Excellent friends and homeless families

Most of us have at least one friend who makes us feel small and petty and selfish by comparison. I have two, and they happen to be married to each other. One spent significant amounts of time in Indonesia growing up (his father was I believe in the Peace Corps), speaks fluent Indonesian, and was personally hit hard by the tsunami. Where the rest of us maybe called up the Red Cross and made a donation, he talked his employer into giving him a paid leave of absence and then flew to Indonesia, giving three months of his life to one of the most badly-hit communities. You can get a glimpse of his story here: http://www.planusa.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1971
(BTW, if anyone can tell me how to hyperlink text I'd be extremely grateful!)

His wife, however, is my very oldest friend. We met as little kids at day care. Through the years, we've had periods where we floated apart, but eventually the currents of our lives always moved us back together again. Today, she is one of my daughter's many "aunties," and I think probably the coolest.

Her parents have been active in the American Civil Liberties Union for years. By years, I mean decades. Their involvement predates my friend's birth by a long shot. They have been board members in their state for as long as I can remember. They brought their two daughters up in a tradition of activism, particularly in defense of free speech issues. A significant chunk of their teen years was dominated by a lawsuit commenced in my friend's younger sister's name, after her graduation from a public middle school prominently featured religious prayer. The point of the lawsuit was to ensure that her sister's high school graduation was free of prayer, i.e., state endorsement of a religion, or religiousness in general, at her commencement from a state-funded school. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which held that the Establishment Clause of the Constitution prohibited the inclusion of prayer at public school graduations. This was absolutely a landmark case.

My friend is now a state ACLU board member herself, along with her parents. Actually, it is incorrect to talk about having just two amazing friends in this post. Her parents are my friends as well - I have attended Passover seder and Chanukah parties under their roof for maybe ten years now. The whole family, collectively, has been named the state ACLU's Civil Libertarians of the Year, and they will be honored at a ceremony and dinner I will be attending tonight. I may not agree with them on every point - I sadly must admit that I am willing to sacrifice a certain degree of personal liberty in the interests of personal security, whereas they believe that he who would sacrifice liberty for security deserves neither. But their work is necessary, difficult, and deserving of respect. I am honored to know them, and to be included in their lives.

Next topic: the night before last, I saw on the nightly news that more than 57,000 families displaced by Katrina have been informed that FEMA will stop funding their shelter in hotels in two more weeks. That's more than fifty thousand families, the majority of whom will not be able to continue paying for their hotel rooms, and will find themselves with no roof over their heads a week after Thanksgiving, just weeks before Christmas. This is a major housing crisis, folks. And the timing couldn't be worse. Will the public once again step forward to cushion these families' landings? How can they be expected to do so? At this time of year, families who have shelter often struggle to provide some small Christmas luxuries to those they care about. And at the same time, they will this year be contending with record high heating bills, and gasoline prices that haven't yet returned to Earth. Where will these families go? Will their children be fed, and warm, and maybe get a gift or two on the 25th? I'm afraid that for many, the answer will be no. This may be the year when record numbers of families spend their holidays in tents, under bridges, in cars. For FEMA to cast them out now compounds injury with insult and even more injury. It is a collosal display of callousness.

Tonight, I go home and hug my baby tight and send out my gratitude that I am able to provide her with food, clothing, shelter, toys, and boundless love. Then, I put on a party dress and go out to toast my friends' lifelong committment to the protection of our beloved, beleagured Constitution. It's a good day to be alive.