -year-old "Aha" moment. It occurred after witnessing a child's lifetime of adult drudgery and general grubbiness, while sitting on railroad tracks and watching a spectacular sunset. He determined that he would never be as mean, petty and nasty as the adults to whom he had been entrusted.
As I had a similar moment at a similar age, this ethical refusal resonated with me.
Alas, we had to be off on a goal of reaching Petaluma at night, with no room booked, and the visit was over too soon.
I wish you peace and success all of your days, Charly. Thank you for being open to making the connection with another cat loving, freedom seeker.
[p.s. -- remember the delightfully inebriated bubble girl Angel from the next table, who would not be pleased until I looked like I was in a Bud Light commercial? :)]
Charly is a true Californian, who demonstrates the can-do attitude we saw so often. Chess master, bridge master, computer programmer extraordinaire, humanitarian -- Charly is a little bit of all of it. His current project of the last several years is to bring civil rights to the U.S. detainees. He has recently partnered with attorneys who have volunteered to work in the project, and you can read about the project here: Project to Enforce the Geneva Conventions. Of his own accord, he managed to bring an amicus brief before the Supreme Court, and is currently working on another.
But Charlie is also a raconteur, and my favorite story concerned his 11 -year-old "Aha" moment. It occurred after witnessing a child's lifetime of adult drudgery and general grubbiness, while sitting on railroad tracks and watching a spectacular sunset. He determined that he would never be as mean, petty and nasty as the adults to whom he had been entrusted.
As I had a similar moment at a similar age, this ethical refusal resonated with me.
Alas, we had to be off on a goal of reaching Petaluma at night, with no room booked, and the visit was over too soon.
I wish you peace and success all of your days, Charly. Thank you for being open to making the connection with another cat loving, freedom seeker.
[p.s. -- remember the delightfully inebriated bubble girl Angel from the next table, who would not be pleased until I looked like I was in a Bud Light commercial? :)]
Labels: bacflash, charles gittings, pegc, project to enforce the geneva conventions
posted by Lisa at 4:33 PM
5 Comments:
You left some serious tracks out here, m'dear! California may never be the same. In the good way, of course.
Next time you travel out here, please take Ah-nold back east with you. That would really help.
But you, Gordon, were the first, and I shall always remember you for that. Arguably, you live in the prettiest area, though to my eyes, it was all lovely.
And sorry, Gordon -- you must keep the Ah-nold, til you all de-select him.
Damn, can't put nothin' over on you!
:) [I'll be back!]
Some fine lookin' folks there, is what I say. One young chick and two old dogs.
If Charly is reading this, I've gotta say, friend Charly, you look just like I imagined. Don't forget to keep us posted on your progress.
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