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I had forgotten the heroic proportions of Gary Davis' contribution to my thinking.

Gary Davis Man of No Nation Dies at 91

Here is how he made it into my pantheon.

First, he lived to be 90.

Second, he contributed to my thinking as a young boy, man. He was a born rebel.

I did not know he was the son of Meyer Davis, the "society" band leader. Another story. A fame of time and place. The swing orchestra for dancing affairs which became obsolete.

He was also, I knew this, a musical actor who had risen high. I did not know he had stood in for Danny Kaye. Another famed, forgotten personality. Multi talented and star of stage and screen. No television. I think it killed him, too hot for a vivid performer. Also too late.

Back to Gary Davis. I am evading the point which is that he was the first anti-establishment guy who took my attention in a visceral way.

I could not comprehend his actions. Renouncing his citizenship. My god.

But he had a story and he was consistent and he had a highly focused well ordered argument which he repeated over and over. He was the first guy like this that I admired who "stayed on message".

And he was an action hero. He walked the talk. He had the capacity to really piss people off.

And somehow, the neanderthals were able to see his point. They did not kill him. They hardly captured him. They gave him a stage, inadvertently, by really taking him seriously.

He made me think.

On one hand, he helped me see the fallibility of our nation and our leaders and the idea of nationality. Patriotism. On the other, he created an argument in my head which found its own answer in a kind of tolerant patriotism. One which saw the freedoms expressed in his daily acts. A nation that forgave and forgave and forgave what in another country would have had him killed early in his advocacy.

He was an extremist.

I really liked that.

You might remember that all this was against a backdrop of internationalism. The formation of the UN and other international bodies were, at that time, in the air. He was with his time only way way over there in the outlier column.

I like that he ended his days in Vermont. A citizen of the world, sure. But home was here. Vermont was made for him. Liberal politics and the cold clear weather of reason.

Some said he was crazy. Maybe. But not "that" way.

He was a pacifist too. He had to be once he adopted the international ism. or no nationalism. Different.

I paid a lot of attention to this guy. And then he was gone. Off the stage. The show closed.

They said he could throw his voice to the furthest point in a theater. Here, his voice carried much further than that.

Gary Davis. Hero. He made the cut.

Check this out. Lucid and brave until the end. Well, 2009, which given his life span is a small incremental difference from now to then.

Labels: heroes