When our mind wanders at night, we tend to revisit places. For those having been on the conference circuit long enough, Mohonk might appear in your dreams. Retreats in Mohonk, Tarrytown, Glen Cove, Martigny and similar luxury localities were required to take ground-breaking organizational decisions. Years later, someone would conspiratorially drop “Mohonk!” into a conversation and others would nod and smile knowingly, though I never figured out what the rave was all about.
A walk up Slide Mountain in the Catskill Range, just north of Mohonk, is challenging but doable for those condemned to their home office in the greater New York area. A plaque at the summit commemorates the American poet John Burroughs. While chiefly writing about natural history and conservation, he crafted the following poem, most likely with soon-retiring or former UNICEF staff in mind:
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| Mohonk |
The scenes he had known as a boy;
"Oh, for a draught of those fountains sweet,
And a taste of that vanished joy!"
He roamed the fields, he wooed the streams,
His schoolboy paths essayed to trace;
The orchard ways recalled his dreams,
The hills were like his mother's face.
O sad, sad hills! O cold, cold hearth!
In sorrow he learned this truth--
One may return to the place of his birth,
He cannot go back to his youth.
Too sad. But there is way out: if at night you cannot sleep, count your blessings instead of sheep.
More Insights from Outside the Bubble
Mohonk certainly is a place to dream about. I attended a meeting there once and enjoyed the walks. Yes I count my blessings for such beautiful meeting places. Never dreamt about my office...
ReplyDeleteI almost didn't read this since I still sleep like a baby but reading the poem to the end, I am so glad I did. Every morning I come awake counting my blessings and I hit the sac rejoicing at the God who so bountifully blesses me. This will not be a surprise to any who knows me as a relentless Christian. Thank you for sharing the poem.
ReplyDeleteI never attended a Mohonk meeting, although I did get to one in Martigny. Great article and very much enjoyed the poem by John Burroughs. Made me think that those conferences at Mohonk might have better asked everyone to climb Slide Mountain - either as a 'team builder' or a 'ice breaker'. If the name of the mountain is what it suggests, a 'slide' down the mountain might have been a good approach for getting rid of those who can't stop talking.
ReplyDeleteMohonk entered the UNICEF vocabulary in early 1980's when Jim Grant rounded up a bunch of staff members and some outsiders for a talk fest on strategies and policies he wanted to propound during his tenure. It was one of the first "retreats" where his ideas on child survival were being explored within the organization. It should be remembered that UNICEF had just adopted the Basic Services policy a couple of years before Labouisse retired, and so Grant had to turn around the "ship of state "gradually by convincing the staff, especially those from the field to accept a revolutionary change in direction and priority...those of us who attended that first Mohonk were not completely sold on GOBI in the beginning....but things changed. !!!!
ReplyDeleteDetlef, I was one of the lucky ones there,twice actually, when you hear the wind through the fireplace chimneys at midnight, you wonder whose ghost is visiting their home, Rip van Winkle’s neighbour?
ReplyDeleteSree