Don’s Last Dance (Tribute to Don de Guerre)
For the last decades, Don de Guerre has been a mentor for hundreds of students and aspiring contributors to the change community in Montreal, Canada and the World. His ideal of a more democratic, open, caring society, his relentless faith in human beings, and his commitment to building a better world and becoming a better person have inspired and moved people. I am one of these people. On May the 26th, 2017, Don gave to his students and friends his “last lecture”, as he is leaving Concordia University. It was an opportunity for him to share his views of the world, the future and the work that needs to be done. As a token of appreciation for a man who has contributed a lot to my thinking, while he was giving his lecture I harvested the words and images that flowed in the room. What follows is what I read to him in the aftermath, to thank him for the wisdom and the joy he so generously shared with us over the years.
How do I act my dreams?
What will the last dance say?
The last dance will be the first dance
An organism
Attract, reject
An open dance
My last dance is a first dance
My last dance is a story
Of what will be
In the world of the future
Of getting to work and
Touch each other
And usher each other
Into the now
My last dance wears a pair of glasses
To see the world
Intentionality and
Urgency
Are the lenses
Through which I can see
And act
In the world
My last dance holds a book
That thanks me for being late
When everybody
When everything
Gets faster
My last dance
Is a global dance
Where the future of the dance
is dancing artificial
And dancing smart
My last dance is a final dance
Is a first dance with the earth
And with the 9 billion people
That will breathe on it
To build the life we need
To support Life
My last dance is a dance with wars
And with the walls that will not stop them
My last dance does not have time
To sit around
While I enjoy my privilege
My last dance is one where I learn with the world
To act wisely
And build community
And learn to become
A better ancestor
And a better human
My last dance is a first dance
A dance with ecosystems
With values
To move together, at last
And do good work
Let’s do good
work
And trust each other that we can do it
My last dance is a dance
Where the whole is in the parts
And the parts are in the whole
And I am dancing with gentle action
And fast failures
That may help us survive
And search for depth and meaning
My last dance is our dance
Creating a loving, caring community
And do it more
And do it better
And our last dance
Is improvised
With you
With me
With we
With yes
With appreciation
With love
With grace
With you
With us
With the world
With life
With what there is
With what may be
With what is uncertain
With creativity
With the the other
And in our last dance
We got this
Together
We got this
My last dance
Is my first dance
Is our first dance
And I am here with my friends
I am your friend
