Seth Rosen works an election phone bank in 2008.
July 23, 2012
Dear sisters and brothers,
I knew that I would need to write about Seth in the middle of the night. It would need to be quiet. I would need to be rested. It would almost be unbearable but I would need to dig very deep, sharing feelings normally reserved for close friends and family, with our CWA family, some grieving, some not.
The start of this is not so different, almost standard like the Cleveland Plain Dealer obituary that I knew would first mark his death. I read it over and over of course, already knowing everything in its paragraphs, but somehow it honored him.
Seth was a giant in our movement, the deeply loved vice-president of District 4 for the last seven years, a member there for thirty or more years. But every day for him was like he was still a steward in 4309—, service, leadership, commitment, a volunteer. For decades, no matter his position, he did everything we do in CWA—phenomenal organizing, breakthrough political and community work, and through his last day negotiations and representation.
Seth loved his family deeply—his wife Kathi, children Amanda and Josh, but I have no special knowledge of that, and will leave that to others. He was a wonderful musician but others can better cover that. But his District 4 staff was also his family—his closeness, driving them and himself, his retreats with them, his weekly "In the Loop" newsletters describing their work. He learned District 4 from giants before him—Rechenbach and Johnson –they worked with him like he worked with us, deeply and nothing left unsaid that mattered.
For each of us our faith, and our faith in life is deeply rooted in the certainty of death. Within each faith our own individual stance is also unique. Some of us are certain of so much others question, some just live and move on. We each imagine death with some horror, but also inevitability, and even peace. Some believe in immortality of some sort, others finality in some way.
In Seth’s case, joy standing in the ocean at Ocracoke with Kathi, a spot they loved, quickly turned to horror, panic and death. Cries for help that no one hears. Those last minutes, though brief were all about survival, a fight for life that fortunately few of us experience in that way. Seth was well prepared for those minutes—he knew how to fight fiercely and I am sure he did. But in the end he was also prepared for acceptance—radical acceptance he often called it, and we must do the same.
Seth’s version of radical acceptance was that you had to learn to accept the unacceptable. It was a waste of life to live in the past. No one likes to admit we are living in the past but we often do, holding grudges, working off of anger or denial in ways that waste our time and the lives of others. In these last two days I have tried to apply that learning from Seth. Times like this shake my own ability to learn from sadness, and live stronger and maybe wiser.
Many who share our common views are movement builders. We often toss around those words, even use them to justify whatever we are doing. But Seth would say movements are messy. He was devoted to building something broader --Jobs with Justice, Policy Matters, Stand up Ohio. He well understood that collective bargaining in the U.S. is dying, under savage attack by most U.S. employers even as acceptance grows from Brazil to South Africa to Korea. Only as part of a broader narrative, Seth would say could we have some useful voice at work in this nation, still the world’s largest economy.
But there is lots to learn from his word messy. We negotiate a contract and decent people on a committee or other committees may disagree. Are we tolerant and respectful or do we demonize those who have another view? Those who believe in the same values might form organizations that compete in many ways for scarce resources, but can we balance competition with unity?
In times like this time seems to stop, to stretch out even though we know the earth’s rotation each day is a constant whether we are fighting for survival in the ocean, fighting cancer, giving birth to a wonderful child, asleep in bed or just moving on.
We often use words like brother, friend, even love so much they almost lose their meaning. Seth helped define all of those for me. That was a privilege, learning from him what he had just read or thought or lived. Those relationships for me allow me to do all that I do whether good or not. I will miss Seth so much I cry. But I also know that life is worth fighting for—a decent life for all of us. He lived that way so well and I must try to do the same.
Love and solidarity forever,
Larry
Please note: Kathi has asked us to establish a Seth Rosen special organizing fund. Seth chaired our Organizing Committee and was special to every CWA organizer that met him. This fund will be reserved for purposes greater than those we otherwise fund, at workplaces and in our communities. Please make checks payable to Seth Rosen Organizing Fund, and send them to Annie Hill, Secretary-Treasurer. We will publish an annual report including fund expenses.