No Home, Bad Rep, Big Heart - Los Angeles Times

No Home, Bad Rep, Big Heart - Los Angeles Times

I read this a couple of weeks ago, and when I did, I wish I had a blog to put it on. Now I do.

One of my favorite parts of this story follows:

There were other rescuers: Carter, the store manager, also ran toward the wreckage. So did Tony Koester, dressed in drag as a nun --a veil, a red-and-white miniskirt, fishnet stockings and platform pumps -- a get-up he wore as a member of a gay fundraising group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

After the week we had in politics -- the anti-gay marriage amendment, the ongoing struggle with immigration legislation, and so forth -- I was reminded of this story again.

To me, it points out that "us" and "them" are fuzzy concepts. That gay man you want to keep from marrying his partner could be your savior. That immigrant you want to throw out of the country could be the one to save the life of your wife or child.

George Bush is meeting today with a group of people to find ways to resolve the quagmire of Iraq. If I could be there and have his attention for two minutes, I'd just say this -- we would have far fewer problems with we stopped talking about Americans, Iraqis, Cubans, Russians, etc., and started referring to ourselves as Earthlings, or simply humans if that's too silly.

It's one planet, and at any given moment, for the most improbable of reasons, one of "them" could be saving your life.