In years past, men of MDI participated in a ritual called “The Watts Exercise” wherein men were able to circle up tight and take all the time they needed to acknowledge another man in their life – past or present – for whatever reason that moved them. In dedicating an entire edition of this monthly magazine to men honoring other men, we bring to you three pieces submitted. Other acknowledgments can be found on the list of nominations for the Legacy Magazine MDI Man of the Year, found on the homepage.
Sandy Peisner Acknowledges Chris Christopher
I haven’t been on a men’s team with Chris Christopher for 18 years. I was on my first team after the point program with Christopher. For years many men encouraged Christopher to stand up to become the Division Coordinator of San Diego. About 18 months ago, pre-Covid, he stood up and became DC. The San Diego Men’s Division during a pandemic has flourished with Christopher’s leadership. The division has grown and the teams are healthy. Christopher’s context and his love for the men has bleed all over the division.
Before Covid he was running creative division meetings and rituals, and he hasn’t missed a step on Zoom. The way he has shown up has men in the Division showing up for their families and community the way men should show up. Thank you Christopher for being the role model so many men strive to be.
Bob Walker Acknowledges Many
Wow…. Where to start….
Jim Rudderham, my life long friend and brother, and sponsor to the SMW in 1994 …
Peter Thompson who taught me what leadership actually looks like …
Steve Junkin who was always ready with a laugh and was deadly serious when the situation called for it …
David Hellman, one of my greatest teachers, who taught me that leaders are just men like everyone else except they take on the lives of others …
Geoff Tomlinson who just never gave up and fought for what he believed in with honour and grace…
Many many more but those men who sprang to mind. I have a special love for each of them. They helped make me the man I am today.
Andy Resnik Acknowledges David Jeffrey
I want to honor a man I work with.
David Jeffrey.
We work for a call center, and there are times in which I field an onslaught of calls and convoluted cases. Throughout 2020 there were a lot of changes at work, a lot of crazy stuff we had to deal with. But David always came around with a sense of humor. Always chatting inside of the chat room about art and what not. And the times where I felt beat up on the phones, he would come over and support me and make sure I didn’t lose my context. If I chatted with him, I got it back right away. His humor, pragmatism, and competence always helps me stay steady.
Todd Sorbo Acknowledges Michael Lee Hamm
I want to take this time to honor Michael Lee Hamm.
I have known Hamm nearly all my life. We were in 2nd grade together and have been friends since that time.
He was my friend in elementary school, junior high and high school
He was my buddy in our 7 years to Boy Scouts.
He was an athlete (swimmer) and supported me in all my athletics
He was an example of a man who reached for tough goals in his try for making the Olympic Swim Team.
He was a sounding board for me thru my college days
I was honored to be in both his first and second wedding.
He was my Best Man at my wedding.
He trusted me enough for me to enroll him into the Men’s Weekend
He was a member of Rawhide Men’s Division until he move to Coeur d’Alene.
He help start a phone men’s team more than 15 years ago.
He has let that team for most of those years.
He has spent his life’s work teaching children and adult to swim.
He had been honored nationally as a master swim coach.
He is a man I can call at any time and he will be there.
He showed up at both my mother and fathers funeral which meant the world to me.
He is a man I love.
He is my best friend.
Michael Lee Hamm, son of Maurice Lee Hamm, I honor you.
Addendum: A picture of Mike Villanueva, honored by Art McCormack in the comments section.
I’d like to take this opportunity to honor a man that was – in the grand context of life – only in my life for a brief period of time, but made a deep and lasting impression upon me, a man I am proud to have considered as a best friend, a man named Michael Scott Villanueva.
a small example of this mans uncompromising
Villanueva was a man that, like all of has, had demons, fought battles, suffered, cried and laughed. But above all, no mater what time of the day or night, no mater what day of the week, no matter what season of the year, he was a man that was always there not only for me, or for my family, but for all men, women, and children who had the privilege and honor to have known him.
I’ll place a picture above. Great post.