A good day to start

'Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'

- Matthew 18:3

Respect, tolerance and especially love work best when they work both ways.

As our nation grapples with this truth on the wide platform of discrimination, what better time than Easter to reconsider the concepts of rebirth, of renewal, and vowing to make ourselves better people today than we were yesterday?

In Arkansas, Indiana, Idaho - in every state of the union - individual and group rights are being weighed against each other. Gay versus heterosexual, Christian versus non-Christian, white versus black. Has it always been this way? Need it be?

With a sense of renewal, with an eye toward reforming ourselves into somewhat better approximations of Christ, and with a commitment to increased understanding flowing both ways, we can change. We can effect unprecedented change by replacing two words: versus with and.

Gay and heterosexual. Christian and non-Christian. White and black.

Respect, tolerance and especially love can do more than mend shattered hearts. They can forge unbreakable alliances. Without them, we are a people divided. Without them, we will never reach our potential.

Today the gift of rebirth is extended to every one of us.

A better world awaits.

'I give you this to take with you: Nothing remains as it was. If you know this, you can begin again, with pure joy in the uprooting.'

- Judith Minty, Letters to My Daughters