What Crosses My Mind

  • While Wandering Many Years

    I remember, when as a child, I noticed for the first time, beauty, the sort that remained with me, for the rest of my life.   Oh it came in a smile, a long and enduring hug, a remark a passerby whom might notice, or help or assist, or wonder, rather than showing some practiced…

  • I Have A Broken Heart

    I watched my world unravel tonight, I believe in love, I understand pain and indifference, though cannot recognize ignorance.   This night I listened to voices familiar and strong speak with certain agonizing reactions to simple insecurities.   How soon do we lose ourselves, when hiding inside a square box incapable of having corners, unaware…

  • Be A Racist, It’s Ok, It’s 2017

    I walked into a nightmare today, names were dropped, words were tossed, I couldn’t get past an, an, an, an, omission of a hopeful anomaly, that turned awful, horrific, debatably ludicrous, seemed we were all so frivolous, funny, fanatics. Seemed we were all lost in the comfort of our WHITE PRIVILEGE! White privilege regarded itself,…

  • I Have These Friends

    When they walk out the door, they have natural instincts, look over their shoulder, keep a skeptic eye, they constantly watch their step while they attend, make time to be in, express a similar value, as do I, when I go about living my regular, normal, daily life.   I have these friends, keep their…

  • I’m Struggling to be OK, and other “Trump is my President” Anxieties

    Last night I listened to 45 basically implode or become ‘unhinged’ as most news agencies reported, except for one I suppose. I walked into my home and my wife was exasperated with his demonstrative ranting at his Arizona campaign rally. Then I listened more as he defended all of his bigotry and ‘fake news’ accusations,…

  • This Quiet Passion

    It is a love, a desire, a response to silence, for so many occasions, while the skies do glance the usual, always, the emotions might trigger, might respond, could offer a storm of wrath, or perhaps, when least we anticipate, a light rain, to cleanse our soul, allow our lives to breathe, beyond the casual…

  • The ‘Not Yet’ Reality of Racism

    A dear friend once used the phrase ‘not yet’ to suggest a descriptive moment in our lives that though I will not describe that context, I will explore the phrase as it pertains to our lives in America today. As I write this commentary, I notice a massive gathering of protesters in Boston to represent…

  • The Need to Recognize Historical Trauma

    Many years ago, during a trip to Europe, I discovered a reality that would change my life forever. The year was 1985, and a portion of my travels was spent in Germany. In a visit to St. Mary’s Church in Lubeck, West Germany I discovered a broken and melted bell that was left in its…

  • How Will Society React

      In Minneapolis, a white, blonde woman, of means was gunned down by a Somali police officer. Let me say this a different way. A woman in a dark alley was recently shot dead by a cop on patrol in south Minneapolis. Or I could say, after making a call to 911, a woman in…

  • Philando Castile

    I recently told a friend of mine I have sometime wished I was black, and as the words left my mouth, the expression on his face indicated to me he was immediately offended. I knew I’d made a horrific presumption, and felt compelled to find him a little later on to continue our dialogue.  I…