Our benefactor, Jack Murdock, believed deeply in this country and the idea of a democracy that served everyone. While he was what many have called a self-made man, working long hours at his business until he saw success, he never lost an attentiveness to the concerns of those around him who lacked resources and opportunities like he had. He worked toward the best possible vision of America and personally supported causes that made such a country possible for all. Jack and I hold one belief in common that is best captured in this quote from a speech he gave when receiving a honorary degree from the University of Portland: “Our primary task then is to unleash the creative forces in [mankind] rather than those of destruction and despair.”
In one tribute to Jack after his passing, his friend and Tektronix co-founder Howard Vollum wrote of Jack as “a man whose achievements offer dramatic proof for the validity of the claim of America to be the land of opportunity, and whose life exemplified the kind of concerned dedication to service of community, state, and country which has sustained this great American dream.” The world around us today is both similar and different from the America that Jack saw. We hold true to Jack’s values and commitments to both strengthen our people and hold fast to the principles of democracy. I believe Jack would be even more committed to those principles today, knowing the country’s great need to live into them.
I know from personal experience and conversations with others that we are each experiencing this election season differently. We may find ourselves filled with hope, which turns into anxiety, or, alternatively, filled with distress that turns into a sense of promise. It is worth paying attention to our emotions as we navigate this contentious moment in our country. In fact, in just a few days we are hosting a webinar on the very topic of navigating election anxiety as part of our Lifting the Fog: Civic Engagement series. I invite you to join and learn alongside us. How we show up in these conversations matters, for the sake of our own mental and emotional health but also for the sake of our neighbors, for whom our civic engagement can make a true difference. The questions we ask are as important as the answers we seek.
I do not know personally how Jack might have navigated this moment. Yet as I think back to his values, review the research materials we have amassed on his life, and consider the principles of civic engagement, I believe that Jack would have listened well during this time. Vollum also wrote of him, “Jack deserved his reputation as a great listener – always genuinely willing to tune into ‘the other guy’s’ point of view.” There are always times when the best way to steward your emotions and convictions is to remove yourself from a conversation. Yet by and large, I believe it would be a gift to the world if we could re-infuse some more of Jack’s listening ear back into our conversations. Instead of making assumptions or jumping to conclusions, we can perhaps each be quicker to listen and slower to speak in the coming weeks and months. Attentive to the concerns of those around us, as Jack would have been. And by doing this, we will together rekindle the best of that spirit of democracy that Jack loved so dearly. We will even dare to find better and more solutions to those intractable challenges that plague beloved members of our communities.