OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016
PURPOSE
IT BRINGS ENERGY TO OUR LIVES
A corSoraWe law\er GeIenGs liWWle gX\s, AsWoria man saYes a signi¿ canW home
Seattle woman whom I’ve
known for 40 years wanted
to write a book about people who
have heard God speak to them.
A
Her concept did not gain traction, but
I think she’s got a good idea.
How we ¿ nd
purpose in our
lives sometimes
seems random.
There is often an
element of luck
and timing. Many
of us also would
say providence
has played a role
in ¿ nding what
Steve
the existentialists
Forrester
call “our project.”
Purpose
walked into 5ob %il ott’s law of¿ ce
in the form of a West Virginia farmer.
The farmer, who found Bil ott through a
family connection, described his cattle
mysteriously dying and neighbors with
unaccountable health problems.
Writing in the current issue of The
New York Times Magazine, Nathaniel
Rich calls Billot “The lawyer who be-
came DuPont’s worst nightmare.” This
abrupt turn in Bil ott’s life was incongru-
ous, because Bil ott’s law ¿ rm defended
large corporate clients like Dow; they
weren’t in the business of helping little
guys.
Bil ott’s odyssey transported him
from a comfortable blue chip corporate
law practice to life as a dogged court-
room champion of farmers who had
been harmed by a corporate polluter and
stiffed by federal and state regulators.
Here is the picture Rich gives us of
the transformed lawyer. “Bilott doesn’t
regret ¿ ghting DuPont for the last
years, nor for letting P)2$ perÀ uo-
rooctanoic acid) consume his career.
But he is still angry. ‘The thought that
DuPont could get away with this for
this long,’ Bilott says, his tone landing
halfway between wonder and rage, ‘that
they could keep making a pro¿ t off it,
then get the agreement of the govern-
mental agencies to slowly phase it out,
only to replace it with an alternative with
unknown human effects — we told the
agencies about this in 00, and they’ve
essentially done nothing.’”
istorians and Jungian psychologists
talk about how human affairs shift
when a man or woman’s arc of personal
growth intersects with a historical crisis.
The junction of Martin Luther and the
Reformation are often cited as an exam-
ple of a man meeting a moment.
I call this intersection of one’s life with
a big moment as having an appointment
with history. If you cover politics for
more than a decade you will see history
knock on politicians’ doors. Most of the
time, politicians are too timid to answer.
H
A woman left
health policy
analysis in
her fi fties
to become
a classroom
teacher.
Robert Bilott — ‘The lawyer who became DuPont’s worst nightmare.’
sculptor Constance Whitney Warren
and the painter, memoirist and “Grande
Dame of the Cherokees,” Narcissa
Chisholm Owen.
Julia Marlowe’s story resonates
with us in 0, because she achieved
a measure of stage fame just as women
were becoming actresses. She brought
to her theatrical experience something
we seldom hear from today’s actors.
She believed that her art had the power
to elevate and heal. When she and her
partner, Edward Sothern, performed
Shakespeare in 0 Washington, D.C.,
“segregation prohibited African Ameri-
cans from attending any of their perfor-
mances.” So they spoke and performed
at Howard University and Dunbar High
School. Writes Kimberly Roblin: “The
message was clear: Art is for everyone,
and if you cannot come to us, we will
come to you.”
Writes Roblin: “For Julia, art was an
equalizer and an elevator. It was also a
calling.”
But ordinary people do respond to the
call. My friend the Seattle writer tells me
about a woman who left her health pol-
icy analysis career in her 50s to become
a classroom teacher. When the woman
retired as a ¿ rst -grade teacher, her hus-
band, a national columnist, wrote: “I am
certain that Judy does more public good
in a week than I’ve done in a lifetime.
She teaches ¿ rst grade.”
he current issue of Gilcrease, the
journal of the Gilcrease Museum in
Tulsa, contains the stories of four th
century women who were ahead of their
time.
You are likely to know one of these
women — Harriet Beecher Stowe —
who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the book
T
and stage play that hastened slavery’s
abolition. Stowe became a global phe-
nomenon. As Katherine Kane describes
Stowe’s moment of calling, it sounds
like God spoke to her. “... on a wintry
Sunday morning in 5, thirty-nine-
year-old wife and mother Harriet Beech-
er Stowe had a disturbing vision as she
sat in church. She saw an enslaved man
being beaten by his owner. Stowe went
home, and in a burst she transcribed the
scene she has seen. Then she gathered
her family together to hear the story.
This was the start of Uncle Tom’s Cab-
in.”
he names of the other three Gil-
crease subjects are not as visible to
us. They are the actress Julia Marlowe,
T
had the good fortune this week to visit
over lunch with Greg and Jeff Newen-
hof, proprietors of City Lumber. The
Flavel home, which Greg has acquired,
was a big topic. The brothers showed
my advertising director and me the in-
side of the house.
There are a number of ways to look
at the challenge that Greg faces. But it
occurred to me that, like the others I’ve
mentioned above, purpose has found
him. This historic home’s restoration is
Greg’s calling. Astoria is the bene¿ ciary.
I
Julia Marlowe
rom watching my late grandmother,
I’ve known that ¿ nding purpose
is the key to a healthy old age. I’ve
known my share of prosperous people
who were bored with their existence. A
purpose-driven life is the best human
value.
—S.A.F.
F
Open forum
Good deeds
, too, have been the recipient of gracious
“paying it forward” — twice. Once at the
“used bread store,” where they don’t acccept
checks and I had no cash. That time I caught
the last name of the kind person. She was the
only “Smith” in the phone book, and I quickly
sent her recompense, with a little extra added
for her next paying it forward good deed.
The second was more dif¿ cult, as a very
nice gentleman found me a particularly pretty
plant, like the one I admired in his cart — but
it was hiding behind larger ones. When I got
to the cashier, because of that plant, I was $20
short in pocket.
Before I could ask to set it aside, another
lovely lady stepped forward with a $20 bill,
and wouldn’t give her name. I’d heard her say
she was from across the river, so I asked her if
she knew Diantha, which is the unusual name
of a librarian in Paci¿ c County. She admitted
she did, so I was sure I had her number.
I immediately sent Diantha a note describ-
ing last summer’s lady from the plant room in
Fred Meyer, included a $20 bill, and asked that
I
it be returned. Diantha hasn’t seen her since.
So a lonely bill is waiting in the bottom of a
purse for a benevolent woman to use in con-
tinuing her good deed activities.
And, speaking of good deeds, aren’t we all
proud of the Methodist Church and its Warm-
ing Center, as well as the Presbyterian Church
for continuing its quartering of the food bank.
One ¿ nal word. Don’t forget to vote for
Trump — twice. That’s my good deed for the
day.
PAT MILLER
Astoria
Community mission
0 marks the 0th year of the Astoria Res-
cue Mission. With virtually no government
funding, the Mission has provided lodging on
more than 00,000 nights and fed more than
00,000 meals. Financial contributions, as
well as donations of goods and services, have
made it possible.
Shower facilities, clothing, personal care
items, transportation and laundry services are
2
routinely provided on a daily basis. The Mis-
sion is not a “À op house,” not a “wino hang-
out,” not a “shooting gallery” for drug addicts.
The Mission provides a family atmosphere
to all who are willing to participate in the ARM
community, whether for only one night — or
to participate in the life changing program. Nu-
merous lives have been saved.
Health has been regained. Addictions have
been overcome. Families have been reunit-
ed. Lives have been changed. Job skills are
provided. Continuing education assistance is
available.
Many individuals have become productive
contributors to their communities. Some have
become managers and owners of businesses.
Success stories have included a NFL football
player, an attorney, contractors, business own-
ers and many from other walks of life.
The Women’s Mission (House of Hope)
was founded to receive jail inmates, discharged
after midnight, many with no safe place to go.
Alone, in the dark, with no resources, they
were vulnerable to the elements — and the en-
vironment which put them behind bars. As a
result, compassionate ladies in our community
raised the funds for 70 W. Bond St. to become
a haven for women in need of a family and a
home.
In times of insuf¿ cient resources, our ded-
icated ARM directors have quietly forfeited
¿ nancial support. They have needed to give up
their rented homes and move into the Mission
with their young children.
The house at 4 W. Bond St. has been do-
nated to the Mission for a two-unit residence
for homeless families. However, the structure
is uninhabitable, needing removal and replace-
ment of the roof and the complete renovation
of the interior. There are not suf¿ cient funds
to perform the transformation, so ARM is re-
lying on the compassion and generosity of our
community for contributions of cash, materials
and labor. Grants, donations of assets or items
of value are welcome, which can be converted
into cash to make the structure habitable.
A special thank you to all who have contrib-
uted to the Mission — past, present and future.
JIM RAY
Board president, Astoria Rescue Mission
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
• CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
• DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Founded in 1873