I was asked me to
write a bio for our class webpage and I thought it would be a good way to let
you all know what I have been doing and thinking as well as for my own benefit
to reflect a bit on my life.
Here is a brief
outline of what I have been up to since graduating from Wheatley in 1960. It is mainly the “crossroads” that
stand out.
After a few stumbles, I
attended Cornell University for two years before transferring to Hofstra where I graduated with a degree in business in 1964
or ’05. Went on to Columbia and
received and MBA – that was a good two years: living in NYC and having
some teachers that gave me a sense that I could actually think clearly and use my
intelligence.
After that; the big question: what to do now? Now that I felt on
top of the world and able to do whatever I decided (that totally felt good to
me; I remember it well!). I applied to join the Peace Corps – I remember being inspired by
JFK to be of help to the rest of the world. I spent about a year and a half or so in Afghanistan,
helping to introduce a new accounting system in the government and then doing
some teaching of English in grade 6 or 7 or thereabouts in northern Afghanistan. When our group first arrived in Kabul,
and were riding in a bus from the airport to downtown I realized that the place
was totally Different – something that I had never even conceived
of. It really opened my mind
up. Afghanistan is rugged and
beautiful and its people confidently independent in their own way. I found its
people to be curious and hospitable; and very warm and friendly when you got to
know them, though we all know there is much suffering there now. (I am certain
that in the end they will still be around and in charge when the westerners and
the Taliban have left. I often
wonder about my friends there.) It
was very good to be part of the Peace Corps group there; I met a lot of really
good people.
After returning to the
US from Afghanistan in about 1970 I was afloat for awhile – nothing really going on. Walt Brunner gave me a call one day saying that he had signed a lease to
put together and run a restaurant in the West Indies (St. Croix, USVI) and
asked if I wanted to jump in and help. After thinking about it for a day I decided to go. (My mother had already retired and was
living there as well – she also worked in the restaurant –
nicknamed “mother superior”). It
was great to help put something together from scratch (a roof covering a pile
of sand on rough cement floor) and to operate it - it turned out to be a very
successful combination of local bar and restaurant and tourist spot. It was also a very harmonious group of
us that worked there for several years (including Walter, his sister Susan, Jeff
Stone and John Bagdon – maybe others from Long
Island) I continued to work in the restaurant and bar industry in St Croix until about
1980. Finally the original
restaurant had been sold, my mother had terminal cancer and needed care, and
also the whole of the Virgin Islands was having extreme social unrest –
stemming from outsiders (including me, of course) taking over the culture of
the small island; there was a lot of extreme and random violence taking place
– it seemed like a good time to move on.
Over the course of the
years between 1970 and 1980 I had visited the States for periods of time. During that time I happened to come in
contact with a Tibetan Buddhist teacher - Trungpa Rinpoche – in Vermont where I had gone to check out a
meditation centre that he had founded. That marks the next crossroad in my journey.
I spent some time at
the meditation centre (called Karme Coling) but finally returned to L.I. to care for my mother
as she was dying and needed help. After my wise and gentle mother passed away I took care of what needed
to be tended to and returned to the Centre in Vermont where I worked as a part
of the staff for two years. It was
clear to me that I had connected with “family”. During my stay there I met Kathleen whom I fell in love with
and we married in 1981. In 1982 we
left Vermont and moved to Nova Scotia where the international Shambhala Buddhist organization had relocated
to. We had three great
children born in Halifax.
For health reasons to
be closer to Kathleen’s extended family we moved from Halifax to British
Columbia in 1993. I am still here
as are two of our children. Kathleen passed away in February of 2010. I still miss her often, as some of you will easily
understand.
In general my main
interests are to practice and teach the Tibetan Buddhist and Shambhala meditation practices that I have learned and to
help keep the local meditation centre in Victoria alive and well as well as to
appreciate the sky and earth and trees and greenery and all the people on the
earth.
To earn my financial
keep I do bookkeeping and income tax work.
Best wishes to you
all.
George