I Am An Optimist with a Healthy Cynical Streak

I am a liberal Democrat. I am a Christian. I am a humanist. I believe in Choice. I support Gay Marriage. I believe in gay rights. I believe in reasonable gun laws including background checks at Gun Shows before a purchase is made. I believe in children. I believe in grand parenting. I believe in laughter and kissing and hugging and love. I believe in thinking, in using your mind and not just your emotions, which are often accurate, but can be easily manipulated. I believe in books. Books are guides into mystery and morality, into wisdom and insight, into gratitude and generosity, into acceptance and endurance, into risk and living, and we need all of that. I believe in pets because whether it’s a dog or a cat or a bird or a turtle it invites compassion from us and can make us a more decent person if we treat it with care and affection. I believe in the sacred which has the power to move and even transform us. Nature is sacred. Seasons are sacred. So is the ocean. Quiet worship before great art is sacred. A movie can be a sacred experience. Theater is sacred. Holding a baby is something sacred. Raw, absolute, real-life music is sacred. Have you heard Adele’s new album? There are halos around those songs. Listen to Leonard Cohen. His music is holy because it’s honest. It’s so honest it hurts. And hurting can be sacred too. I believe in poetry. Poetry is hallowed when it is written well. Poetry elevates the spirit and makes things clearer. And whenever things are clearer and your spirit is elevated you’re in the sacred. I believe in asking questions. I believe in learning more, a lot more. I believe in equal rights for women, for minorities, for the disabled, for the vulnerable and the forgotten. I believe Black Lives Matter because white lives already do and always have. I believe my fellow citizens here and around the world, people of all races, cultures, and religious beliefs, are my brothers and sisters and we have a human obligation to respect them and hear them and know them and embrace them before we fly off the handle and want to judge or attack or condemn or kill them. I am an optimist with a healthy cynical streak. I trust with reservations. I have longings but not without limits. I want more than I can deliver. I keep hoping you will deliver and help me get there. I have issues I’m working on. I believe we’re all unfinished and always will be. I don’t believe being a Christian makes you better than others. It ought to make you more loving though. I don’t think Jesus died for our sins, I think he died showing us how far love will go. And it’s intended to go a long damn way. I think he invites us to try it. None of us have ever stopped sinning so let’s stop pretending we’ve been saved from that. We have not. I believe in friendship, but friendship costs something and my friends are few and cherished. I believe in family even with all of its messiness and mine has had some of that over the years but my family has greatly narrowed now and I have the ones I need because they love me in spite of and because they are there for me and always have been and always will be and I adore each one of them. I know we should all be healthy and treat our bodies well and exercise and stay fit and I believe in that but I also believe there’s nothing wrong with a bowl of ice cream now and then and a good cigar and a cocktail with friends. I believe in connection, in feelings, in holding people you really care about close until there’s nothing left but whispers and silent words and acts of caring. I believe in America. I believe in its core values. I believe it’s good only when we are. I believe it can be a beacon of light in the world but only if the fuel is decency and smarts and the courage to be human. Otherwise the light flickers and goes out. And then we’re all just beasts in the dark terrified, brutal, violent and self-destructive. I believe in the end all that we leave behind of any worth is the love we shared. And our laughter.

We are Made for Human Connection

There are words from Brandi Carlile’s song, “The Story,” that I might sing, and perhaps you, too. “All of these lines across my face Tell you the story of who I am So many stories of where I've been And how I got to where I am But these stories don't mean anything When you've got no one to tell them to” You don’t have to be single or alone to feel the depth of those words. Someone in a longtime marriage or relationship might feel them, too. The voyage through life takes each one of us through an assortment of experiences. Some of them ennoble us. Some crush us. Some lift us beyond ourselves and carry us into the lives of those who need us. And some carry us to those we need. Some experiences are burdens. Others ease and encourage us. Some leave us baffled and unsure. Some build confidence within us and are so affirming that we grow in substance, in courage, in tenderness, and sympathy. As we age, the lines in our faces can represent the hurts we have not yet resolved. Or t

If I had five minutes to evacuate--what would I take with me?

If I was told there was a bomb in my building and I had five minutes to evacuate my apartment I’d grab a grocery bag and quickly toss these items into it: 1. A photo of my grandparents, Mom and Pop and me, when I was 15 years old. I learned what love is made of from them. I learned what it is to be kissed on and hugged in arms so tender they felt like God’s arms. I discovered self worth from those two angels in human flesh. Of all the people in my life, they were the ones who made me feel I counted. Honestly, whatever capacity I have to love others came from them. 2. A sentimental, dog-eared, stars in the margin copy of Pat Conroy’s, “The Prince of Tides.” It is a book I have read three times and often return to for its wisdom. It is a harsh, profoundly tragic novel, the story of a family so broken and tortured by such flawed and wounded people that it is sometimes difficult to turn the next page. And yet it is the story of such Herculean courage and endurance that you want

Remembering Dr. Bill Craig

In Memoriam Dr. Bill Craig January 1, 2020 In the Hebrew Bible, we see from the life of Moses, and the Psalmist, Isaiah and others , concern for the problem of living rather than the problem of dying. Their primary interest was not how to escape death, but rather, how to sanctify life. Bill modeled that kind of wisdom. The brilliant novelist Louis L'Amour, who wrote bestselling books about the American West, what he called “frontier stories,” basically said the same thing. He wrote, “The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail.” No one attempted to sanctify life and get more out of the trail than Bill Craig. He was a deep thinker, a gifted veterinarian, a rugged and unbreakable man with the kindest heart and the purest motives. He was a loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather. Karen, Shalor and Melissa, Kellan, Nolan and Carter, were his world. They meant everything to him. I guess he had faults, but I don’t remember any of them. There was o

The Unclad Soul

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