Who mourns the death of a random crow that flies overhead at a forgotten moment on a seemingly unimportant day?

I have much more respect for the individual who, when asked something he doesn't know the answer to, replies, "I am not sure'" than the individual who stands by some unproven, and likely unprovable answer. This is especially true when the response is some sort of theological response that has absolutely no real connection to the issue at hand.

If education is truly valued as a necessary element of democracy, then we must defend academic freedom at all costs.

As a thinker, one of my best tools is the ability to freely admit that I do not have the answers to everything. Once I have done that, then I am able to begin looking for the truth without a set of prescribed ideas that would otherwise lead me down a narrow, and often-times illogical path.

It's easy to tell someone whose world is crumbling around them to just pick up the rubble and begin to build something new, but it isn't that easy. When the world is falling before your eyes, you need to dig deep to find the strengh to rebuild. Whether we like it or not, that strength usually begins as anger, and anger is messy. To remake the world we must get ourselves dirty enough to see ourselves as something new when we decide to clean up.

I wonder if certain people are vehemently anti-immigrant because when they look at the faces of those immigrants who come from across the Western Hemisphere, they see remnants of the indigenous populations that the European conquerors destroyed. They see millions of descendants of the original inhabitants of this land. They see people who had their own languages, religions, and customs destroyed. They see the net result of over 500 years of waging a very real war against an enemy who never wanted war. In fact, when the nativist elements of the United States speak against immigration (and have no doubt, they are speaking out against immigrants from the Americas and Africa) they are constantly reminded that the subjugation and slaughter of millions of people has backfired. They see that their forefathers were never granted entry into these continents. They see the transgretions of the past, but instead of working to improve the situation, all they know is fear. But now they are afraid of the consequences of their own actions, so they go kicking and screaming as they slowly come closer to inevitable.