Good Evening Good Friends. I deeply appreciate you all keeping me in your various e-mailing loops so I have not been entiresly in the dark while I have been offline. As with others I have been laboring to form and reform my personal politico/social action agenda. 

It is emerging

Speaking of church, the following is a brief homily I gave for the children in my church, a preamble to Joan King honoring us with a message two Sundays ago.. It was inspired by "The Three Bears" Joan's just published book written for for her granddaughter. The book mparts wisdom that will make Anna's living life easier. It is truly a benevolent legacy for her and for the "Children of All Ages." I highly recommend it.

This is the Season of Hanukkah and Christmas two of the religious traditions from which the roots of the majority of faith communities in the U. S. and as well a third, Islam, draw nourishment. It is a time when we honor each other and especially our children with gifts -- gifts of appreciation. and gifts intended to be a legacy.

The first Christmas gifts were given by the Magi. They followed the Star of Wonder and were led to the Baby Jesus.. We give gifts of appreciation because you, our children, are wonderful. You are full of wonder.  As you grow and mature and discover the world and its w-o-n-d-e-r-s you are a constant reminder that life is w-o-n-d-e-r.-f-u-l

When we are young, as parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and friends, and we visit the children ask us "What have you brought? As the children grow and when we are older the question becomes "what will you leave us?" What is given to take when you are away from us or when we die is called a legacy.

I reflected some months ago on some of my personal hardships as a child. Now I reflect more acutely and painfully on the plight of today's children of war, and its apocalyptic companions poverty, disease and the greatest of these -- greed   -- I know .there is just cause for us all to strive harder to leave a legacy of Peace or at least a headstart toward the necessary wisdom leading to that end.

Adele sent this out several weeks ago:
On being a dissident: "You do not become a "dissident" just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society."
~Vaclav Havel~ 

It's a lot fancier to be called a dissident than a kook or a radical.
adele

In my case (and I think for a number of my colleagues) on the morning of November 3 it was awakening  still into it, out there, thrown by awareness, fear and the fever of the now settled election.

Admirably Adele and many others of you have accepted wearing the mantle of "radical and kook" for many years. I fear I have too often not, and instead joined in the  hubris of belief in the application of reason to elucidated fact. being the protector of democracy, peace and prosperity  Just apply and preach logic. 

We speak of the world changing on 9/11 and no one can disagree. However I suggest those horrible events were only the seed crystal which completed its role for many of us with the elections of 2004..We now know there is little hope in the purely intellectual enagagement. Being a long time resident of the deep south I do believe in the long range the kernal of reconcilation will develop here - because of the habit of greater intimacy traditional to our culture.

Well that's where I am and plan to be folks, exploring the best ways to make the emotional and intellectual connections with my neighbors, here and around the world.