My Birthday Wishes

So yesterday, I celebrated my 56th birthday. My sister Lucille greeted me with “may all your wishes come true!”


Here’s my wish list:

1. That our elected representatives in Harrisburg and in Washington set aside their fears and put the needs of our people and our environment first. If they imagined their children, their grandchildren on the receiving end of tar balls, oil-slick bayous, contaminated fisheries, birdless wildlife preserves, and ruined coastal communities, I believe they would reject the path of expedient profits and unregulated extraction of our precious resources AND they would vote to protect our communities, our habitat and wildlife.

2. That we abandon the politics of extreme ideology – whether on the left or on the right – and center our efforts on pragmatic strategies to solve the gravest problems of our time. When I talk to people, I am amazed that so many folks think that our poisonous political culture makes it impossible for us to solve our human-created problems. As a child of the 60's, I was raised to believe in the power of the dream, the art of the possible, the vision of Camelot -- John F. Kennedy’s metaphor for inspirational governance that stressed:

-Service over personal gain,

-The common good over private privilege,

-Eradication of human poverty over the hording and financial chicanery that is devastating our economy,

-Physical fitness and wellness over self-indulgent lifestyles that contribute to our very expensive health care system.

3. That we relearn the arts of collegiality, cooperation, and compromise in our public dialogues. We don’t have time for all of the self-righteous posturing that passes as “political discourse” in the media. Between the suffering of our soldiers and the human communities who are still embroiled in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the devastation of the Gulf Coast wrought by the BP Deepwater Oil Rig Disaster, and the ongoing economic downturn that is hurting most states – we need leaders and media commentators who can model problem-solving, mutual respect, and compassion for all who have been hurt by these tragedies.

4. That we challenge our elected representatives and favorite media commentators to take a pledge to pull themselves out of the fray, to rise to the occasion and lead us out of these very dark times. We need leaders who can vision, strategize, and implement real human and technological fixes to the ecological and economic crises we created for ourselves.

5. That our national and local leaders model selflessness, generosity, and compassion for our young people today who want to serve, but who don’t want to get caught in the quaggy mire of sludge politics. Our young leaders have the same idealism, the same capacity for greatness and inventiveness that was galvanized by John F. Kennedy and other great leaders of the 20th Century. Will we encourage them to achieve their potential, or will  we undermine the talents and imagination of those who could do so much to heal our world?