Arthur Gordon - A Touch of Wonder: A Book to Help People Stay in Love with Life

On the Dunes is reprinted with permission of Macmillian Publishing Co., Inc., from COLLECTED POEMS by Sara Teasdale. Copyright 1920 by Macmillian Publishing Co., Inc., renewed 1948 by Mamie T. Wheless.

The following are reprinted by permission of Womens Day Magazine, a Fawcett publication: Beautiful Dreamer, How Wonderful You Are, The Search, Act as If, The Deadly Art of Nonliving, Freedom Is a Two-edged Sword, Welcome to Danger, and The Dance of Life.

Grateful appreciation is expressed to Readers Digest of Pleasantville, New York, for permission to use the articles in this volume which appeared previously in that publication.

The Miraculous Staircase, December 1966; Enthusiasm, December 1958; Be Bold, May 1956: Reprinted by permission from GUIDEPOSTS MAGAZINE, Copyright by Guideposts Associates, Inc., Carmel, New York 10512.

The End of the Journey is published with the permission of the Readers Digest, Inc.

Copyright 2013 Gordon Cottage Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Three previous printings

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Photo: Chris Kaskel

ISBN: 978-0-9896670-1-2

Contents

Introduction to this Edition

This book has been around for almost 40 years. Hard to believe really, for those of us who lived many of these stories. My father is gone now; hes been gone over 10 years, which is also difficult to fathom. Perhaps inevitably, A Touch of Wonder, despite having affected so many people in such profoundly positive ways, had quietly slipped into the shadows of murky memories and had been perhaps too often relegated to the shelves of books once read.

It seems to me that the messages in this book, although timeless, are perhaps more needed today than when they were written. We are so pressed by our jobs, economic worries, an unpredictable future, crime, terror, and the frantic pace of our modern, wireless society that it is too easy to forget, or simply overlook, the little gems in life which we could treasure. If we only took the time.

So as it came to pass that the book was back in the family, my sisters and I began to explore the idea of re- printing A Touch of Wonder. Weve had many requests for a new copy because new editions simply didnt exist anymore. Until now. One note for modern readers: please forgive our fathers use of the male pronoun in certain situations. He often used he or him when he wrote as was the convention in his day, but our Dad was never biased in his thinking. The stories meanings dont change if the pronouns are switched. Having said that, here at last, is a new edition to give to new friends or share with old friends. Or maybe introduce it to a younger generation.

I also hope you will allow yourself some time with this book. Reflect on the stories and relish the warmth they convey. My fathers voice is still strong, comforting and optimistic. He was a terrific storyteller and he loved sharing wondrous ideas. So if you just listen to his stories here, you cannot help but hear Life calling you back to heartfelt joys and moments of pure Wonder.

McGuire Gordon

October, 2013

Prayer of a Writer

Lord of all things, whose wondrous gifts to man

Include the shining symbols known as words,

Grant that I may use their mighty power

Only for good. Help me to pass on

Small fragments of Your wisdom, truth, and love.

Teach me to touch the unseen, lonely heart

With laughter, or the quick release of tears.

Let me portray the courage that endures

Defiant in the face of pain or death;

The kindness and the gentleness of those

Who fight against the anger of the world;

The beauty hidden in the smallest things;

The mystery, the wonder of it all..

Open my ears, my eyes; unlock my heart.

Speak through me, Lord, if it be Your will.

Amen.

Introduction

What should an introduction introducea book or the writer behind the book? Perhaps it doesnt matter, so long as its done quickly.

This book? Well, its not autobiography; that would require stern self-honesty, whereas here I appear with my best foot resolutely forward. Its not really a self-help manual eitherno surefire formula for success, no easy blueprint for peace of mind.

No, its just a book that reflects one mans way of looking at things. Simple things, mostly. Things that happen to all of us sooner or later. And the underlying theme is also quite simple: Its that almost always theres a lot more to these commonplace happenings than meets the casual eyeand that most people would find a lot more in them if only they would pause and look and feel and care just a bit more than they do.

Its also a book that conveys, I hope, one mans sense of gratitude for the endless free gifts that life offersand his conviction that in some inexplicable way those who appreciate life the most are given the most to appreciate. As some sage once observed, Its the person who likes to pat dogs to whom dogs come for pats. Exactly so.

As for the person behind the book, who can really answer the question, Who are you? Im an editor-turned-writer with a good many typewriter-miles behind me nowyears filled with work, play, friends, children, dogs, cats (and a couple of raccoons), successes, failures, challenges, and a few small disasters. Not an extraordinary life, by any means. But luckier than most, I think. And happier than most, I know. Its a life that has followed the classic pattern of running away from the ancestral past and then returning to it when you begin to be an ancestor yourself. A life strangely drawnas you will see in many of the pages that followto the lonely beaches and tawny marshes of the Georgia coast where I first became aware that in good times or bad, life is a marvelous succession of wonders.

Please dont look in these pages for firm organization or neat chronology. A book of this kind can be read backward or forward or even sideways. You can start at the beginning or at the end.

Wherever you start, I hope you will accept it for what its meant to be: an invitation to fall in love with lifeand thereby set in motion the mysterious dynamics that will cause life to love you right back.

ARTHUR GORDON

1 The Gift of Caring

Most of us spend our lives trying to escape from self-centeredness. Maybe thats the whole point, the whole challenge, what the whole thing is all about. Some of us succeed better than others. It seems to me that the ones who have most success are those who somehow turn self-caring into what might be called other-caring.

It takes courage to be an other-carer, because people who care run the risk of being hurt. Its not easy to let your guard down, open your heart, react with sympathy or compassion or indignation or enthusiasm when usually its much easierand sometimes much safernot to get involved.

But people who take the risk make a tremendous discovery: The more things you care about, and the more intensely you care, the more alive you are.

This capacity for caring can illuminate any relationship: marriage, family, friendshipseven the ties of affection that often join humans and animals. Each of us is born with some of it, but whether we let it expand or diminish is largely up to us.

To care, you have to surrender the armor of indifference. You have to be willing to act, to make the first move. Once at sunset my small daughter and I were watching the tide come in. It was a quiet evening, calm and opalescent. The waves sent thin sheets of molten gold across the dry sandcloser and closer. Finally, almost like a caress, an arm of the ocean curled around the base of the dune. And my daughter said, pensively, Isnt it wonderfulhow much the sea cares about the land?