[waxnrope]

Perhaps it is my piscean nature, a dreamer of that considered utopian space. Yet, without the capacity to see a better world, for all of us, without the vision, we are doomed to sameness. Nothing changes. And, I believe that we each have a responsibility to make or contribute in some way, a better, more just world.

I think of the business owners in the old South who refused service to black people. I heard the same arguments, even after the laws passed to end it. People have a right to have whatever folks they chose in their restaurant, they said. But if we think about this critically, it is NOT about the business. The most compounded effect is upon the person/s refused. It is the suddenly found shame, the loss of dignity, the shearing of a person's or groups self worth. This is not simply a disembodied "thing", a checkbook, or barstool that we are speaking about. We are talking about real people who have feelings and who are part of our community. The Othered community. The community of the marginalized."They" are us. And however we identify, however we situated ourselves in society, IMHO, I believe that we have a responsibility, an ethical one, to care for one another in the manner of SOLIDARIDAD, and from my travels, from my witness, from my convos with my Spanish speaking brothers and sisters, this is more than lip service. It is greater than a word. It means not to simple stand with someone, but to engage from the places of the heart and the spirit.

Like I said, I'm a Pisces and can be accused of engaging in excess fantasy. Then again, there is always hope in a dream. Always a possibility. What do I know?