Ever get really ticked off about something?  Well, I know I have…and I still do.  When someone bullies me or someone else, I get really upset, and I’m likely to sound off, whether that bully is the neighborhood bad guy or a country that thinks it can throw its weight around just because it can.  I have always welcomed diversity, and I have little patience with those who don’t.  That doesn’t mean I won’t hear them out, keeping an open mind, but it does mean I’m likely to listen only once or twice, and then tune them out unless or until they can get my attention with something entirely more reasonable.

This blog is one of the ways I’ll be sounding off about a variety of subjects.  I’m especially saddened today about what passes for public debate and dialogue.  It seems that the partisan bickering of Washington, D.C. and our state capitals has spilled over into our mainstreets, places of worship, and even into friendly and family conversations.  I hope this blog can serve as a place for people to share and to listen, and to begin practicing the skills of neighborliness and good citizenship…a place where everyone’s opinion is welcome, so long as it is expressed civilly and with respect to differences of opinion.

This blog is also dedicated to listening to fact and reason rather than myth and demagoguery.  We can be people of faith without sacrificing our reason to would-be leaders who trample knowledge for the sake of their own personal agendas, which all too often have little more than lip service to any true faith tradition and all to do with their own desire to control the action of others.  Somehow it’s always seemed hypocritical that those who claim the greatest interest in freedom are the very people who fill our jails with everyone who doesn’t act as they believe best, whether or not it harms anyone else.

So, if you feel like joining in, I welcome your comments and emails.  Posts will be made as appropriate and time allows.  Thanks for stopping by.

- Alan