Having just watched our President complain about an escalator and a teleprompter on his visit to
the UN. A visit to the world body, if properly honored and empowered, most likely to have any
leverage against an autocrat like Trump. There is a natural animosity between people who would
rather conspire uninterruptedly, and a meddling institution dedicated to the uplift and cooperation
of humankind. I hope it was fun for you, a week after his administration kicked a late night
comedian off the air to hear our President suggest that many of the countries we consider our
closest allies have since WWII were going to hell. It compelled me to take a moment to lift up
the UN. So, here goes.

War II officially began on September 1 st , 1939, when France and Britain declared war on
Germany. It officially came to an end on September 2, 1945, at the signing of the surrender
documents by the Japanese emperor.

That moment of relief and joy in the west was captured in the iconic picture of the kiss seen
above. Not lost on anyone beginning to put the pieces together for a long-awaited period of
peace at the end of that war was that World War I had started less than twenty years earlier. And,
that war, as everyone knew was promised but failed to be “the war to end all wars.”
In what one can imagine was a mix of hope of what could happen if they did, and a fear of what
would happen again if they didn’t, 55 days after Japan surrendered in 1945, 51 countries met in
San Francisco October 24 th , 1945, to create the United Nations.

Most of the people at that historical San Fran gathering had a living memory that just a
generation prior to their moment, quite similarly gathered in the beautifully mirrored halls of
Versailles to sign a treaty that ended the first World War. And ideally end all wars. Clearly, that
treaty worked to create only a temporary peace.

I want you to channel the energy of the powerful people who gathered to form the UN in forty-
five. People who having witnessed the failure that vengeance at the end of the last war in 1919
had played in contributing to the start of another War. A far worse one.
Back in 1945, sobered by the death of between 70 and 85 million people, those people who knew
that the surrender of Germany at Reims, and the surrender of Japan on the Aircraft Carrier
Missouri, just had to stick.
And when they knew that it had to stick, you know what they did?
Just a month and a half from the end of the war? Mostly, those countries did not so much look
to punish the Germans as they had in WWI.

Mostly, they did not take out what would have been an understandable vengeance on the
Japanese for jumping in on a war when the West was occupied with Germany’s invasions. What
they did was start the most successful rebuilding program a victor ever had ever before engaged
in. They established the Marshall Plan and met to form the United Nations.

Shortly after the end of the largest act of human-on-human violence the world had ever known,
leaders from all over the world sat down to write an inspired document that very similar to our
Seven UU Principals affirmed “faith in fundamental human rights of all people.” The UN
formed with the primary purpose of avoiding future wars and lifting up the dignity and worth of
all humans in nations large and small.”

To me, the UN gets it, and although hardly perfect, that is why we UU’s have for most of the
years since the UN formed dedicated a Sunday to it, and our alignment with UU values is why
we have a larger presence at the UN larger than our tiny numbers would demand.
Sometimes watching news from the Ukraine, false patriots questioning democracy, and another
school shooting we can lose faith in caring for people we disagree with and maybe even have it
out to get us. I get it. I feel angry too. Nonetheless, the most pervasive truth in the world
remains the same. If we want peace in the world, we need to work for justice. This is not a
perfect recipe, nor is it a foolproof plan, but it is the truth.

It probably is impossible to get in front of every sociopath or deranged person with a gun, but
both we and the UN know deep in our bones that justice is the only recipe that will work to
create long term peace.

We as UU’s have a long history of believing that working for justice creates peace. Say it with
me “creating justice creates peace.” It’s as true as anything else you will ever say.
We as UU’s may not be able to speak clearly about any supernatural beliefs, but that doesn’t
mean we don’t have faith in anything. We do. We UU’s share a faith that If we want peace in
the world, we need to create healthy loving environments for people to grow in, and powerful
institutions to ensure they continue.

Sometimes, because the work of creating peace is so slow and silent it is hard to see that.
Sometimes it is also hard to forget that the first viable organization dedicated to preventing war
and cultivating world peace is both still the age of an average senior citizen and has been in
existence for only a tiny sliver of human history. Nonetheless, it is worth remembering,
especially now. Especially now.

Sunday, October 12, 2025 10:30am -12:30pm

Join us as we celebrate the restoration of our historic steeple.
Refreshments, acknowledgements, stories and more.
It’s a morning of gratitude from us to you, the Citizens and Town Officials of Northborough.
You made this historic renovation possible!

First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist of Northborough
40 Church Street, Northborough, MA

On the ride to and fro to Northborough from Lexington, and the inverse, about 500 yards from the top of Barefoot Red often curse myself for not slowing down enough to not rumble hard and a little too fast over the train-tracks that cross the road.  I am forgetful, and they are terribly marked.  I am working to remember to slow down. 

Nevertheless, they have become my least favorite train tracks in the world.  I don’t even know if trains use them anymore. 

However, I like train tracks.  And one quirky thing I like about them is that they are both one thing tracks made up by two separate rails. I have long been bemused by the fact that train tracks are really two metal bars that technically never touch but are paired together for thousands of miles. 

I am struck by both how perfectly parallel they must be to one another for there not to be disaster.  Think about it.  All it takes is for one of those metal rails to be a few inches off its normal spacing from its partner, and all hell breaks loose. Rumbling over them and threatening the undercarriage of my Prius, I have come to wonder why that particular spacing was chosen. 

Returning home, I searched the all-knowing wizard known as google to discover that nearly all US railroad tracks are set to be 4 feet, 8 and a half inches apart.  I hadn’t known that.  Nor that that seemingly random number was used as the standard because 56 and ½ inches was the measurement the English used when they first started building their rail system.  As it turns out the engineers of the railroad system- the math guys not the train captains- were largely ex-pats from Britain.  These former Brit’s brought with them that seemingly quirky 56 and a half inch standard because that was the spacing the tram tracks in the pre-steam locomotive era used. 

Kinda cool right.  As it turns out those English tram tracks were laid down with that unique width because those early English trams were constructed using many of the same tools that built the horse drawn carriages in the pre-industrial era. 

I had fallen down the rabbit hole.  

As it turns out, the coolest part of all this is that those pre-industrial English carriages and the wagons that for generations preceded them were built to that particular width in order to match the ruts in the ground that the standardized Roman chariots had left behind roughly a thousand years prior.  And, the span of those Roman chariot axels were built to that particular size in order to best manage two horses striding side by side.

So, the question might be building in your head “What Rev. Steve is so religiously inspiring about that?

Nothing directly.  Nothing except that railroad tracks are a great example of how we humans’ piece by piece, one layer at a time adapt the past to meet the future.  

Today, although many feel we are backsliding, and I believe in some very real and dangerous ways we are, I believe that with a longer view, the view that one has when develops when one traces back contemporary train tracks to horse drawn chariots, is that the arc or direction in which we are moving is in general, forward.  One of ragged improvement and imperfect adaptation on what was after another.  Civilization has been built doing nothing more than making one more painfully imperfect step after another.

Unitarians and Universalists have a long-standing belief in and commitment to taking what we have inherited from the past and improving upon it.  We still do.  It might be the truest thing about who we are.

So, in light of evolving train tracks and our ever adapting UU tradition I encourage you to remember that although there are powerful voices and trends pulling us back towards autocracy and threatening democratic norms, when viewed from a higher vantage point, we will likely return to a new normal.

In the same way that the evolution of train travel-no doubt amidst some failures, disasters and setbacks have gotten faster, safer more fuel efficient and comfortable, we are from the broader perspective offered by history consistently growing more tolerant, interconnected, sensitive, and just.  It’s just true.

I understand that writing this might feel like a failure to read the moment. Or even to be insensitive to those who could directly be impacted by the political changes expected.  I understand.  I wish we were not here.  This moment is the kind of bad that can make you pay attention.   However, it is also worth asking. is not the very moment we are in, with far broader perspective be read as a temporary reaction to a culture increasingly sensitive and emotionally in tune with those who don’t

progress.  I believe it is.

The fact is that all around us there is a process of not natural, but human selection as to what ideas, customs, and traditions we will carry forward means that we can to a large degree control the world that will be.  That is an incredibly important thing to know is know is true.  And it is.  Humans largely control the world we live in.  Not completely, there are volcanoes and asteroids, but largely.  And we are too slowly for sure, but getting better.

Amidst news of ongoing wars in the Middle-east and Europe, and the increasing distress faced by and regarding migrants, and the internal deconstruction of the federal government, the future can, and very well might get bleak.  All while that is happening, let’s pause for one wistful moment in the war for the soul and future of our species, that the statistics regarding preventable diseases, homicide rates, global poverty, and infant mortality world-wide are all improving.  

I don’t intend on painting a Pollyanna world view.  Terrible things do, can, and always will go wrong.  However, the general arc of history is irrefutable.  Around the globe Tolerance, environmental-awareness, lifespans and education rates- particularly for women- are all on the upswing.  History in the long term will likely lean more that way.

I know it doesn’t always feel it now, and of course I could be wrong, but perhaps for a moment let’s pause to catch our breath that the vast condition that most humans live with and under is far better than it used to be.  

I know this perspective is hardly the makings of a rousing gospel tune.  Far more likely the perspective of an observer with privilege,  but in the long view, we humans are getting smarter, heathier, more tolerant, and believe it or not, kinder.  Please don’t forget that.

So, the question might be building, “What Steve is so religiously inspiring about that?

Nothing directly.  Nothing except that railroad tracks are a great example of how we piece by piece, one layer at a time, we adapt the past to meet the future. 

Today, although many feel we are backsliding, and in some very real and dangerous ways we certainly are, the truth is, with the perspective gained by tracing back train tracks thru trams and horse drawn chariots, history tells us that in general, we are improving.

In the way wagon ruts become train tracks is evidence that we have control over what we choose take, or not take from our past to build the future.  That hasn’t changed.

When I lose sight of this and faith in us, what inspires me is to look back.  When we fail to look back on the so many stupid, destructive, inhumane things that we either don’t do anymore, or do less than before, the story of progress gets lost.     

Sure, there are some voices and trends pulling us back towards autocracy and threatening some democratic norms.  That’s true, and they are surely disturbing.  However, viewed from a higher vantage point, the truth is- even if it is slower than we wished-history tells us that we are consistently growing more tolerant, more interconnected, more sensitive, and more just. 

I understand that writing this can feel like a failure to read the moment; or worse an effort to be insensitive.  But if one believes that the very moment we are in, is itself a reaction to the larger trend of compassion, interconnection, awareness of others, and broadening acceptance of more and more types of people hope to keep working can be found.  At least it keeps me moving.

It is an early summer afternoon, and it is about to pour.  You are reading this in August, so you might remember our rainy spring. I am sitting in my car, having arrived at my destination, but I can’t get out.   Getting out feels disrespectful. 

Disrespectful because another American tragedy has just happened.  No, not another Trump executive order.

Another story that when I was a kid, felt like an annual moment of despair, a wow, what a tragedy, has become a weekly sad sigh. 

I am listening to the news report, from a radio station I stream from Chicago where among others shot a 14 year old boy was killed.  Three bullets in an 8^th grader.  I obviously don’t know the kid but really, it is sadly just another unacceptable story that had I and we have come to know that would be followed by another one just like it.  And another one.  A decade or two ago, I might feel like this kind of story might be the last straw.  I’m smarter now.  More cynical.

I bet you have had a similar experience. Or many.

Sometimes like, well…nearly every week now our news has the feel of the first few scenes in a movie designed to present the context of a society slowly unraveling. 

Sitting in my car, seat tipped back,my leg propped up on the dash, comfortable but only physically, I wonder fearfully if we have reached the saturation point where these gun stories don’t elicit in us a demand for change anymore but have devolved to a deeper numbness.  An acceptance that this is cost of being an American.  I know that I feel a little bit that way.   Let’s remember, it is only in our country, among other “developed nations” where this unique version of indifference and insanity lives. 

Only in America can you regularly find so many tragedies filmed by helicopters.  Only in America are there so reliably images of reporters wringing their hands followed by video from a tearful vigil where short clips of poignant speeches calling for peace take place. 

Only in America are these news stories so sort lived because room must be made for the next tragic news item.  It’s frustrating that these stories feel so much like the directions on the back of a shampoo bottle—“lather, rinse, and repeat”

I think it is disconcerting that no matter how many Columbines, Newtown’s, Orlando’s, etc there are these stories don’t seem to lead to the natural conclusion that we as a people, likely a species are not capable of successfully having more and more guns in society and find them not to be used.  When will we learn the so obvious a truth that guns are the problem not the solution.

Hasn’t the experiment of how well we manage guns been run. 

Do people who like guns, not get the consequences of what might be for them, and likely is a fun sport or pastime.

Do the people who advocate for gun right not get that their hobby produces the same side effects, hard core drug trafficking, or drunk driving does. 

Sitting in my car, the rain having started I begin to silently run through a list of practical questions and responses that make me feel like the gun folks are winning.

Have we gone far enough that we should put a security guard at every school and public door? We haven’t gone that far. Have we?

Why do we resist that running a free modern society simply demands that more resources and attention go towards mental health, or higher taxes on the wealthy for it to work well.

Sitting in the car, I wonder if there might be a class action law suit crafted to hold responsible gun producers.  Or, a federal tax on bullets, that is pro-rated for how many innocent people are shot by each kind. 

I am reminded that in general, all our cultural/political problems are problems of limited will, not of creative problems.  

When I was in Grad school I got a chance to study with Jim Wallis, who is the Evangelical but progressive Editor of Sojourners magazine.  Note-Yes, there are evangelical Christians, who are also essentially progressives. 

Wallis, who was close with consistently said to us Divinity School students that it was our sacred task, our job description in fact as people of faith, “to act as the political conscience of society.”  Essentially to be prophets.

I remember Wallis reminding us that in the Bible it reads, “Without a vision, the people perish,” and points out a different translation: “Without prophecy, the people cast off restraint.”  Both deep and catchy phrases.  I agreed and agree with all of it.

For Jim Wallis the two elements of being a prophet were to first cry out against injustice, and second to cast a new vision before the people.  I know that I don’t always, or even usually, live up to that calling, but I do agree that it is true.

It’s not like we as modern Americans are not aware of the injustice of innocents dying.  We do-at least for a while- collectively cry out against the injustice of innocent lives lost pretty well. 

I believe our unwillingness and inability to act is the result of our nation having a vision of itself as living in a world that frankly doesn’t exist anymore.  One in which our country is more frontier than civilization.  And even more fearfully that justice is if not found here, it will be found in the next life. 

Eventually, and not too soon, we will come to the realization that this latest tragedy will not be the last straw, until we care enough that it is less, not more guns that are the answer.

I am optimistic that it is inevitable that we will get there. the only question is, how long will it take us to get there?  And that is dependent on how much those of us who know what is obvious, care.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Steve  

Writing Group Monday August 4^th from 7 to 8:30pm @ church “That Embarrassing Moment.”/ “My First ___?”: This month’s writing subject is a writer’s choice.  Either write a one to two page 2 to 5 minute personal story that fits under the title of “That Embarrassing Moment.” Or “My First ____ something.”

There will be no Theology Discussion Group in August in Northborough.       

Death with Dignity:  As most, of you know, my Dad passed a few months ago.  A life he didn’t want to be in to have to watch himself decline and lose his faculties.  And yet, oddly and cruelly enough he had to.  The law demanded it.  The National group Death with Dignity, working locally in Massachusetts has pushed a bill called the “End of Life Options Act (H2505)” forward past what has been called a key legislative hurdle. The Joint Committee on Public Health voted to advance the bill, and it now moves to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. 

The push, largely from conservative religious voices is always strong.  They have money, and it is as you might understand the sentiment of being “for life” is an easy banner to live under, until you are knee deep in a life you don’t want to be in anymore, and don’t have the option of ending it without religious sanction.  Nearly every UU, and our broader denomination in many statements have promoted the right to peacefully and with dignity end your life.  In that spirit, it would be great if members of The Joint Committee on Public Health could hear from those UU’s who believe this is moral issue.  In that spirit…

Please take a moment today to thank those in the Joint Committee on Public Health who voted YES on H2505.  Your heartfelt message encourages lawmakers to stay committed and influence their colleagues as the bill moves through the next stage.

As you have and will hear, there were seemingly impossible challenges, and hurdles that led our religious ancestors to hand us this building, and this legacy. 

There were gaps in time when there were years of no services, money problems, failed ministries, and questions about how to maintain the building.  And there were times of thriving, growth in attendance, and a powerful influence over the town and its future.  Lots of twists and turns happened to get us to here.  However, alongside the easy to note events of when new buildings were built and long successful ministries got started were the endless work, done by the now nameless volunteers.

What I also know, simply because it is  true of every church, is that all throughout First Parish’s Church history there was generation after generation of hearty people.  Volunteers, who like our generations Jeanne Cahill, Gordon Hart, and Celia Brown, in an unbroken line made the church thrive and/or at least always survive. 

I encourage you in this march through the history of notable events remember that there were a continuous line of unnamed, unsung people that kept the church going.  Let’s pause for a sober moment to remember, if not in name, in spirit that for 200 years, parishioners have done whatever was necessary for us to be here today. 

The silent bulk of every church’s history is made up not  by what any minister or President said, not when new pews were installed but what unnamed and unheralded volunteers and church leaders did. 

Please pause in tribute to all those people women and men who got up to ring the bell on cold church mornings, coordinated meals for sick folks, set up tables, and taught Sunday School, and ran zoom sessions. 

It is always the people who interrupt their day to in one generation meet the local blacksmith and in another the  electrician that matter most.  Props to all of them and to the present generation of Donna’s Lise’s, and Dave’s who just do what’s necessary.   There is never enough thanks given to the people who quietly step up do what is necessary,  but here is at least one. 

As we head towards finding ways to celebrate our new and improved steeple, and revel in the fact that we no longer fear standing directly under the bell for being in a very unwelcome way being a part of First Parish’s history, I have had fun and found it helpful to grasp the scope of time we are dealing with to imagine all the varieties of clothing that First Parish members spanning more than the roughly 12 generations of American’s must have been wearing as they served the church in all the ways people do, cause they must.  That’s a lot of wardrobe changes.

Any costume designer commissioned to dress actors for the movie version of our history would be taxed.

First Parish Northborough of course has its own unique journey, but even today as we honor it, it must be said that it is part of something larger.  Our service on August 10^th, 2025 will touch on that.  In that service we will also hear a reading of Allan Finnegan’s poem “If I could Change the World” read at the Worcester No Kings Day June 12^th.

by Rev. Steve Wilson

In our monthly theology discussion group, I always start with a guided meditation. It gives us a
chance to settle into our bodies and breath. Today, not really knowing what I was doing, I stumbled into creating what I think of as a guided cultural meditation for all of us. Something that might just feel during pride month, as a small moral win. This win in this dark time of political loss is of course imaginary. However, during this time of political retreat, I encourage you to settle in, relax, take a deep breath. If you weren’t reading I would invite you to close your eyes and join me on this early summer vacation trip. (Pause)

Today, I would like you to allow yourself to believe that we here in our little UU church with the red doors have been invited to preview the opening of a new amusement ride called “The Golden Age of Marriage.” What some of the park’s publicity has come to call “an info-taining journey thru the history of marriage in the western world.” This controversial ride is about to open at the equally controversial Amusement Park called “The Real Eden.” A 35-acre park that was designed specifically to promote religious tolerance and progressive values in bible belt, red state America.

“The Real Eden” was a project built with grants from the Gates Foundation, the ACLU, the PEW charitable trust…and -as we have heard too, too many times from watching PBS “the support of people like you.” It was conceived as a cultural alternative to the wave of religiously conservative theme parks and monuments that have been constructed across the nation over the last 25 years.

Those who initially proposed the park were motivated by a growing belief that religious liberals needed to provide a more culturally sensitive and modern option to parks like “The Ark,” a recreation of Noah’s Ark in Williamstown Kentucky, and “The Creation Museum.” In Cincinnati, Ohio. The final push that made “The Real Eden” a reality was the announcement of plans to begin building an “American Heartland Park” in rural Oklahoma. Yeah, that’s for real. Upon hearing the news of yet another vacation option dedicated to “Promoting Real American Values.”
The President of the UUA was caught on a live mic at a National Interfaith gathering saying… “What The F&%^%!” A statement that went viral. That’s not real, but conceivable. As part apology, part trauma bonding, part natural demographic, UU’s have been among the first of “This is Eden’s” loyal supporters.
Remember, this is an imaginary tour.

“Eden” -as it has come to be more commonly called- has a similar footprint and look to many large amusement or theme parks. Its’ obviously provocative name was chosen for being potentially both the most intriguing and offensive name to fundamentalists and the parks immediate neighbors in Stone Mountain Georgia. The team that named the park believed that with such a name there would be the near guarantee of some free publicity created by the inevitable protesters who expected a bible-based experience.

Eden was laid out to intentionally mimic Disney World and Disney Land’s differently themed sections. However rather than “Tomorrowland” and Frontier themed areas, Eden has areas with names like “Religious Tolerance Town,” “Science is not a conspiracy Land,” and “Human Rights Ville.”

In addition to 17 different educational amusement rides, Eden will soon offer opportunities to sit in on live lectures from well-known advocates for progressive causes. Plans are underway for upcoming weeklong residences from the famed Cosmologist Neil DeGrass Tyson, Religious Historian Karen Armstrong, Pakistani Teen activist Malala Yousafzai, and The Dahli Lama. Throughout Eden’s sprawling acres of attractions, food courts, and outdoor stages, actors roam about portraying respected historic champions of human rights. The brochure and website respectively contain lovely photographs and short Tic-Tok style video of actors who portraying Gandhi, Pema Chodron, Amy Goodman, and Jesus are seen engaging with guests.

At this completely LEED ecologically certified park, food courts are committed to selling exclusively organic and healthy refreshments. Moreover, consistent with the values promoted within all members of the growing staff receive a living wage and respectable benefits. Because at Eden the phrase “values come first,” helps set all policies all the souvenirs sold are required to meet strict “Fair Trade” guidelines and the Park administration ensures that all the plastics used come from recycled materials. As a comic touch even all the furry mascots representing endangered animals wear a badge that says, “I was raised in a free range/cage-free manner.”

That always creates a chuckle. Guests and traveling school groups are invited to participate in an ongoing experiment to soon completely power the park via solar, wind and other sustainable energy sources.
To help guide people around, the sprawling amusement space “This is Eden” is laid out in an intuitive and color-coded manner. Rainbow colored street signs direct people quite intuitively to the LGBTQ-AI themed “gayborhood,” and dirt paths bordered by wildflowers lead visitors to the ecological themed area titled “No Planet-B”.

Pertinent to us today is that constructed in the area where “Human Rights Ville,” “Religious Tolerance Town, and “the gayborhood” all meet is the soon to open attraction titled “The Golden
Age of Marriage.” Please consider this a preview for a sermon that will mimic this imaginary
educational ride.

NOTE- This month, on Sunday, June 8, we will participate in my imaginary sermonic tour of
Marriage through the Western world.

Vibrant Traditional Music with Two of Prince Edward’s Island Finest Entertainers. Don’t miss on this hand clapping, foot stomping fun!

May 21 at 7:00 pm in the Meetinghouse. Tickets available at the door.

Organized by the Northborough Cultural Council, Open Studios day helps shine a spotlight on art and its many forms in our small town, and the Meetinghouse Arts Center will be a part of it.

To mark the occasion, we’ll celebrate our the new Ted Lilley arts show opening with a reception: come and meet the artist, soak in the colors and textures exhibited in our gallery, enjoy light refreshments. Saturday, May 17 @ 11:00 am EDT

Find out more about our featured artist at https://tedlilleystudio.com.

Find out more about Northborough Open Studios at https://northboroughculture.org/northborough-open-studios-2025/

Find out more about Meetinghouse Arts Center Events at https://meetinghouseartscenter.org/events/

I was recently asked to officiate at a ceremony of a couples who want to renew their vows.
I was also recently in a conversation with someone who reported that they were in a room with a
mix of both recent American citizens originally from other countries, and birthright US Citizens.
The short point being that how and why’s of American civics, how the branches of government
work; and the understanding of the basic principles of was better understood by the foreign born
than the Native-born citizens.
It got me thinking…
What if like jury duty, registering for the draft, and filing taxes, periodically native born
American citizens were required to take a refresher course in American Civics, or participate in a
renewal of vows.
What might those look like. What might we as Americans be asked to reflect on? What would
or should a renewal of vows a native-born American citizen might be asked to attest to look like
Here are a few to chew on…
I vow to hold true that a balance of power between our legislative, executive, and judicial
branches of government has been a greater source of stability than inefficiency for our
government.
I vow to hold true that any government or politician that seeks to control the freedom of
the press should be themselves held suspect of wanting more control than our government has
historically been willing to grant leaders.
I vow to be cautious of any leader, party, or agenda who seeks to constrain, disarm, or
dismantle the regulatory arm of government, as motivated by an exaggerated desire for their own
economic freedom or political control.
I as an American Citizen commit to being wary and resist those who wish to violate the
delicate balance of power that has existed for 250 years.
I vow to be wary of politicians whose temperaments and behavior suggest that they are
driven by an excessive narcissistic and/or anti-social behavior,
I vow to be wary of politicians who make political appointments on the basis of loyalty
over competency.

These are just a few. As we witness the speedy, seemingly reckless challenge to so many long-
standing American norms I invite you, to periodically pause and ask yourself, as you already
likely are, what the real motivations might be for any newly proposed change in law.

The First Parish Memorial Day Fair is returning this year with all your favorite activities: plant sale, book sale, yard sale and strawberry shortcake! Mark you calendars for Monday, May 26, 10am-2pm.