What Would Thoreau Say?

With my 50th high school reunion just around the corner (I know, I don't look it do I?  Yea...I look like it should be my 70th) I have had the joy of reconnecting with an old friend who I really had not talked to for almost all of those 50 years.  We sat next to each other throughout much of our school time together because our last names started with A.  We weren't close, never hung out together, but always had a kind of connection that was unexplainable, yet real.  Nothing formal, just a connection.  It has brought great joy the last few months to communicate and find out what has happened in those 50 years.  I can't see us ever getting out of touch again now. Two weeks ago I drove down to Williamsburg, VA to see my best friend from high school.  He suffers from ALS and has been wheelchair bound for 20 years or so.  He is hard to understand when he talks sometimes but the close relationship we had somehow gives me the ability to hear and inter...

Friday a misogynistic, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, odious bigot will be sworn into the same office as Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Obama (and yes I add Barack Obama to that list, willingly).  I have resolved to not look at any media that day so I don't have to see his face, hear his name or ponder the future of the world.  It's too much to contemplate;  too much fear in one place. And like many others I wonder, what the hell do I do now? I have thought much since election day.   And I have actually figured out what the hell I'm going to do now: --I will pray more-pray for my grandchildren and children, for the poor and disenfranchised who are about to become more disenfranchised --resist the bigot's and his cohorts in congress'  agenda (he shall be the one who won't be named in this blog) --register as a Muslim when he calls for the registry --work with both of the churches I serve as a lay pastoral associate to encourage them ...