"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
-- Albert Einstein

When I was a kid, my mother owned and operated her own beauty salon, about 35 miles outside of Chicago, mostly for aged women with too much gossip to keep to themselves. Occassionally I would get dropped off at the salon, and have to wait a few hours for her to finish working. I would usually spend this time thumbing through the assorted magazines she had in her salon. Good Housekeeping, Redbook, People, etc. One day I picked up a magazine called AfterDark. An entertainment magazine mostly filled with reviews of broadway shows, nightclub acts, etc. In the back (Classified ads) there was an ad for the (Openly Gay) Marlin Beach Hotel in Fort Lauderdale. This was one of my first exposures to "Gay" anything. I was maybe 12 years old.

This was enough to get the wheels in my head spinning, wanting to know more about these other people like me. Like me except they were Out and talking about it, hell, ADVERTISING it!!!

Occasionally there would be a news item on regarding something gay, and I would cringe in my seat if Mom were watching the TV at the same time. Watching Dynasty with here was hard enough.

By the time I was 13, I was much better versed in what I thought were "All things Gay". I was starting to get the hang of it, or so I thought.

One night while watching the news, November 27,1978 to be exact, the news covered a story about a very vocal, very OUT there, very tender man being killed for just that. At 13, I unknowly listened to the eulogy of a hero. My first Gay hero, Harvey Milk. Oh my God, they KILL Gay people........so much for telling mom I liked boys.

In the almost 30 years since, I have watched alot of other heroes die, or be killed, because they were not understood. Of course you do not have to be gay to be misunderstood, just ask anyone in Israel or Gaza, but I digress.

As we all search for that elusive "Peace", as we all watch those with power try to force a kind of peace upon us (silence), it saddens me to know that we very often forget that the path to peace IS through understanding, not power.

So we "fight" on.

Whether it be Prop 8 in California, Amendment 2 in Florida, or when trying to get healthcare for those most in need, but least in ability, we must always remember, that Understanding, not Power, will get us there.