'tis the season

This week I was looking for something and came across a paper I used
in my Ethics class. It's "The Open Space for Democracy" by
Terry Tempest Williams. She is one of my favorite writters, her writting
is like poetry, it just flows. Anyway I thought it went well
with this month of celebrating our freedom and our country.
(and you don't have to agree)
"In the open space of democracy, we engage the qualities of
inquiry, intuition, and love as we become a dynamic citizenry,
unafraid to exercise our shared knowledge and power. We can dissent.
We can vote. We can step forward in times of terror with a confounding
calm that will shatter fear and complacency.
It is time to ask, when will our national culture of self-interest
stop cutting the bonds of community to shore up individual gain and
instead begin to nourish communal life through acts of giving, not taking.
The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace
our questions. Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen
with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather
than our opinions? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts
to act courageously, relentlessly, without ever giving up, ever. To trust
our fellow citizens."

This is just a blurb from the paper, but if you ever have the chance to
read any of her books or papers, it will be worth your time.
HAPPY FOURTH TO YOU ALL!
(And by the way Miley Cyrus was great, we all came home deaf from
high pitched little girls screaming!!)