Monday, September 15, 2003

Anticipation.....

With Wednesday quickly approaching, it seems more and more certain that General Clark will be a candidate for President. Now, I do not want to get my hopes up too high, but I am teetering on being ecstatic!

Saturday, September 06, 2003

True Conservatism

I have always thought there was a difference between intellectual conservatives and the Religious Right zealots who lay claim to the conservative title. I think some of that was evidenced years ago when conservative icon Barry Goldwater remarked that you needn't be straight in order to shoot straight, as he indicated his support for homosexuals in the military. Again, a real conservative has made that distinction once again clear as Alan Simpson (former WY Senator) penned a thoughtful editorial in opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment.

As our country has gained honest and steady knowledge about homosexuality, we have learned that it is not a mental illness or a disease or a threat to our families. The real threats to family values are divorce, out-of-wedlock births and infidelity. We all know someone who is gay, and like all of us, gay men and women need to have their relationships recognized in some way. How are gay men and women to be expected to build stable, loving relationships as all of us try to do, when American society refuses to recognize the relationships?

Not long ago the daughter of an old family friend of mine came home for a Thanksgiving dinner with her lesbian partner -- and my friend is one of those "old cowboy" dads, too! He and his wife gently took their daughter's hand, and her partner's hand, and said grace together just as millions of American families do every year.

To reach the best understanding, the debate over gay men and women in America should focus not on what drives us apart but on how to make all of our children -- straight or gay -- feel welcome in this land, their own American home.


(full piece)

Monday, September 01, 2003

An Unfortunate Anniversary

With September 1 upon us, the second anniversary of 9-11 is just ten short days away. It is hard to believe that it has been two years since that morning, when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, one into the Pentagon and one other into the countryside of Pennsylvania. I can remember getting ready for a day of research, listening to the local NPR station in Albany and hearing of the first plane and the confusion of whether or not it was a commercial airliner and how it happened. Moments later the second plane struck and I realized that I should probably turn on the television to see exactly what was happening.
I felt shocked, horrified and scared. Scared for the friends I have in NYC whose daily lives take them to the WTC area. It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach with such force that my insides might fall out. My fears were only made worse by the site of the Pentago crash and not knowing whether or not my cousin who works there was alive or dead. As the day went on, the pain only grew more intense. I spoke with a friend whose office is in the same neighborhood as the Towers, and he had the horror of seeing people jump to their deaths. Another friend happened to have been out of town and yet another was simply running late, otherwise she would have been in that section of town.
It was not until later that day that I knew my cousin had not been harmed. All of my loved ones were accounted for, but still the pain existed like a tumor in my gut. I read the stories of those whose loved ones whereabouts were a mystery and those who knew their mother or father or son had died. The pain visited upon these families I cannot imagine or fathom.
In that time, we have learned to avert our eyes from some of that tragedy and lives have gone on, albeit in a fractured way. But we must not ever forget the tragedy visited upon our country on this inglorious day.
On this September 11 I will do the same thing I did last year- have moments of reflection and prayers for those who were so brutally killed two years ago.
And I will do this for the rest of my life, because to fail to do so would be to forget the sacrificies made on that awful, awful day.