If you ever loved, ever had a best friend, ever shared moments with total strangers who for a brief minute laughed, smiled or looked you in the eye, with either a verbal hello or a nod of the head…if you ever grieved the death of an individual without whose life the difference in yours would have never taken place…if you knew that person of color, that transgendered school mate, that devout Christian, the very reform Jew, the young boys in white shirts telling you about the LDS. If you have walked by the woman on the street carrying at least three plastic bags containing all of her belongings….if you loved the females in your life, if your best friend once called a bachelor or a spinster, but now carries proudly the definition of LGBT…if you heard a foreign language spoken for the first time and realized once your grandparents or great grandparents must have found the English language a weird bunch of letters to pronounce…if you singed one or a million petitions, voted for the first time or your 75th year of heading to the polling booth…if you proudly held your hand to your heart as the Star Bangled Banner blared with symphonic strength…if you ever climbed that mountain, sled down hill in the winter…if you ever tasted Mrs De’Angelo’s pasta, Mrs Cohen’s chicken soup…tried Dim Sum from Mr Young’s restaurant…watched a movie with subtitles in English, never quite understanding the language of the actors but mesmerized by the story…if you ever read the Constitution and just remember We The People…if you ever had your polio shot, your EKG, you first year check up…ate apple, played baseball or painted a picket fence white…
Don’t give up…don’t give in…be loud…be ready…we know our past…never be silent toward out future!
