The bones of this redwood reveal themselves slowly. When this giantess fell, she was well over 1,000 years old, probably around 1,400. Who knows how long she has lain on her side, how many fires reduced limbs to ash, how many square feet of its humus cushions the ground, has become ground??? Good questions to muse … Continue reading Majesty, Humility and the Election Season
Love calls us into the core of our creativity—into its depth and illumination. Like the stars in the vast distance, love brings its light into the interior of our lives. It challenges our imagination to sense the cosmic dimension in a speck of its reflected luminosity and share it with all the beauty and brio … Continue reading AT THE HEART OF IT
“Crime is a routine behavior; it’s a thing people do when they get used to doing it…” Zimring, 1/30/12 New Yorker “Curbing crime does not depend on reversing social pathologies or alleviating social grievances; it depends on erecting small, annoying barriers to entry.” Adam Gopnik Crime is not curtailed by punishment nor by being nice. … Continue reading Pathology and Opportunity
Has the Mew Year opened its window for you? Have you opened it? Have you spent time with a big tree? Have these first 30 days allowed for moments when everything in you focuses and you fathom the tick-tock of the eternal? If you have not taken time from daily tasks, business, toil and duty, to allow the … Continue reading OPEN WINDOW
FOSTER GENUINE DIALOGUE “Dialogue aims not to convert others or to reach agreement on the issues, but rather to promote mutual understanding and build relationships that can prevent escalation into violence. They provide a safe atmosphere in which people can talk openly and deeply about their differences, and perhaps discover their underlying commonalties. Dialogue is … Continue reading IT TAKES COURAGE TO FACE THE PAIN OF HUMAN DIFFERENCES
“No more critical challenge faces each of us, and all of us together, than how to live together in a world of differences. So much depends on our ability to handle our conflicts peacefully – our happiness at home, our performance at work, the livability of our communities, and, in this age of mass destruction, … Continue reading WHAT TO DO IN A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
Fellowship members Melissa and David McKee share some thoughts on things that have worked in various UU congregations they have been a part of around the country. Highlights of their commentary were printed in the February 2012 edition of The UUFM Voice. Melissa and David’s full text appears here: We aren’t quite lifetime UU’s, but … Continue reading Things UU Churches Do Right, January 19, 2012
“A good deal of time and intelligence has been invested in the exposure of racism and the horrific results on its objects … It seems both poignant and striking how avoided and unanalyzed is the effect of racist inflection on the subjects. The scholarship that looks into the mind, imagination, and behavior of slaves is … Continue reading A Few Questions On Racism
Ida B. Wells, 1862-1931, an African-American journalist, brought intense focus on the history of gender, race and class discord in the United States. She devoted much of her life to the empowerment of women and racial justice issues. She met defeat with the kind of resolve that is hard to imagine. She never lost faith in this countrie’s potential … Continue reading Doing More Good Work…
“Bad as all slave holders are, we seldom meet one destitute of every element of character commanding respect. My master was one of the rare sort. I do not know of one single noble act ever performed by him. The leading trait in his character was meanness; and if there was any other element … Continue reading Do No Harm
