Jerry,
I come to the mudcat and usually find my beliefs reviled and derided...
...but I absolutely agree with the premise of your post -- we do what we can........and that's no small act. In fact, I think that THAT's what life's about -- the door held, the selfless helping hand given with no expectatin of praise or payback --it's what people DO.

In fact, I think we get caught up in thinking that the real world is the political scene -- and it's really not (in fact, I think that continuing enlightenment, education and technology have and always will shape the world more than any politics ever will). I guess, at my most hopeful, that's why I can still enjoy the fellowship here among those to whom I am the philosophical enemy...

...our common ground is actually (though rarely viewed as such) more important, more POWERFUL than politics. Music and the Arts make politics seem so.....powerless.

I remember an event that happened a few years ago that really impressed me. When Clinton was on vacation on Martha's Vineyard he invited James Taylor on board his yacht to play some music for him. I suddenly got this big ol' goofy grin on my face. I pictured the reality of the situation. It wasn't a musician good enough to have audience with the president -- it was that it took THAT much clout (a presidency) to get a one-on-one concert from JT! What a lovely thought!

Just ask me, "would you rather master your guitar...or political science?" "would you rather be able to win an arguement with the great liberal minds of the mudcat.....or play a tune for them and watch them smile or shed a tear?"

no contest.