A Holiday Message

I have been thinking about the Dec 20th City Council meeting, a meeting that brought to the surface deep seated hurts; that brought up old wounds, divisions and misunderstandings. As I listened to the explanations by City leaders, and gave my own, none were adequate for the real pain and division that exists in Euclid.

Yes, some City leaders spoke fine words. Other leaders, not so good.

But this core problem that our community faces can not be fixed simply by better City leadership alone, rather the problems are those of the human heart, of how we treat each other each and every day.

It is appropriate that in the season of Holiday and new beginnings that we each reflect on our own behavior toward our fellow citizen, no matter what the background. No matter our faith, or, if no faith at all, we must strive to remember that we are all made out of the same stuff, as you will, that we all contain that spark of the Divine. If we accept this principal, that we are all part of the same human community, then, we will not so easily fall into the habit of snap judgements, half truths and the prejudices that most of us carrier around.

Our goal should be to see the good in each one of us. Mere tolerance of one another is not good enough. Acceptance and understanding are higher goals. Or, as Selman Hirsh stated "Respect, not tolerance, must be our goal if we would diminish prejudice in our time."

The character of each individual should be the measure of that person, not the group that they identify with.

As you can tell, I'm no preacher man, Priest, Rabbi, or Imam, yet I believe it true that compassion and acceptance of our fellow man can only make our Euclid Community stronger.

Here is an organizations out side of our many worship centers that can help better explain and build on what I've talked about.

B.R.I.D.G.E.S. -- BUILDING RESPECT INTERACTION DIALOGUE GROWTH & SOLUTIONS

This Group's basic philosophy is best summoned up by a quote from William Penn "...help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand."

For more information on BRIDGES, please contact:

Sharon Resar @ str_cdp@yahoo.com

Have a wonderful Christmas Season, and a safe New Years Eve