Words from the Heart

January 20: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I was all of eight years old when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was sworn into office as our 35th President.  The one thing I remember most was that Robert Frost , another New Englander, read a poem - the first ever read at an inauguration.  From that day on, Robert Frost was one of my favorite poets.  In an article on the Poets.org site, I learned that Frost, presented the President with a manuscript copy of the poem "Dedication," which he was not able to read at the inauguration due to the glare of the sun. He wrote on it, " 'Amended copy. And now let us mend our ways.' He also gave the President the advice: 'Be more Irish than Harvard. Poetry and power is the formula for another Augustan Age. Don't be afraid of power.' At the foot of the typed thank-you letter Kennedy sent, he wrote, 'It's poetry and power all the way!'...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Fifty years ago, I was a tween enamored with our new president.  At age eleven, events in the world have the potential to shape your outlook on life. The words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your county," informed my dedication to social justice and peace work.  It also informed my philosophy for life in general.   Ask not what your family can do for you, but what you can do for your family, or your church, or your school or your community.  After fifty years following a worn path to equality, peace, and justice, I have come to believe, to know that if we are ever to get to the end of the road, if are ever to enter the Promised Land, then it will be through thinking and doing for others. Our leaders in Congress need to look at JFK's speech, actively listening to the words and applying them to their lives.  The US is being strangled by partisan politics.  Our senators and representa...