I Have Returned

Good Afternoon from spot # 584 in the Rose Reading Room of the New York Public Library's Grand Building at 42nd street and 5th Avenue. 

It has been awhile since my last post and I have been honored and humbled that some have missed by essays on the work around me.  Now that the crazy times have somewhat abated, it should be possible to keep better up. 

To summarize, the last few months have involved: The birth of my second niece; my promotion at work; my first and second presentations at a national conference; my accepting of an award for my fellow FDNY Dispatch personnel presented by NENA; the total realization of how much ability I have failed to use effectively in my first thirty-eight years-- and just how much I need to be doing gong forward.  I was also rejected by my home state for employment (Thankfully) and celebrated Pride weekend in my beloved Church-- an experience that will stay with me the rest of my life. 

Enough about me though, now about you.  What has truly been apparent over these last two months is just how much we can accomplish when we decide to finally cast off the shackles in all their various forms.  The day you wake up and realize that to be amazing and wonderful is not just your possibility-- but your responsibility.  Can we change the entire world all alone by ourselves?  Generally, no.  But can we change ourselves-- absolutely.  And can that local change spread, like the scent of autumn leaves-- reminding people of something that they can sense, even if it is beyond touch.  Of Course!

That is our duty-- to accept this potential in ourselves and act upon it.  Diligently--  without fear.  Until we illustrate for others that they too can do the same.  The first person that refused to sit in the back of the bus was not the last.  The first person who spoke out for equality in marriage was not the last.  The first person that figured out the earth rotated around the stars-- that we were not the center of the universe but part of it.  They were only the beginning.  Was it easy?  No. The annals of history are full of stories that start with creativity and end with the dreamers and the thinkers being ostracized-- or worse.

But this is the demand placed upon us by those talents we are given.  Those dreams we dream.  Those visions of something and someplace better. 

In the last year I have made a conscious effort to live those dreams.  To avoid as much as possible the distractions that have, in the past, done so much damage.  Even the memories of those past lessons have had to be put aside, lest they serve to derail the train as it leaves the station. 

I say this not to brag, not to boast, but to share a bit of light on the path.  If I can do it-- so can you.  If I can go beyond what was-- and catch a glimpse of what can be-- so can you.  If I can work to make my job, my community, my family, and all those I touch better-- so can you.  It is our shared duty.  Our shared responsibility-- to each day make it a bit better than the day before.  And in the words of a famous quotation:

"If you are not going to make yourself better tomorrow than you were today--
then what do you need tomorrow for?"