INTERGENERATIONAL MESSAGE

FOR COMING OUT DAY and COLUMBUS DAY, 1992

Most of us learned when we were very young that "in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue", and discovered America. Soon after that voyage, more Europeans came, in great tall ships, with horses and swords and guns and also with books and hope and courage and curiosity, to explore this land. For some people, the 500th anniversary of this voyage is a cause for celebration and pride. But today I'd like to explain another side of the story. I want to show you something about discovery and exploration that will, I hope, lead you to ask a very important question.

Here I "discover" a backpack, belonging to a child with whom I have made a special arrangement. I delight over my discovery, ignoring the protests of the child and his/her friends. I loudly assert that these are only children, they are not old enough or smart enough to say anything I want to hear.

Children are, after all, wild and uncivilized, and should always do what grown-ups say. Especially what I say because I am so nice, and very smart, and besides, I have the microphone. (My child partner protests in vain.)

And anyway, I'm the one who discovered the bag, and that means now I can explore it. I'm a UU, which means that I believe in the free search for truth. Curiosity is a good thing and I am very curious about what's in this bag that I discovered.

I invite any children who are also curious to come forward where they can see, but they must promise to be good. This enables me to read their faces, to be sure that they know I am "acting up;" playing a part. I proceed to go through the bags, announcing that I will keep the money, keep some of the toys; I pronounce the diary, photos, some of the other books and toys to be not valuable, to be discarded. The assisting child pleads piteously and loudly, to be allowed to keep the things that belong to him/her, at least the precious treasures I do not value.

Oh, now, really--Peter/Megan is just making too much noise. Someone should really come and control him/her, since he/she is so wild and uncivilized and doesn't know how to behave. Don't you all agree? Don't you think we should send him/her away, so he/she won't bother us any more? (I expected that by this time, a few people would raise their voices to object; I was not disappointed.) O.K. Peter/Megan, you can stay, but you must sit down right there and be quiet.

Now about this bag I discovered and all the stuff in it. I see that some of you think that it used to be Peter's/ Megan's and that I should give it back. But I disagree with you. Maybe it used to be his/her bag, but that was a long time ago. It's my bag now, and I went to all the trouble of exploring it and everything, and I have some rally great plans for what to do with it. For instance, wouldn't it be a good thing if I find a way to share all of the good things in the bag with the rest of you? Like maybe I could sell all this stuff and buy chocolate for everyone. That's a good question--who thinks I should do that? (Some kids are yelling NO and some YAY and a couple suggest that I should give the whole bag to them.)

Friends, here's the really important question: As we try to decide what to do with this bag that I've discovered and explored, whose voice should we listen to? Does anybody think that maybe, I should ask Peter/Megan what to do with the bag?

It's pretty easy to solve this bag problem, because I only had it for five minute, not five hundred years. Besides, I'm not as mean or arrogant as I was pretending to be, and most of you knew it all along, didn't you? That Peter/Megan would get their bag back safely? (I thank my assistant for helping)

The people who lived here before Columbus came, and all the generations of their children and grandchildren, have had to struggle with people who were much more cruel that I'd ever even pretend to be. And there are many many people in our city and in our country and in our world who suffer because of the way that people have used their power against them. Some of those powerful people have the power of force--they have armies and guns. Some people use money for power, some use their charm and beauty, and some have the privilege to spend a lot of time thinking and planning, without worrying about where their next meal will come from. That's a kind of power, too.

Some people with power use it selfishly and cruelly. Some use it as kindly and as fairly as they can. Some people don’t realize the power they have and because they don’t think they have any, they don’t notice how they use their power—or how they let other people use it. Even if all of us choose to pay attention to our power, and use it in a sharing way, to help others, it will not be easy to make things right in the world for everyone. So if we want to use our power for good, we have to really understand how to help, we have to ask ourselves: WHOSE VOICE SHOULD I BE LISTENING TO?