Willie (in reply to a complement about him as a tremendously compassionate person): "Ian, I appreciate that. I'll humbly accept that, but in some ways I didn't have a choice--you know how my life's been..."
Some people become notably extraordinary in response to or as a product of extraordinary circumstance and exposure. He had gone to prison three times, and started turning his life around through his determination to be who he knew he was capable of becoming--a better person and an artist.
If you get a chance to hear to his story there several key moments during his final time in prison:
1) choosing not to eat meat (at a time when vegetarian options were almost non-existent) while in prison as a way to prove he had control over something in his life
2) one night, a neighboring cell mate who had a reputation for drawing passed one of his pieces over to one of Willie's cellmates, and from then forward he knew he could draw and started sketching
3) seeing the sense of peace that painting brought to one of the inmates
4) a moment where another inmate noticed he was drawing and sat down to show him how to draw with three dimensions for about 5 minutes
He ended his addiction to drugs and later earned his GED, then a college degree, ran 3 Detroit Free Press marathons, and worked at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Wellness Center for a little over 20 years before retiring early to live the wisdom he preaches and pursue his art with greater focus.
It's important to acknowledge that his addiction had negative impacts for other people beyond himself--and that's at the core of his statement "but in some ways, I didn't have a choice--you know how my life's been..." He'll be one of the first to acknowledge and warn people about addiction and the realities of prison and its role in criminal justice. At the same time, he also understands that many of the events which led up to addiction could have been circumvented in many ways--whether it was through the attitudes instilled in him by others as a child to having an earlier exposure to healthier and creative means for expression.
Willie has been a mentor and a champion for my own efforts. I learned so much about compassion and artistry from sporadic visits with him in the past year as he Worked at the Wellness Center--sometimes just from watching him sketch as he told some of the stories I shared above. Or by the way he remained relentless about encouraging me and finding opportunities that could advance my musicianship even as I focused on other kinds of work.
Willie attributes the magnitude of his compassion in large part to his experiences, though I could say there's a fair amount of credit due to his character and commitment too. His life story's tremendous, and I wish more people have met him or can spend time with him to learn about it firsthand.
However, through his reply to my appreciation for what he does and how he lives, I realized he noted a distinction in gauging one's character: there's more to being and becoming a great person than just meeting circumstance with magnanimous compassion. Perhaps actively seeking opportunity to help others becomes the next distinguishing gradation in our humanity. While it's something both Willie and I do, the extent of which that it happens as a regular basis is something new for me to focus on. Not necessarily because I didn't care about or didn't do it before, but because I hadn't seen life with this degree of clarity until I meditated over Willie's reply.
Another question arises about actively helping others: at what point do we let another person be as they are?
Perhaps it behooves us to examine a maxim of life: be as you are unless you yourself find compelling reason to change. I suspect many try to live by it, yet what does this maxim say about our relationship with other people? A distinction and balance exists between seeking--active, and intentional form of aid--to help and helping as an outcome of a reactive/passive or perhaps something simply receptive to opportunity.
I'm still exploring this concept, and I've also titled a new piece "Mandatory Compassion" based on this conversation.
Start 9 I 2013, # 12:24 pm 18 I 2013
. . .
I've since realized the difference between love and compassion. Love is a proactive endeavor which exists in the interest of helping others be at their best. Compassion tends to be reactive and circumstantial. We may help others upon recognizing some need that can be met, but if not, we might empathize for a moment and move on. I also attribute some of this to sharing lunch with a homeless man, Mr. Westberry, at a time when I just happened to have enough extra food to share a hot meal during a very cold December day in Ann Arbor. That event ran through my head as I started playing the opening notes of the piece, and Willie's conversation versus my encounter with Mr. Westberry galvanized concept behind this title. [#edited 19 IX 2013]
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