Remembering Christa McAuliffe and Marty Gross

Heroes come in many forms - defined by a lifetime of effort or a moment in time into which they are thrust, capturing our admiration and inspiring us with their example. It hardly seems like 30 years since I stood in the reception area of the Governor's Council and watched as a room full of people turned from excitement and pride to sadness beyond description. At the same time that we were remembering Christa we lost a very dear friend, Martin "Marty" Gross. To me Marty was a hero of the first variety; a man of great principle and heart who quietly provided the kind of leadership that is all too rare today . . . a selfless dedication to public service that reached across the aisle to build coalitions that brought out the best in us.
Christa, thank you for inspiring us to reach for the stars; and thank you Marty for a life of service and for all that you did to remind us that our common humanity was always more important than our political differences. If there is a heaven, Marty and Caroline will surely be moderating a bi-partisan discussion right now. http://bit.ly/1SOgoAK

A Ripple of Hope

Perhaps it is unfair to make a comparison between a giant like Bobby Kennedy and the small minds that seem to dominate the Republican party in the US today but it is unquestionably worth examining why so little seems to have been learned by both political parties in the US from our history.

So much was lost on that June day in 1968 when Sirhan Sirhan denied us the chance to have a President who was unafraid to use the word love in a speech and who spoke of healing the divisions in our country.

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A Ripple of Hope:

Poster and Card created from an image of the same name inspired by the famed courageous speech of Robert F. Kennedy in 1966 in South Africa where he spoke out against the Apartheid system.

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

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