Wednesday, October 22, 2008

My Most Unforgettable Character

When I was a kid, Readers Digest could always be found in our bathroom (Dad called it The Library). The little magazine book had monthly feature departments, such as "Toward More Picturesque Speech" and "Drama in Real Life." Readers could participate with the submission of humorous and joke fillers as well as a section called "My Most Unforgettable Character". I thought that someday I would write a story about my grandfather or my dad. They were certainly worthy subjects…and still are. I have written of them often. It occurred to me this morning that I have never written about Steve Magin. It surprised me really. He is, in many ways, my most unforgettable character. I would like to share the story with you.

Steve was born on March 13, 1950 in Danville, Illinois. Danville certainly qualified as The American Heartland kind of town. It was surrounded by miles and miles of rich farmland and was the home of burgeoning industries such as a General Motors Foundry. His parents were unusual in that his mother actually worked outside of the house at The VA Hospital. Mr. Magin was an engineer at the local TV station. They were Roman Catholic and their three kids attended Catholic Schools. I lived across the street and down the block from The Magins. We were the same age. It still baffles me that we did not meet until we were eight years old. Even when a new kid named Gary Cox moved in just two doors down from Steve in Second Grade we did not meet. Gary and I both attended Edison Grade School and became fast friends. We watched him over the fence once or twice but never went over to play. There are probably several reasons. They were not Protestants, we went to different schools, our parents were from different social circles with different values. Who knows! The fact is that we did meet. It was a summer day in 1958. My friends and I were playing baseball in The Golden’s side yard as usual when I saw two kids coming down the alley towards us. They just stood there and watched. I don’t know what we might have said, but one of them bent down, picked up a rock and threw it at us. Not all that fair because the alley was covered with rocks and we had no supply. We scattered to a neighbors house and got a bunch of apples while Scott Golden held up the battle. By the time the rock and apple fight was done we were getting called to come home for dinner by inpatient mothers. I was alone the next day when one of the kids came back down the alley. I greeted him by saying “Hi! Where’s your brother?” This was probably more to make certain that the kid I imagined was his brother wasn’t hiding in wait with another barrage of ammunition. He explained that his brother was away at school or something and that the boy from yesterday was a friend of his and not with him right then. It appeared safe so we approached each other, exchanged names and started talking about things that eight year olds talk about. It was the beginning of our life-long friendship that now spans fifty years. What a journey! Steve and I have shared every milestone and mishap. We have been there to listen, laugh and cry with one another. We have been high (in more ways than one) and we have been low. A man named Pavel Florensky said “Friendship love knows a friend not by his outward pose, not by the dress of heroism, but by his smile, by his quiet talk, by his weaknesses, by how he treats people ordinary human life, by how he eats and sleeps". I think that sums up the great gift of our long relationship. I could write volumes about the friendship itself. My intention here, though is to tell you about the unusual character of Steve Magin.

Steve has chosen to live simply. He had every opportunity to embrace The American Dream and live it out to the fullest. He was valedictorian of his private Catholic High School and graduated from The University of Illinois at the top of his class. He was a brilliant mathematician and a talented psychology student. His grasp of statistics made him a natural researcher. He was hired by The United States Department of Defense and became an important procurement officer. Steve was courted by several defense contractors and could have “written his own ticket”. This was not to be. There is a kind of spiritual morality that flows deeply through this guy. It is not the kind of stiff morality that we are used to seeing and hearing. Not the righteous, all knowing religious type that preaches its’ brand of salvation from the pulpit on Sundays or on Christian radio. His lives a peaceful, non-violent, compassionate life that is an observable testimony. Steve has spent and continues to spend his time as a kind of “servant leader’. He believes that all life is sacred and this belief is lived out in everything he does. It is not the work that he did with Educators for Social Responsibility, his peace activism, tax resistance or various “listening projects” that define him. He may be defined by a life lived for others. He has cared for his parents and relatives in long sicknesses. He counsels those who are struggling with every kind of problem imaginable in his beloved North Carolina mountain communities without professional charge. He freely gives his time and ear to anyone who needs him. But even more than all of this…he is better defined by his choice to live in solidarity with those who are impoverished.

Steve Magin has lived in abject poverty for more than a quarter century. He has chosen to do without the material comforts that we have come to believe are necessities. His homes have often been rent free or bartered. They frequently do not have running water, electricity or indoor plumbing. He chops wood for heat and cooking on an old “cook stove”. He labors in the fields, does landscaping, prepares taxes and other odd jobs to supply him with basic food and transportation. He has never owned a car that was worth much more than a couple hundred dollars. This self imposed marginalization allows him to identify with those who do not or cannot access the wealth of our modern society. He also lives like he does to enlighten all of us who know him and all who may encounter him with the wisdom that we do not have to strive for more and more…that we can do with and can enjoy life with less.

I believe that Gandhi is correct in his assertion that “Man becomes great exactly to the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men”. If this is true, then Steve has attained greatness. He shows us that it is possible to live simply and in service to others which enables us to have the courage to take whatever steps are appropriate to do the same, in some small way, ourselves. This Steve Magin is quite a person and quite a hero. He is my friend. He is my most unforgettable character.