Unitarian Universalist Metro Atlanta North
What's So Good About It?!
by Merri Beth Stephens
Okay, it's 1995. And here we are, a small, but growing, group of liberals situated in the heart of the sixth district of Georgia. For those of you who may not know, this is Newt's district. Our congressional representative's idea of family values involves placing welfare children in orphanages. I don't know about you, but I have spent a great deal of time this fall and winter worrying about America's political future. I worry about the one black family out of nine that lives on less than $5,000 per year.
I am troubled that health care reform legislation was pronounced dead this year. And when I hear statistics from a New York City Council study reporting that 1/3 of the city's youths between 12 and 21 are likely to carry a gun, I tend to become morose and despondent. And do I even need to mention the senseless abortion clinic violence that is becoming more and more commonplace?
And what about gay and lesbian Americans? They have lost several major allies and face a far more conservative and hostile congress.
So when folks began telling me to have a "good new year", I had to reach deep within myself to find exactly "What's So Good About It".
For Americans of all faiths, hope for a better world for our children is one of the defining messages for each new year. All the more reason, then, to consider today the evidence for a more optimistic view of America and the world than those commonly provided to us by the press.
Obviously, the world has never paid proper heed to the plea for "Peace on Earth, good will toward men." However, there was heartening progress last year notwithstanding the terrors in Bosnia and Rwanda.
The century that witnessed the two most horrifying and destructive wars in human history, followed by 40 years of continuing slaughters, is somehow muddling through its last decade on a generally less violent course. A decade ago, you were likely able to count 40 wars, insurrections and assorted instances of civil strife around the world, from South America to Europe, to Asia and Africa. Today, that number has been cut nearly in half.
The Middle East peace process endured through 1994, ushering in a new era of stability in a region riven by decades of enmity. Granted, this peace is increasingly troubled but still mostly viable.
Twenty-five years of sectarian fighting and killing in Northern Ireland gave way to a cease-fire and negotiations. Two of Africa's bloodiest civil wars, in Mozambique and Angola, ended. Even Central America, a region traumatized by its savage strife during the 1980's, recorded another year of democratic politics and sincere search for reconciliation. Remember the elections in South Africa this year? Armed conflicts between the great super powers haven't seemed so unlikely for nearly a century. That is a remarkable achievement.
On the home front, it seems like there is mounting evidence of America's resurgent economic stability. The unemployment rate was around 4% in Georgia for 1994. Even optimists have been surprised at how well the Atlanta real estate market is recovering from the recession. During Clinton's first two years in office, nearly 5.6 million new jobs have been created in America.
Americans have shown their generosity towards each other in 1994 as well. Gilda's Club, a support community for people with cancer, launched by Gilda Radner's husband Gene Wilder, renovated a four-story brownstone in New York City. This renovation was possible because of the support of "People" Magazine, Toys "R" Us and charitable organizations and individuals. The building, opening early in 1995, will offer lectures, counseling and other activities for cancer victims, their families and friends.
Teenagers nationwide are performing nearly 2.1 billion hours of volunteeer work every year according to a recent Gallup poll. So much for the image of a bunch of "lazy general x-ers", huh? Specifically, Andrew Shue, one of the young actors on Melrose Place has started the organization "Do Something". His organization awards financial grants and leadership training to help young people make a difference in their community -- whether it's cleaning up graffiti, building a ramp for the handicapped, or setting up antiviolence workshops.
Sheila Kuehl became the first openly homosexual candidate elected to the California legislature this year. You may remember Ms. Kuehl as the teenage girl who played Zelda Gilroy on the vintage tv show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis".
Oregon voters re-elected four openly homosexual or bisexual members to the 60-seat House of Representatives. Phoenix voters sent an openly gay man, Ken Cheuvront, to the Arizona House of Representatives for the first time. And, it is important to note that three gay U.S. representatives were re-elected, two from Massachusetts (Barney Frank and Gerry E. Studds) and one from Wisconsin (Steve Gunderson).
Measure 13 in Oregon was defeated. If it had passed, homosexuals as a class would not have been protected from discrimination in housing and employment. A similar referendum was defeated in Idaho.
1994 marked the 25th anniversary of Stonewall. Positive change has definitely occurred since patrons of the Stonewall Inn took to the streets of Sheridan Square in New York on June 28, 1969, to protest a seemingly routine police raid of yet another gay bar. Today, eight states, the District of Columbia and more than 100 municipalities and counties have enacted legislation making it illegal to discriminate in employment, public accommodation and housing on the basis of sexual orientation.
Do you believe that the phrase "business ethics" is an example of an oxymoron? More and more American companies have enlightened management strategies that enrich the lives of their employees and enhance their community. Steel mills that adopted comprehensive workplace reforms saw as much as a 10% increase in productivity, according to a recent study by Columbia University.
The high road is definitely the one less traveled for American corporations, but there are signs that it is becoming more and more popular. A recent Bentley College poll found that 95% of Fortune 1000 companies are convinced that they will have to adopt more socially responsible business practices in coming years to retain their competitive edge.
More and more, companies are offering day-care facilities and summertime programs for older children. We see evidence of personal care products companies becoming increasingly aware of their environmental impact. Many companies are making efforts to break through the glass ceiling for the advancement of women and minorities. "Working Woman" magazine reports that Corning, the $3.7 billion glass-products manufacturer, has made battling bias a part of its corporate strategy. The impetus was partly humanitarian, partly purely business -- one mid-1980's study showed that high turnover among women and minority employees was costing the company $3.5 million a year. Their employees attend diversity workshops and seminars. The company actively lobbied the local cable service to add the Black Entertainment Television network to its schedule and helped the local school district recruit more minority teachers.
Today's edition of The Denver Post reports that for the first time since the initial air pollution monitors were installed in downtown Denver more than 20 years ago, the metro area has passed an entire calendar year without a single violation of a federal air pollution standard. There was one exceedence of the carbon monoxide standard downtown on December 23rd but under the rules of the EPA, only the second reading above the standard puts the city in violation.
Crime, an American preoccupation in recent years, is actually declining (although random violence and homicides have increased). The FBI's national statistics record a further decline in overall crime rates during 1994.
Alcoholism continues to decline. The national crusade against drunk driving has reduced the alcohol-linked proportion of traffic fatalities from more than half to fewer than 40 percent.
And I shouldn't dare forget what UUMAN accomplished in 1994. Through the generous support of our members, friends, the UUA, the UUEF, and UUCA, we are now at home in this building. UUMAN has become a church home for many religious liberals, and almost-religious liberals who cannot find peace with the new religious right.
We owe a special debt of gratitude to the 1993-1994 Board of Trustees, and our minister, Lauralyn Bellamy, who worked night and day fighting the bureaucratic battles necessary to close and move into this property.
We have the most energetic, intelligent group of young people I have ever had the good fortune to observe. And fortunately, our older members are there to help show us the wisdom of their struggle and lead us into the next millenium.
So look out North Fulton County, Georgia and the United States -- people like us are still out here. We're still working for a better future. We still care about each other and are willing to put our convictions into action. I will close this speech with a quote from Allison McCrea, a woman who has fought homelessness and other aspects of poverty in this country over several decades:
"One, I have enormous faith that somehow it's going to be OK. I also know that I am a part of a struggle. I am not the struggle, I am not leading any struggle. I am there. And I have been there for a long time, and I'm going to be there for the rest of my life. So I have no unrealistic expectations. Therefore, I am not going to get fatigued.
"Along the way, there are those moments that I'm willing to settle for, those tiny moments of grandeur, you know, that we are together and we can breathe together, and we can hold each other and somehow we're going to make it. There is a story that the sky is falling and all the animals were running through the village, the lions and the tigers. In the middle of this dirt road, there was a sparrow with his little legs up in the air. And the zebra runs by and said, ' Hey dummy, the sky is falling. Do you think with your spindly little legs, you're going to hold it up? And the little bird says, 'One does what one can.' That's me.
I have no illusions. I have absolutely no illusions about who I am or what I can do. I mean, I love the work we do and the thing that keeps you going is that the dragon doesn't win all the time. I think that there are -- there are moments in your life when you instinctively know that you are where you're supposed to be.
I know who I am and what I do. As far as I'm concerned it makes sense to me. It doesn't have to make sense to other people. I think that when you become committed to some kind of an idea or a vision or a faith or whatever you want to call it, it doesn't matter that you have a lot of detractors or that people say "Oh Jesus Christ, here she comes again!" And you know, you do what you can and you grab your laughs where you can find them. And you find them. I mean you find them in impossible places, but they're there. And that's good enough for me.
But again, we're simply part of that struggle. That's what it's about. And I don't feel bad about it. I mean, not to have unrealistic expectations of yourself is a fairly adult way of looking at life, I think. And most of us are not ... many of us are not satisfied with anything. And the more we have, the less we're satisfied. So, I mean, I certainly consider myself ahead of the game. I'm a reasonably happy woman."
For further information about us, please
call 770-992-3949
or send an email to uuman@uuman.org.