No apologies for the inattention to the blog. Life has had me running here and there to conferences, committee meetings, submitting chapters and grants and, yes, happily spending time with my woman and family here in Athens.
I blog today to get out the cloudiness that continually wracks my mind when things get quiet enough for me and Bob Dylan to consider things in the wind and God being on "our" side. Noting that this quiet time normally occurs late in the morning hours, I still believe my thoughts might be worth sharing. If you disagree, stop reading here and go back to watching the tube that blasts mindless non-information into your life so that you can refuse to face the realities surrounding humanity's collective existence. If you're still reading, I congratulate you on being either an extremely interested reader/friend or a blissfully unaware quasi-participant.
Over the past several months I have had the feeling that death is all around. Numerous folks (including myself) have had individuals taken from this life. Personally, about 5 months ago I eulogized a grandfather who was a shining example of humility and laughter, kindness and strength, intellect and wit. Only a few weeks after, two of my dearest friends lost grandparents and amidst all of that, the nation lost Edward M. Kennedy.
Now, of course, Kennedy's passing has been played up and down by talking heads (some only half-filled) and I do not desire to walk back down the road of EMK's legendary brothers, his family, or any of the scandals that haunted his self-acknowledged privileged life.
For months, thoughts of liberalism, the DNC, social justice, and equality have been swirling through my mind like donkeys kicking drunken elephants. Today, over lunch with a friend, I realized the connection that my life represents: I am the inheritor of a great american (hold on to your rocker) liberal tradition.
Like Kennedy, my grandfather was a Democrat of a different generation. However, as a man who returned from WWII to support the Dixiecrats in '48, he would live a life of dedication to faith, family, and hard work that placed him squarely in defense of President Clinton as well as avidly supporting President Obama's candidacy at the sunset of his life. I am proud of his journey that heralded choosing hope over hate and compassion over fear. And, that he let me tag along on the way.
So, even as the politically savvy thing to do these days is substitute "progressive" for "liberal" as if the term is inherently evil, or threatening, alarming, and/or offensive, I say, for most, reaffirm: My name is TCH and, yes, I am a liberal.
(In my best Palin voice): Why aren't cha?
TCH
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2 comments:
good!
wow, nice. It is interesting to see if and who remains supportive of a political party throughout their life. Times and issues change but the caliber of a party and its retention of supporters can be linked to if they hold true to their message and course. Then, do these supporters pass on their thought-process to the next generation to scale the problems that face them in a new age.
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