Taken Literally Monday, November 14, 2005 | |

Sunday, I woke at around my usual time of 6:45 AM and made my way out of the bedroom to let the dogs outside. As I strolled in to the living room, I looked to the left and saw our son cuddled up in one of the chairs.

A few weeks ago, he had been waking several times a night, usually crying out for one of us and sometimes getting out of bed and coming in to our room crying. One night while tucking him in to bed, I asked him that if he woke up in the middle of night if he would try to stay in bed. He replied with a simple "yes".

Miraculously, it worked. He stopped waking up at night, and he stopped coming in our room. However, I may have had the opposite effect on him, and that is to keep him from coming in our room even when he really felt like he needed us.

So, as we're putting him to bed last night, I told him that if he ever gets scared, he can come in and get me any time. We'll see what becomes of it.

Flirting With Danger Wednesday, November 09, 2005 | |

I nearly witnessed a man die yesterday. I had just gotten on the bus to go home and was seated in the third row, with a good view out the front windshield. Our bus was stopped for a red light and was first in line on a four lane, one way road. Being in the second lane from the right, there was a city bus to our right and a smaller coupe to our left, that was sandwhiched in between our bus and another taller vehicle on his left.

The light turns green and the vehicles in all four lanes start moving, when out of the corner of my eye, I see a man running across the street, thinking he could make it across before the traffic started. The man driving the car on my left did not see immediately see him and stopped just short of hitting him. Our driver saw him and was stopped the entire time, allowing him to run in front of our bus. The city bus driver did not see him either, and was already leaving the intersection, when the man ran right in front of him.

I thought for certain that he was a new hood ornament on the bus, but by some act of God, he appeared to escape unharmed. The bus was able to stop, and when we pulled past it, there was no sign of the man. He is one lucky fellow.

People

Voting Day Tuesday, November 08, 2005 | | |

Texans are going to the polls today to voice their opinion on nine (9) constitutional propositions, with one garnering the most attention from the media and residents of the state. Proposition 2 is Texas's version of the movement to ban gay marriages, or any legal status identical to or similar to marriage, including such legal status relationships created outside of Texas. It essentially is designed to deny civil liberties to same sex marriages, and unintentionally to common law marriages.

These five quotes from the Houston Chronicle pretty much sum up how I feel about the issue:

• The Rev. Betty Adam, Christ Church Cathedral's resident canon theologian:
• "The amendment is a way of enshrining an old paradigm of thinking. ... It is an amendment for stopping a new question to arise in the courts. ... It represses the new question in order to prevent the emergence of new insight."
• Rabbi David Lyon, Congregation Beth Israel:
• "Until such time as we decide how to recognize same-sex unions in the state of Texas, we must not and cannot use the state to dictate particular religious perspectives. ... To love each other and to extend civil rights to each other is the way to accept our human responsibilities and our human boundaries before God."
• The Rev. Matt Tittle, Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church:
• "Our country was founded on liberty and equality. All religions are founded on love and compassion. This proposition denies liberty and equality and restricts love as only for some."
• Rabbi Roy A. Walter, Congregation Emanu El:
• "There is nothing about the law that would obligate ... a minister or a priest or a rabbi who believes it is against his or her religious principles to perform (a same-sex) ceremony. ... What we are asking for is the right for people who are willing to do that."
• Board of Church and Society for the United Methodist Church Texas Conference:
• "While we acknowledge the theological disagreement within the United Methodist Church on the subject of homosexuality in general, our United Methodist Discipline unambiguously commits the (church) to the support of the civil rights of homosexual persons. ... Proposition 2 denies the very civil rights we as a church support." (The local conference takes no position on the proposition.)

I believe that it is a church/religious organizations right to not marry two people of the same gender. However, I also believe that we should not let our religious beliefs get in the way of establishing civil liberties for others.

Elections

Sister Rosa Wednesday, November 02, 2005 | | |

From the song Sister Rosa by the Neville Brothers.

Thank you Miss Rosa, you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.

As testimony to the spark she was, yesterday, I, a white man, was riding on the back of a city bus being driven by a black man with people of all backgrounds scattered throughout and a picture of Ms. Rosa Parks posted at the front of the bus. She opened many doors with that one seemingly simple gesture. May you have eternal peace!