NWOTW

Okay, so let's try a word of the week...not that I can't post everyday (a quick look at my "daily posting" history will dispell that rumor), but I am still stuck on love. Today, its love a la Fantasia's "I Believe" - love keeps lifting me higher. And it does, above disappointment and distractions and exhaustion, it keeps lifting me higher.

When you look out in the distance

You see it never was that far

Heaven knows your existance

and wants you to be everything you are

There's a time for every soul to fly

Its in the eyes of every child

Its the hope the love to save the world and oh we should never let it go...

Let's Talk About Love

I am finished with a major part of my dissertation folks. Concept paper - check. Now, it is on to field work, data analysis, and more writing. May 15th - save the date - you are invited to my graduate ceremony!

I am starting Najmah's Word Of The Day (NWOTD) to help me post more, think more and listen more.

NWOTD for 10.26.08 is LOVE. I'm thinking about love and its many forms; how hard it is to find, maintain and re-gain when lost. I think love is putting something or someone before yourself, even (and especially) when you have every reason not to.

Where Is Tekenya Wooten's Amber Alert???

Thank you to Electronic Village and What About Our Daughters for this story . Little Takenya Wooten is missing; she is 12 years old and 8 months pregnant. She was last seen on October 18th at the group home where she lived. The Durham Police Department, despite pleas from members of the general public to do so, have yet to tag this case as 'high risk' and have not issued an Amber Alert.

I have to pause now and refrain from using every four-letter word in my vocabulary here. I just want to make one point clear: this child is 'high risk', this child is in danger, this child is scared, this child is alone, this child has been sexually abused (a 12 year old child does not consent to sex I don't give a damn what anyone else says) and this child deserves our attention. Her life is worth just as much 'Amber's. I will call, email, text until I get word about this baby girl. Pray that anyone reading this blog will do the same.

Senator McCain, I Feel Your Pain

I was going to blog (I shouldn't even call it blogging really, since I can barely post once a month!) about the "that one" heard around the world from last night's debate. But the more I think about John McCain, the more I understand his plight. Before I continue, I should state that I subscribe to a particular notion (I borrowed it from somewhere to be sure, but the person or place escapes my memory so just forgive me in advance here) that 'there is some good in the worst of us and some bad in the best of us'; and I don't think John is on either of the far sides of this particular spectrum.

All things considered, I think he is a relatively decent man. And he is being faced with a serious dilemma: John McCain really wants to be POTUS; he truly thinks that he knows what is best for the country that he loves, the country that he suffered for. And he is not winning this race right now. He is looking at a very real possibility that he might loose this election come November. It is not then surprising why his campaign is resorting to the personal attacks and hate-baiting antics of late. It is because he knows that he will have to appeal to the worst in the electorate in order to have a shot at the presidency.

But John is also facing the very real possibility that even this might not be enough to win. And if that is the case, not only would he have lost the election, John would have lost his own identity. His sense of pride and dignity; he would have permanently damaged his personal and professional reputation, and lost the respect and admiration of so many, regardless of what they thought of his party or positions. And this 'hurts like brand new shoes' for John. This is a man who has always put himself out there as a stand up kind of guy and a decent politician. This is the man who wrote that he "would be held to a higher standard…. I was especially obligated not to disguise my own selfishness as counterfeit patriotism….; for the politician who promises to put patriotism before selfishness, who promises not to lie, and then reneges, does more harm to the public trust than does the politician who makes no issue of his virtue. (– John McCain, Worth the Fighting For, Chapter 12, “Straight Talk,” page 379, hat tip to News One).

John as you look up at the bar of the higher standard and wonder "how have I sunk so low" just know that I feel your pain. Truth be told, we've all worn a pair of new shoes in our lifetime.