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Virgilio Ciullo
May 22, 2004Much of what follows is written in retrospect, probably because there are not many occasions when we are called, and have the time, to reflect upon the circumstances which shaped us.
The progression of my own journey, though not always smooth and consistently forward, seems, at this moment at least, close enough to that. I would sketch some highlights, images, and impressions for you.
I awakened to a very different reality within a month of graduation, and spent an eventful three plus years in the Navy with a reconnaisance/submarine attack squadron in the Pacific and Far East (after basic and primary training for flight duty, crew not pilot, of course). It was home-based for part of each year in Iwakuni, Japan, a U.S. Marine Corp Air Facility located approximately one hour from Hiroshema, thankfully not Saigon. The size and variety out there, and imposed responsibility, came early to a seventeen year old, and also ignited a previously unrecognized wanderlust which is still present, but to a far lesser extent.
Chance circumstance then intervened and played its part. I was discharged early by two months to attend Syracuse University, and one week later saw everyone in the military extended for at least one year because the scope of the unfortunate reality of Vietnam had finally dawned. Judging by current events, the memory has too soon faded. (My squadron was ultimately deployed and based in that theater and many were lost, none that I knew but I m sure their quality matched that of my immediate shipmates.)
Four years at Syracuse (which has since the second War been a recognized leader in assisting vets to reintegrate to university life and studies), a real contrast to the previous three, flew by as quickly and were dominated by sports (rowing/crew team, a demanding team sport I was introduced to there and lettered in), studies (pre-law with a major in philosophy) and some very fine people. I loved the environment, and the impact it had, and am still in contact with the many close friendships formed there.
Then a year at General Electric in California testing the corporate management waters in finance, followed by a return to graduate studies—law at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., which was at THAT time a very dynamic place. I doubled as head coach of the lightweight rowing program at Georgetown University for two of the years, and as dorm director with the Dean of Students staff at C.U. my final year of law study. The team practiced on the Potomac at six a.m., and in 67, or was it '68, I recall driving across town to the boathouse before dawn each morning through military checkpoints while parts of the city burned and slept uneasily following the death of Martin Luther King, and through similar checkpoints present at other times during the massive protests against the Vietnam War. (That scene played out similarly but with more violence, while I was living in India, after Indira Gandhi was killed by a Sikh militant, her bodyguard at the time, in retaliation for a military incursion into the Sikh religion's holiest site, the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Sound familiar? Does history lead or simply repeat?)
I was first admitted to law practice in NY in ‘71 (later in D.C., Colorado and California, a process which is a real drain on mobility), initially started working in New York City in the public interest area with law groups representing abused, neglected or delinquent children, the mentally ill/retarded, and the poor. Due to overwhelming caseloads, reflections on the meaning and quality of justice, and on commitment, really got a test there.
In between those stints, I took a brief look at international (environmental) law during a continuing year of post-graduate study at Stockholm University. In the early to mid-seventies, Stockholm was also a very dynamic place. There were many expatriates from Greece fleeing persecution from the military junta, and others from Portugal and the United State protesting the conflicts in Angola and Vietnam respectively. Students came from all over the world, including from North Vietnam and the Middle East, and were open to spending time in a way that expanded simple awareness of each other as humans. It came naturally. (Two lingering additional memories come from a month’s trek above the Arctic Circle with a small group of Swedes in the month of June to celebrate Mid-Summer with the sun close to directly overhead twenty-fours hours a day, and a long, long dark winter at the opposite solstice with scant daylight, gray light at best, even far to the south in Stockholm.)
Somewhere in there I became interested in meditation, and on returning to the States coincidentally found legal work which ultimately took me to India from 1979 to 1991 to manage the litigation of a broad series of cases that affected the interests of some American citizens. (If that seems a long time, please note the history of another Indian case, listed in the Guinness Book, which took several centuries to resolve in the courts there!) India, too, bombarded the senses, and challenged the basis for all beliefs, as any exposure to a dramatically different culture will do. There should possibly be an exchange program, established to bridge the gap in understanding and perspective between people, wherein all the children of countries from the developed world exchange places for one year with children from less developed countries.
One could write a book on India, probably several, and the space here couldn’t possibly do it justice. The most recurring memories are of the masses, the poverty and the heat, and equally of the kindness and joy of living expressed by the simplest of people - contrasted by the great sophistication of its leaders in government and business in charting a nonaligned political and economic course for the nation (very much a result of the three-hundred-year British rule).
While there I also began volunteering for a small Swiss foundation. That led to a fulltime consultancy, after returning to the States in 1991, with much international travel measuring about nine months a year for the past decade, assisting their affiliate, sometimes very basic grass-roots, organizations with technical aspects in many different countries. The interaction with fine people on virtually every inhabited continent was and is so very rewarding. (The work promoted by the organization stems from and focuses attention on a theme - that which opens one to self-reflection is both practical and often transforming.)
In between there have been loves but no marriages or children. Sports too have always been in the picture, in later years through tennis, and most recently golf whenever the lower back, hip and shoulder cooperate.
The travel is winding down, thankfully because the legs are slowing down, and also because of current events and the necessary but draining procedures implemented to make travel ‘safer'. My fulltime has recently evolved to a halftime consultancy, giving rise to much needed space and to new sensations, an experience we all possibly now have in common.Reunions also seem to be in the cards. Our extended family on my mother’s side got together last summer in Cape Cod, and my Navy squadron is scheduling their next soon.
I simply couldn’t have planned for or projected any of this but am very grateful for the opportunities and experiences.
I was very doubtful about the possibility of attending, but now look forward to catching up as a conflict just resolved by a shift in meeting dates. As with a life's span, the time allotted for the reunion seems all too brief, or is that just me!
Best wishes everyone,
Virgilio Ciullo
Page created May 26, 2004
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