Conscience: Philanthropic Travel

Thinking on the alp in Savognin, Switzerland

I carve out a small space, a nest
Of sorts and lie my conscience down to rest.
As a gift it bears little resemblance to
The madness around me, those who think
They know everything, those who despair

My own absurd, hesitant presumption is hope.

I watch the osprey hunt the harbor at dusk,
It soars and glides to a frantic wing-beat
And like an acrobat hangs in mid-air
As flashes of silver scales below
Signal time to make a precision dive

My own hesitant presumption is hope.

As an infant flails, wails, loss of womb,
Its wet, loud, pronouncement -I am here
My conscience, not newborn, nor single-Minded
like the Fish Hawk, hears the cry
Of the wounded heart.

My own presumption is hope,

Even as deadly fog shrouds the backstage
It is no match, these awakenings are legion,
New dimensions of spirit and soul
Rise from sweet hearth and beloved earth,
Feminine and Divine

My own hope
Lies Mahler's 1st, from minor to major,
From darkness to Frere Jacques. So rise
Tired traveler, renew, seek secret places,
The great percussion of possibilities within.

Peter Karoff
July 2006

H. Peter Karoff, a member of Synergos' Board of Directors and the founder and Chair of The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), has produced a paper Open Source Philanthropy -- Social Change in a Flat World which looks at new models of collaboration in philanthropy. These models, which are characterized by transparency, openness and interdependence. Looking at the broader "open source" movement in the world of technology, Karoff asks if the lessons and potential of that movement are applicable to philanthropy and concludes with "a hopeful 'yes,' qualified only by how open we ourselves can be."

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