This Speech Is My Recital

I believe in compassion and forgiveness. Somewhere amid all the Catholicism and the things my parents taught me (they are inextricably entwined) those things stuck. Forgiveness is particularly important to me, because anger is self-destructive. Not to mention that I've been in need of forgiveness myself on more than a few occasions. I'm speaking not in religious terms--I'm not a believer--but in social and moral terms. These things are good for my mental health, and they keep me feeling like there is still hope for humanity.

And yet I cannot deny that when I heard today that Mr. Falwell had died, I was happy, because he was a small-minded bigot who stood for ignorance and fear. One commentator said that whatever anyone thought of Falwell, he spoke for many people, and that is true. He spoke for people who were terrified of change because they did not understand it. They chose--they still choose--to see a world without grays and to label the unfamiliar as wrong and evil. I know that by seeing Falwell in those same terms I'm falling victim to a similar mindset, and I'm not proud of the fact that I take pleasure in his passing.

But I do.