in no particular order, for
- the students who each day give my life meaning
- the parents who entrust me with their children
- the benefits I received from an excellent free public education
- National Music Camp in Interlochen, where I learned I could be both a musician and an athlete
- Haverford College, which admitted me, then twice readmitted me, letting me grow up and find myself
- Sylvia and Louis Bernstein, my parents, who gave of themselves so that I could do things like music, Interlochen, and more
- this electronic community, which enabled me to develop my voice, and which has sustained me at times when I was shattered
- teachers and professors like Thomas Rock, John Davison, William Reese, Linda Poole, and others, who saw value in me even when I didn't
- Marion White-Hood, Doc, who gave me leadership positions when I was still a beginning teacher
- Leaves on the Current, now 37 years together, almost 26 of marriage, who still will tell me she loves me, especially when I am down or depressed
- Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Sibelius, Dvorak, so many wonderful composers whose music has brightened my life
- Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ann Murray, Eva Cassidy, and other singers whose performances never fail to move me
- the access to good and healthy food, sometimes plain, sometimes fantastic such as at the Inn at Little Washington
- the many fourfooted creatures that have brightened my life: Charcoal, Sir Belvedere, Isis, Samantha, Egger, Elspeth, Wellington, Nelson, Pele, Cielito Midnight, Elsa, Angelica, Felicity, Taliessen, LionEl Tiger, and more
I'm not yet done . . .
- the poetry of William Blake, William Shakespeare, William Butler Yeats, Allen Ginsberg, T. S. Eliot, and more
- the novels of William Hardy, Aldous Huxley, Charles Williams, Fyedor Dostoevsky, and hundreds more
- the essays and thoughts of Thomas Merton, C. S. Lewis, Archimandrite Sophrony, Timothy Ware, Douglas Steere, Thomas Kelly, Tito Colliander, Rufus Jones, Bill Moyers,
- the Civil Rights Movement
- my sister, Judith Ellen Miles, who has given a lifetime of service to others
- my nieces and nephews, both through my sister and on my wife's side
- Steve and Flossie, who were willing to let me begin a relationship with Leaves when she was 17 and I was 28: it has lasted
- The Founding Fathers, who as Franklin once said, have given us a Republic if we can keep it
- the many selfless public servants, elected, civil and appointed, who have tried to sustain and improve on that Republic
- St. Gregory's Abbey in Michigan, which provided a place for me to grow spiritually
- Simona Petra, a monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, which welcomed me and whose then Geronda Aimilianos saw in me a spiritual depth I did not know I had
- the various congregrations that have welcomed me during my still ongoing spiritual pilgrimage
- the benefits of an America that still has not lost all of its promise and opportunity
there is so much more, so many places and people
simply put, thanks for the opportunity of a life where I have been able to keep learning, keep growing, begin to give back to others for all they have given me.
Peace.