Cal Robertson: Persistent Witness for Nonviolence ¡Presente!

by Stephen Vincent Kobasa

(Htfd Catholic Worker ed. note: Cal Robertson was born unto eternity on January 3. Cal was universally known to residents of southeastern CT for his decades long daily vigil for nonviolence at the Sub base in Groton, the Sailor and Soldiers monument in New London, and elsewhere. Cal was a soft-spoken man of very few words – in part because of a head injury, but more so out of humility. If you ever met him he undoubtedly greeted you with “solidarity in the struggle,” and handed you a poem. Cal vigiled for peace in penance for his time in the Vietnam War.)

“Purity of heart is to will one thing” was a claim made by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Until my first encounter with Cal Robertson, I never had a clear proof that anyone I knew possessed that quality. But Cal did, passionately.

He was a wounded healer, a veteran, full of grace, who carried memories that most of us would be afraid to imagine. He was one of the few human beings I have ever known who was simply incapable of arrogance. Humility was in every one of his gestures, along with compassion. His laughter was explosive, always accompanied by a single loud clap of his hands, an audible punctuation that was also a sign of both his affirmation and his pleasure.

He had a sincere curiosity about every person he encountered, intent upon finding the questions that would reveal what mattered most about them, and to them. His fidelity to the practice of nonviolence was unfailing, with even his smallest gestures carrying a touch of peace.

There was a kind of penance to his life, but it led him to joy. Everyone who knew him was led there, too. In the traditional Jewish phrase, his memory will always be a blessing.