a potpourri of inspiration - harrisburguu.com potpourri of inspiration ... minister of first...
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Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
1
A Potpourri of Inspiration
Good Morning!
The usual meaning of potpourri is a mixture of herbs that provide
a pleasant odor. Other definitions include a mixture of unlike items. The
original meaning in the French language was “rotten stew”. You may
judge whether any of my subsequent comments fulfill the summer
service’s inspiration theme or are better in filling a waste can.
I am an “Old-Old” member of our congregation. (I will explain the
“Old-Old” adjective a bit later).
Following military service in Germany where I prepared
topographic maps for the Army, my spouse – Barbara – and I arrived in
Harrisburg in 1956. Friends of ours from Carlisle mentioned that a
Dickinson College Professor was speaking to a group of Unitarians on
Sunday at the Harrisburg YWCA. (Barb says it was at the YMCA.) As a
recently graduated geologist with a Master’s degree, I found the group
to be welcoming and interesting and the speaker, Professor Amos
Horlacher, to be without religious cant and with a rational view of
world events and humanity.
We joined the group and found them to be a community that
expressed our understanding of life and our place in this universe.
We have been here since then. We’ve enjoyed and/or suffered all
the Ministers that have served this congregation.
A few times in the many decades of our membership, I have felt
the need to speak to the congregation, generally inspired by my
understanding of the interaction of science and religion. In early April, I
was reading articles in the winter issue of the “Unitarian-Universalist
Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
2
World”, a publication of our U-U Association. Three articles therein
piqued my interest and I was inspired to contact David Spear and offer
one or more of the topics as a theme for a summer Sunday service. The
articles are: “On becoming old-old” by Sally Stoddard of Lincoln,
Nebraska; “The Dream of White Innocence” by William Sinkford,
Minister of First Unitarian Church of Portland, Oregon, and past
President of our U-U Association; and “When Charity Disrupts Justice”
by Chuck Collins, a member of First Church Jamaica Plains,
Massachusetts.
At the same time, I was reading “Why Times Flies – A mostly
Scientific Investigation” by Alan Burdick. I was very much intrigued by
Burdick’s description of the Philosopher (and later Saint) Augustine who
first wrote “deus creator ominum”, Latin words that translate to “God
creates all”. Saint Augustine was also the originator of original sin from
his interpretation of the Adam and Eve myth and wrote more on the
sins of sex that still are rampant, even though in his youth he enjoyed
such joys profusely.
David accepted my offer with the comment that I could pick any
of the above for my theme. Later I learned that the theme for summer
services was “Inspiration”, specifically “Someone or Something that
Inspired me”. This gave me pause. A search of inspire, inspiration, and
associated words produced many important quotes from famous
writers, one of which resonated with me. Written by Robert Louis
Stevenson it reads:
Judge each day not by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you
plant
Reading and pondering Stevenson’s statement, I realized that the
“fruit” from “seeds” of ordinary human endeavors could be
Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
3
inspirations. It made me recall two specific instances where “seeds”
were “planted” by me and others, without our knowing that such had
occurred, which inspired another person to make an important life
decision.
The first instance occurred on one of several Valentine’s Days in
Harrisburg more than a decade ago where a group of our church’s
members was present at a “Freedom to Mary Rally” event. The rally
occurred for at least several separate years beside the Susquehanna
River along Front Street.
Members of Harrisburg’s Gay community organized the rallies
seeking to publically express that all persons should have the legal right
to marry whomever they chose, regardless of sexual identity. Initial
occurrences of the “Freedom to Marry” rally had experienced
protesters who interfered with the rally attendees, even though the
rally organizers had obtained a Harrisburg city permit. The protestors
interfered by broadcasting with bullhorns their hateful messages, and
exhibited posters and broadsides that spelled out their messages of
anger and hate.
Someone of the rally planners contacted Alanna Berger, member
of our church, who was an organizer and trainer for a group named the
“Silent Witnesses”. The planners invited her group to aid them in future
rallies by being a buffer between the hate-mongers and the rally
attendees. Alanna asked for volunteers among church members,
particularly those who sang in our church’s choir, of which she, my
spouse, Barbara, and I were members. Several of the choir agreed to be
trained and we become “Silent Witnesses”. We purchased “t”-shirts
and umbrellas that were emblazoned with rainbow colors. (We have
Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
4
these yet today) My daughter Donna recalls that we were “Silent
Witnesses for five successive years.
The specific event that I recall was on a cold and rainy Valentine’s
Day, miserable weather indeed. We were there for 4-5 hours silently
standing on the grass behind the curbs of Front Street. We were face
to face with the protestors with our umbrellas up against the rain or in
front of us to block the hate-filled visuals. Traffic was, as usual along
Front Street, noisy and smelly.
Years later, we dined with members of our church. One of them
spoke to me that his decision to join our church was partially a result of
his observing Barb and I, two old persons, standing there on a
miserable cold and rainy day for several hours so that he and his friends
could participate in their “Freedom to Marry” rally. As I recall his words,
it went something like this: “My final decision to join the Unitarian
Church of Harrisburg resulted from seeing you standing silent for hours
at our rally. A church that has members like you, two old persons who
would give of their time on a miserable day, is the church I want to
attend.”
When we volunteer to serve a community need, the “fruit” that
results can be another’s inspiration.
The second instance relates not to our church but to my activities
as a scientist. For newer members of our church I am a geologist who
was employed by our Commonwealth as a member of the PA
Topographic and Geologic Survey. I began there as a paleontologist and
field geologist preparing geologic maps. As a paleontologist, one of my
first assignments was to prepare a pamphlet on “Common Fossils of
PA”. This led to writing a book that located publicly available sites in
Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
5
each Pennsylvania County where anyone could relatively easily and
freely collect rocks with embedded fossils.
Additional assignments that I performed was to organize multiple-
day field trips where upwards of 200 or more geologists, students,
professors, consultants and environmental engineers were led to sites
(mainly quarries and roadside outcroppings) where I had collected and
interpreted geologic data. For each site, I prepared a guidebook with
text, photographs and maps. At the site, I then lectured about the
specific geologic data present in outcroppings. I directed their
attention to where in the site they could specifically examine what I
had seen and then accept or argue with me over my scientific
interpretation.
At one such site that included fossils, after lecturing and the group
was milling about talking, a young man approached me and asked me
to identify a fossil he had collected. He was a recently graduated
student from one of PA’s many colleges. As I recall, he said to me “Dr.
Hoskins, I want to thank you for preparing the book “Fossil Collecting in
Pennsylvania”. It was because of what you wrote; I decided to become
a geologist”.
In writing that book, it was not my task or intention to affect
another’s decision of a life career. Yet, I interpret from his words that
my writing inspired him. I learned from him that what I did and what I
wrote could have far-reaching affects from the original reason of
performing a task.
Now to examples when I was the one who was inspired. As a
small child, barely able to peek over a table at which people were
seated, registering citizens to vote in the small town where I lived, I
asked my father why he was there when he should be at home playing
Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
6
with me and my siblings, he responded (as best I can recall) : “It is the
responsibility of folks to volunteer to assist others to do important
community tasks”. My father’s words inspired me to be a volunteer
when needed in our congregation and communities to which I
belonged.
Others have inspired me. In high school, my class started with 12
students. Six of us graduated. The school Principal, J. Bentley Hobart,
taught a class in Earth Science. It included field trips to examine the
many examples of sediment deposited by glaciers that covered our
Black River valley. Many limestone quarries (with fossils) existed on the
western valley slopes. The metamorphic rocks of the Adirondacks were
to east as well as in our basement. Mr. Hobart’s course inspired me to
become a geologist.
As you might imagine, when I went to college with more than 200
students, it took me a long time to acclimate and learn how to be a
successful college student. I did not get any “A’s” in any 1st semester
classes and I failed in Spanish. At the beginning of the 2nd semester, I
was called to the Dean’s office where he said: “Mr. Hoskins, I see that
you have had a good time. Mr. Hoskins, you have had your good time.”
Needless to say,I was very much inspired by Dean Huntley.
Later, near graduation, I asked for his opinion as to whether I
would succeed in graduate school, because I recognized that I was but a
middling student as an undergraduate, and to be a research scientist
required additional education. Dean Huntley’s response was: Mr.
Hoskins, “are you prepared to work”? I affirmatively responded. He
then said, “You will succeed if you are prepared to work hard.” That
response inspired me to seek out a graduate school.
Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
7
Enough of Inspiration! I hope that my personal stories resonate
with one or more present. If not, please tell me whether they are
merely foolishly sentimental recollections of an old fart, or have some
meaning.
The articles I read in the “UU World” and listed at the beginning of
my words are important because they relate to issues that our
congregation, as well as all other UU congregations, should be aware
and work to resolve, if we are to fulfill the principles we weekly repeat.
I urge that you read them. You may access them on the home page of
our UCH website. Along the right side and near the bottom there is a
clickable icon that takes you to a list of current and recent editions of
the “UU World”
“old-old” as defined by Sally Stoddard in the first article I
mentioned means you know that there is a difference of being tired at
77 from being tired at 87. I can attest to her conclusion now being 87
and having survived more than 5 years of chemotherapy.
I focus on her story because in it she comments that churches
need to implement the “Americans with Disabilities Act” in their
buildings. We need congregational resources to maintain and upgrade
our buildings so that we can serve all who find U-U their church home.
Treasurer Ed Sykes earlier told you that we, as congregants, need
to contribute additional funds so that we can end our fiscal year
without a deficit on June 30. At the June 14 meeting of our Finance
Committee, committee members learned that we need an additional
$20,000 by June 30 to pay our staff and bills. Knowing of this immediate
need Barb and I will be contributing an additional $2,500, and raising
our following year pledge by the same amount.
Robert Louis Stevenson: Judge each day not by the
harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
8
My closing words include some written by Robert Kaufman:
Mine “are just words. The hymns we sing are just songs.
All our reflections are just idle thoughts. When we convert them
all into loving and responsible action throughout the week, then
and only then will this morning become what we want it to be --
a time of worship”.
Go forth and be inspiring. Your planted “seeds” may
inspire!
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