by Emmett Jarrett, TSSF

At the memorial service for Chuck Matthei (1948—2002), Bill Wylie-Kellermann quoted a poem of Denise Levertov’s that referred to Chuck as "intransigent Chuck Matthei." Every one of the hundreds of people gathered in the First Baptist Church in Providence, R.I., laughed at that description, because they knew it was true. Chuck was one of the most determined men I’ve ever known. ... The poem in question was written in 1968—69, at the height of Levertov’s participation in the resistance to the Vietnam War. That’s how she met Chuck. ...

Chuck carried with him a copy of another poem by Levertov, on the back of which he had added these thoughts in his own words:

"This is your only life – live it well!

"No one man can bring about a social change – but each man’s life is a whole and necessary part of his society, a necessary step in any change, and a powerful example of the possibility of life for others.

"Let all our words and our actions speak the possibility of peace and cooperation between men.

"Too long have we used the excuse: ‘I believe in peace, but that other man does not – when he lays down his arms, then I will follow.’ Which of us deserves to wait to be the last good man on earth; how long will we wait if all of us wait?

"Let each man begin a one-man revolution of peace and mutual aid – so that there is at least that much peace ... a beginning."

Reading these words 35 years later, I was overwhelmed by the consistency of his vision. Chuck Matthei was, quite simply, "a one-man revolution of peace and mutual aid."

Chuck Matthei was born in 1948 in Chicago. As a teenager he became involved in the civil rights movement and brought Martin Luther King, Jr., to his high school. Instead of going to college, he burned his draft card, waited to be arrested, and met Dorothy Day. He spent a number of formative years in the Catholic Worker and peace movements. From Gandhi he learned the philosophy of ahimsa and the practice of nonviolence as a way of life. His interest in land, affordable housing, affordable farms and community-supported agriculture were part of his vision of a life as it might be lived, if we gave life a chance. (For a profile of Matthei see TW 12/98.)

From 1980—1990 Chuck served as director of the Institute for Community Economics (ICE) in Greenfield, Mass. ICE pioneered the modern community land trust and community loan fund as models of economic development. With others, he guided the development of 25 regional loan funds, helped to create hundreds of permanently affordable housing units and organized the National Association of Community Development Loan Funds. A man who lived a life of voluntary poverty, Chuck was a genius at raising money and using it for humane purposes to benefit whole communities. In 1991 Chuck moved to Voluntown, Conn., and founded Equity Trust (see TW 1-2/97) ... [where he focused on] alternative models of land tenure and economic development. ...

Chuck’s witness gives me hope. Hope, as he knew, is not optimism, not a naive assumption that "things will somehow be okay." Hope is a decision. It is a choice made daily in the ways we live our lives. Gandhi said, "We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed, but we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress toward it." We may not be able to do everything we want to do, but we can do what we can and refuse to be defeated by cynicism and despair. Like Chuck, we can "choose life" day after day. And by the grace of God we may, in our turn, be faithful to the truth and shine its light out brightly in the darkness where we live.

(A longer version of this reflection appears in the Winter 2002 issue of Troubadour, The Newsletter of St. Francis House, New London, Conn., which also contains the Episcopal Urban Caucus’ newsletter, The Urban Networker. For a copy write St. Francis House, PO Box 2185, New London, Conn. 06320-2185 or email stfrancishouse@mindspring.com.)