Portraits of Character - Generosity of Spirit

Generosity of Spirit -- central to who Clancy was, and one of the virtues of Christmas...

Wounded. Cold. Hungry. Exhausted. But still full of fight. He once told me it was the only time he saw the inside of a building at Bastogne. That was Clancy about this time 69 years ago. Christmas time. A time of giving. Yet many men found themselves without the most basic needs that Christmas. What would make a man so impoverished of basic human needs in such miserable conditions – an empathy numbing environment-- be one of the most generous men you could meet? One might suspect the opposite result and in fact find it in some. But Clancy was a very giving person. In spite of, or because of? A little of both and more. It is the inner heart and soul of a man that reacts to his experiences. Such times reveal what is in his spirit. Clancy’s generosity stemmed not simply from a choice in hardships though that definitely had an impact on how he expressed it. You would be hard pressed to find a man who was so generous--generous to a fault. You might also be hard pressed to find someone who had gone through so many troubling experiences and had every good reason to not be generous. Clancy like most of his generation was reared in hardship during the Great Depression. His path to manhood came in the World War that followed. In both people were impoverished. Many were desperately poor, often with nothing more than the clothes on their backs—their lives and lively hood eroded away by things largely outside of their control -- by war or stock markets or drought. Yet while they lacked physical needs they were often anything but impoverished in spirit and character. Generosity was one thing they did not lack. Generosity was one of the very first things I observed about Clancy. He gave generously of his time to talk with me. He wanted me to learn something of himself and so asked for my address. His plan was to mail me some information so I would read and “understand this soul” as he put it. A few days later a package arrived with several inch thick stack of paperwork inside --an informal “dossier” of sorts. I cannot help but think his intent was to learn as much about me by my response to and observations about his “file” as I was to learn about him in reviewing the collection of documents he sent and asking questions. That evening I sat and looked through the paperwork for about half hour. Immediately several things became readily apparent. Clancy had a lot to offer and little of it had to do with any material things. After that half hour I sat and wrote out what I learned of “this soul” and sent it to him. Among foremost was that of his giving nature. It was genuine and extensive. I told him he should have another Native American name that expressed his continual action of giving. Without a giving nature there was no Clancy. Clancy would not and could not be Clancy without it. When many folks give they make a big fuss about making sure everybody knows about it. Not infrequently, you hear about the generosity of celebrities in the news. People with little maturity or character do that as well. They want everyone to know just how good and generous they are. Clancy’s motives were altogether different than many. It was apparent through what other folks said about him and what I saw him do-- not what he said of himself, because he generally said very little in this regard. Clancy gave of his time and of his spirit and coordinated giving material needs and even desires to others. It was something I saw or experienced from the time we met right up until the last few hours of his life. As I was sitting there with him in Intensive Care and all he could think of were things to do to help other people. Even in such a state he was looking to give. Days later, among the photos I came across in preparation for his memorial services were a few of him dressed up as Santa Claus. I pulled them out of the others and scanned them. They represented an important, central characteristic of Clancy. One we can all learn a lot from as we might from Old Saint Nick himself. Clancy was a lot like the real Saint Nicholas in his own way. He sought to help the less fortunate—the poor and rejected of society—and he would often do it at his own expense in time if not money. He was generous in spirit. There are many stories of him helping wounded veterans—it was something he had done while he was still in the service himself, but it went beyond that. He would collect gifts and find less fortunate families and give them to the kids during the Christmas season. He thought outside his own needs and desires. In one of the images of him dressed as Santa behind him on the wall hangs a poem about The Veteran. I thought it was very ironic because the veteran soldier – the warrior-- not only fights battles abroad but sustains and protects his community at home—it is the other side to the same coin. Clancy understood that well. In part it stemmed from his Cherokee cultural upbringing. You could not get the warrior out of Clancy --they were one in the same. The warrior spirit would manifest itself in one way or another in war or peace. His generosity of heart was innate and it was expressed in a way uniquely “Clancy”—as unique as his fingerprint. But Clancy also learned lessons in generosity from his mother. During the Depression when they lived on a farm in East Texas, men and their families would follow the nearby rail lines looking for work. They would ask for food. His mother had table outside for them. They would take in the wives and children when the men took what work they could and they never charge them a penny. Sharing was a way of life and for many the only means of survival. Farmers did the same—when there was a problem everyone would go help. Clancy told me what kept them going was their spirit and their love of one another. People are more often generous out of relative ease and accumulated material wealth and less so when it becomes even a little inconvenient or it means having to give up something. That is the wonder of the story of the Widow’s mite—she gave all she had materially, little though it was. Clancy and those like him are generous out of their wealth of spirit and character whether or not they are wealthy in material things, whether or not it is easy. He had learned to give when they had little and when it meant having to do with less. They were willing to give their lives to defend their country. No greater gift is given than to die for a friend. Sharing ammunition and rations on the battlefront kept everyone alive. Giving half of your home to share with a former enemy after the war was something beyond practical or convenient. It was an act of mercy and healing. That is the sort of generosity Clancy displayed. The most generous men I have met has also been the most thankful and contented men I have met. Clancy topped that list. In days when it seems most people look for what they can take or get out of someone or something Clancy stood apart as one who looked for what he could give and put in. He did not become bitter through his experiences of privation. He did not become greedy. He did not become tightfisted. He did not mire himself in self-pity. He grew in appreciation of what he had all the more. He became more driven and motivated to give to others. He did not limit it to a few days of the year. He recognized what was truly important in generosity and that what is important is not always easy--a good lesson for all of us especially in this holiday season. He may not have had the most material wealth of anyone I have met, but he gave the most and remains the richest man I have ever known—“the richest man in town.”