This will be like the "Rachel Ray" post; quickly prepared, nutrilicious truthiness in under 5 minutes. Obama got elected. Now we have to lay into OUR side to force them to do what's right for this nation, not their own interests. We need to make it safe for women, gays, people of color and those who differ (even with those of who are self-aware and awesomely enlightened) to speak, love, live and strive in ALL of our nation's cities and towns. We must cease to pretend that it's okay for some areas of this country to be run as if they were not subject to the same constitution as the rest of us. AND we must figure out a way for the GOD bothers to have their eucharist--and eat it,too--without imposing their beliefs on the rest of us. I'm done for today. I gotta get to work--and so do YOU! Violins con dios! S'okay, it was done, but then I decided to inflict a poem on you. I wrote it in 2004 and it's ostensibly about two people, but it's really about all of us. The Half-life of Intolerance The half-life of intolerance is a phenomenon of relationships. That which was a ripple on the fabric of love, Becomes the garment that chafes our hearts. What has been irritating becomes unbearable. It is not the thorn in our side; The burr under our saddle; The stone in our shoe. It is our fear; Of becoming irrelevant, Of becoming peripheral where we were epicentric. It is the fear of being once again, and forever, alone. Drowned in a desert; Starving in the midst of bounty; Dying of thirst in a river of your love. The more I dwell on this the farther I move from my center. I feel as if I’m the only one who is lost or hurt. Then I see the sadness in your smile. I hear the pain cracking the melody of your brave voice. I realize then that we are both afraid. I realize that it is, perhaps, why we are together in this place, now. We are meant to add the strength of two often enough to become one. 2/07/04