End of Year Thoughts on Revere’s Human Rights Commission

  I swear something has happened to our communal sense of time. While the hour still has 60 minutes and the day 24 hours, it does seem like our time has accelerated way too fast. Seems like just yesterday, I was over at Shea’s Beach in Eastie getting a good tan and now Thanksgiving has passed us by as we quickly approach yet another Christmas and New Year’s.

  I have been aging much faster than I would wish and must say the older I get I think of my mortality these days in the new “normal” we now occupy. This year I wish everyone, as I always do, the best holiday season they celebrate. Life is far too short to get all in an uproar over political differences. I will still tell bad jokes, as I always had, but I must remind folks that a good joke is meant to make laughter and today there are too many of us who are afraid to laugh in case it triggers stress in someone else. Remember Buddy Hackett, who was great for comic relief? Here’s an old joke of his: “My wife told me she wanted to be cremated. I asked her, ‘How does next Tuesday sound’?” Today, would people demand an apology for such a sexist joke told? I guess I may find out about that next week if the Advocategets lots of readers writing in saying it was a bad joke for me to tell.

  Listen, I think everyone on the City of Revere’s Human Rights Commission needs to be congratulated for bringing up tough subjects at times and stirring up way too much drama. It is never a bad thing to make people think about issues that constantly effect our affect. It, I believe, is a good thing to challenge the way we think when in debate with others. All of us, no matter our politics, should be open enough to hear opposing views without being judgmental.

  When I first heard about this city’s Commission using the “Circle Process,” I laughed because liberals always seem to love circles and conservatives not so much. I have partaken of using the “circle” to facilitate discussions. Didn’t think I would like this alien idea, but it really wasn’t so alien when I saw people talking with each other without any negativity.

  My only concern is when any of us use ideology to silence debate. We need to use this holiday season to welcome the value of peaceful coexistence. We need to stop, look around and see what our life truly means. It isn’t about having the most toys ever. It isn’t about ranking other people below us. It is about using this life of ours to ensure we are all leaving a better world behind for our children and grandchildren and being remembered for the good we did with the time God has given us.