An Obituary for my Patriotism

A friend–whose perspective I value–challenged me yesterday on my dark view of the Fourth of July celebration this year. I decided to expand my answer into a blogpost.  At issue (I believe) is whether I could make more of a difference in improving the system by aligning myself with my neighbors and fellow citizens in

“Did heaven look on and would not take their part?”

Watching the atrocities being committed against the Ukrainian people, their children, even their pets, is incapacitating me.  Putin’s evil forces are destroying homes, infrastructure, and power sources, thus leaving the Ukrainian people to suffer, flee, freeze, starve, and die. The madman appear to be actually targeting fleeing civilians. Peace-loving people around the world watch in

Seeking Common Ground

 I know that it can’t be easy to be my friend, either in real life, or on Facebook. The past five years of deep political turmoil, societal inequity, and racial reckoning have been traumatic for me and I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut and my Facebook profile focused on pictures of my

I resign.

I have always considered myself to be “Pro Life” because I believe that all lives matter: black & white, born & unborn. Further, I believe that some lives are in greater need of care and protection than others.  It has been repeatedly and horrifyingly proven that black lives–particularly young black male lives–are at much greater

What you have done to the least of these…

Eighteen years ago this fall, I accompanied a group of college students on a retreat over at a beautiful camp in Angola, NY. The setting was on the bluffs high above the Lake Erie shoreline.  We had a delightful time there except for one terrifying incident that is still burnished into my memory two decades

A longer table, not a higher wall…

This infernal wall which got Trump elected–and that Mexico was supposed to pay for–is going to be paid for by each and every American taxpayer and is going to add another $20,000,000,000 to the national debt. I object to having my tax dollars contribute to this wretched mistake. There are far better ways to invest

Living life off the leash…

I left my heart in Norfolk, Virginia

Having my chest cut open and my sternum broken was not on my Christmas list for this year. Until last week I didn’t even know there was anything wrong with my heart, (severe mitral valve regurgitation) so I’m still trying to come to terms with this. I find myself walking laps around my hospital floor–looking