Launching the Goodness Project

Okay, that's it! I have heard enough mean spiritedness from fellow Americans to finally move me to DO SOMETHING. Since I don't have any political power -- nor am I rich and famous -- the only thing I can think of to do is write and hope that someone out there is reading this blog and will consider responding to this call.

But before I go further explaining The Goodness Project, I would like to unequivocably state that I am opposed to the culture of hate that seems to have sprouted like a hydra-headed monster in my beloved country. Yes, indeed, the good ole US of A has become downright nasty around the issue of a mosque being constructed in Manhatten (on privately owned land that was purchased before September 11, 2001) and toward people who are undocumented immigrants working their hands to the bone to put food in their children's bellies.

In both cases, the rhetoric of hate has reached intolerable levels. It is with grand irony that the same people who -- in the case of the Ground Zero mosque -- espouse such fondness for the Constitution and would violate the very same Constitution by denying a group of people (Muslims) their right to build a house of worship. Thomas Jefferson, in 1807, said "among the inestimable of our blessings, also, is that ...of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; ..."

Allowing freedom of worship is not some kind of highminded idealism reserved only for Revolutionaries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is embedded in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If we don't uphold this most basic tenet of our Constitution then we are truly morally, spiritually and politically hypocritical as a nation.  I rue the day hypocrisy reigns over common sense and goodness toward fellow humans in the United States.

In the case of hatred toward undocumented immigrants (or the overt racism toward people of Hispanic descent who are citizens of this country), I would ask a simple question: when and under what conditions did your ancestors acquire documentation? Did the Powhaten give you a green card? How about the Cherokee? Or the Maidu? Because unless your ancestors were indigenous and living in North America prior to British, French, Spanish and Dutch colonialism then you have no leg to stand on. Not to put too fine a point on it but nativist sentiment today is pure hypocrisy!

Thus I am initiating The Goodness Project.

This is my small attempt to inject civility into the national dialogue. Instead of focusing on the nasty rhetoric of small-minded racism and hate, how about we focus on the beauty and goodness of living?

It's that simple: what is Good in your life?

If you are reading this, I want to hear from you!