Inappropriate Conversations

"It's far better to say something that should not be said, than not to say something that should be said." Twenty-five years ago on February 7th at 1:37 a.m., I heard this answer to a desperate prayer.  After glancing around the room to see who else had heard this, I challenged the response I'd received in a truly conversational exchange.  Again, I got a direct, accurate, and life-changing answer.  It was as if I drew a line in the proverbial sand, and God crossed it.  I believe in answered prayer because I have experienced it. Different Drummer: Michael Franks

There is no great credit to remaining "above" the myopia of liberal v. conservative politics, if you aren't willing to stand.  Too often, a so-called moderate position is simply a way of avoiding issues and not engaging.  The "radical" side is pushing for change, whether it be a moderating influence on those firmly entrenched in right- or left-wing politics, or trying to lead the rest to think more critically about what each side has to say.  Martin Luther King, Jr. gave us one of the best challenges to status-quo centrism in his 1963 letter from jail in Birmingham, Alabama.  Failing to heed these words will continue to bear strange and unwanted fruit in our society. Different Drummer: Billie Holiday

As it sounds, here is an audio commentary for the classic 1964 animated Christmas special, "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer."  The show is essential holiday viewing, along with a handful of other Rankin/Bass classics. Different Drummer: Jim Skafish Skafish 2006 NPR Interview

Poems don't have to rhyme all the time.  Formalism, whether a metrical scheme or just assonance and alliteration, can inspire creativity through adherence to the form itself.  On the other hand, the most profound poetry I've ever heard or read came from more freedom to the verse. Different Drummer: Jim Carroll

I shared my perspective about "9/11" on September 12, 2004, before a church congregation.  I wanted to make note of three particular ideas because I could already see them fading from popular thought.  Immediately following the terrorist attacks in 2001, it was easy to infer a consensus around these notions: evil exists, people are intrinsically valuable, and truth is not relative.  Now, 7 years after that speech and 10 years after the attacks, it's clear that I was right to worry.  We don't remember what we believed about those ideas in September 2001, and we can't satisfactorily explain why. Different Drummer: Indigo Girls

At some point, the idea of capital punishment stopped being about protecting society through the dispensation of justice, and it started being about settling the score for crimes that offend a lot of people.  The word "heinous" could almost be defined as "justification for revenge."  If you take vengeance away from the death penalty, we would certainly seek such a sentence far less often. Different Drummer: Neil Peart

There is an old adage that says you'll be happy and successful if you "do what you love" for a living.  Don't believe what you hear.  That saying is only almost right.  "Love what you do for a living" is better advice, and the difference is not mere subtlety.  We should hold the things we truly love as intimate and not fully invest them in the pursuit of trade or commerce.  On the other hand, the things we do professionally must have some underlying passion if we are going to be successful. Different Drummer: Ira A. Robbins