Wise Words from Bill Ranck...

(Note: Bill Ranck was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida District UUA in 1999.)

Liberalism and UUism are too important to allow the extremists to destroy us.

It took the Greeks to bring Liberalism to fruition out of the small liberal threads that have existed through the ages. Liberalism was killed for over 2 millenniums after the Greeks only to really come back to life again in the American Declaration of Independence.

President Lincoln echoed the importance of liberalism in his Gettysburg Address—“ by and for the people.”

My Merriam-Webster version 5 says, “A Liberal is: generous in a noble way.” I interpret it to mean: “Help not to Hurt.”

It is so easy NOT to be liberal—too many jobs require you not to be. This has even spilled into UUism—I see one person committees; chair persons starting off by saying to committee members over the phone, “I’ve decided this; do you agree?” I’ve found Liberalism does work, while at first it takes a little more time, I’ve found it pays off big whether at church or work.

(Let’s talk together about) what we can do to spread this precious commodity around. And how we can make it stronger before it is overwhelmed again for another eternity.

We, and the people of America, need to get more control of (our) individual lives rather than allow some “belief” dictate how our lives should be. We are in an age of a rapidly growing tidal wave of laws, regulations and fees to buy unequal justice that the most law-abiding citizen can’t keep up with let alone comply with. Discriminate application of law brought in the days of blind-siding justice for only those who can afford it, even when innocent.

What can you and we do?

— BILL RANCK, MELBOURNE, FL