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meet the people behind Good Gums - John's story
Good-Gums® - John Chisholm
The earliest memories of John Chisholm are of growing up in bombed-out Tokyo after World War II. Between the ages of two and seven, his Air Force pilot father was stationed in Japan, whose assigned housing was a grand home that had miraculously survived the relentless B-29 bombing of Tokyo. Outside the walled estate, every house in the surrounding neighborhood consisted of burnt-out rubble, where people still lived, including the neighbor kids who were John’s playmates. For a while, John was more fluent in Japanese than in English, and in this environment his awareness of the world expanded, starting from a two-year-old’s perception (which is mostly of his family) up to a seven-year-old’s construct of the larger world.
One thing John learned in his gut, prior to his learning about the concepts of race or nationality or social standing, is that war is a great evil that induces even good men to commit horrible acts on each other.
After transferring back to the states, circumstances became more "normal" and by all appearances so did everyone’s concerns. John’s father went on to make a career in the Air Force, serving in succession as a Base Commander, Wing Commander and then as a colonel in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Additional children were born into the family. John tried the religious seminary for three years, and then went on to college.
John’s earlier convictions re-asserted themselves during the Viet Nam war. He applied to his draft board as a conscientious objector, was turned down and was drafted. He became a non-combatant medic in the (stateside) army. After 16 months, he was granted a discharge as a conscientious objector.
Over the past 30 years, his path of personal development has taken him to the pursuit of the recurring experience of internal peace, not as alternative to an ever-elusive external peace but as a necessary prerequisite for a satisfied life. And not incidentally, he sees each individual’s experience of internal peace as another bit of stone-aggregate in the concrete foundation that has the most viable chance of supporting a stable external peace.
John and his wife have a wonderful, grown-up daughter. John’s work history is as a manager in operations and productions for a number of companies, mostly in manufacturing. The opportunity to produce and distribute Good-GUMS® appeals to him because it’s a chance to promulgate not just more unnecessary stuff, but something that’s really beneficial for people.
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