Aloha, My Friend,

Back in the 1970’s, when I should have been advancing through college instead of warming stools in the dives and taverns on Nebraska Avenue in Tampa, I had the opportunity to hear Buckminster Fuller speak at FSU. Coincidently enough a gal that I had known platonically since high school had given me a birthday card that said, “It seems like just yesterday you were knee-high to a grasshopper and now, look at yourself, elbow high to a bar.” Well, that sober part of me reasoned, “Platonic is all well & good but I could take a shining to this particular girl”, so I asked her out on a date and several days later she was all prettied up as she accompanied me to hear the Bucky lecture.

Later I acknowledged that this was a starting point to a pattern that took me awhile to recognize and unravel – that I wasn’t getting a lot of second dates. One pretty young darling actually went and waited for me in the lobby of the Curtis Hixon Hall when I took her to hear Marshall McLuhan.

Like W.C. Fields once sort of said, “She broke my heart and led me to drinking and now, 30 years later, I am still hoping that someday I can thank her.”

Buckminster was a frail old man when I saw him. A long haired grad student helped him as his unsure feet shuffled to the podium. He was nearly 82 years old at the time and every heartbeat was just a promise that was broken 4 years later. At the lectern the unexplainable happened. It was like that Twilight Zone episode where the character is able to absorb the vitality of those around him. As soon as the grad student released him and turned to leave the stage Bucky clapped his hands together. He was effervescent and in a strong and certain voice announced that he was going to tell us about “Spaceship Earth.” And for the next 2 hours he built the case that if we are designed like other animals to be a success, then nature must have provided enough of everything needed for all to live a healthy existence. People living well would have little interest in fighting and destruction.  Later he would write, “For the first time in history it is now possible to take care of everybody at a higher standard of living than any have ever known. All humanity now has the option to become enduringly successful.” He secretly took the responsibility of being a “ships captain” and with passionate intent made it his goal to care for everyone onboard.

Be aware that, believe it or not, like it or not, you are one of the Captains too.

50 years ago this month the Peace Symbol was first displayed at a rally for nuclear disarmament in Britain. The symbol itself is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters “N” (two flags down in an upside-down V) & “D” (formed by holding one flag straight up and one straight down) for Nuclear Disarmament.

The essence of simplicity itself, wouldn’t you agree?

And that is why this Second Sunday has the flavor of Peace and Possibilities. We are going to be hosting the 1st Annual Circle the Square for Peace fête. We will be celebrating many of the local organizations and individuals in our community who work towards peace daily. So far it looks like some 30 groups will be setting up around Railroad Square – Volunteer Leon, 2-11 Big Bend, Guardian Ad Litem, Boys & Girls Club, Refuge House – to name just a few. We will also have the usual suspects – Manatee Mushroom Man,  Farmer’s Market Fruit & Vegetable Vendors, Children’s Games, Yoga Instructions, Pet Rescue & Adoption and the BloodMobile.

This Second Sunday Fair at the Square should be more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Buckminster Fuller is largely forgotten these days, a footnote in history and a worn polished cobblestone on the path of good intentions, along with his geodesic dome and even the concept of Spaceship Earth. But for you, my friend, I leave you with this sweet story: In 1983 Buckminster was visiting his wife of 66 years. She was comatose and dying of cancer and while visiting her in the hospital he exclaimed at one point: “She is squeezing my hand!” He then stood up, suffered a heart attack and died an hour later. His wife died 36 hours later. I guess that she wanted to be with her Captain.