Many of you who read my blog, or whom I've had the privilege of working with around town or within the wider Quaker community, have been very supportive of me recently as I slog my way through the mire and mud of local politics. ( See previous posts or Story in Standard Times) Words here cannot adequately express how grateful I remain to all of you! In the last 8 days I have received 98 emails, all positive (the ones that came to me anyway!) and this doesn't include the blog posting on the local rag's online forum at the Standard Times. There's been a few times when I was about to respond to this or that posted item and before I could find the time and clear my head to compose something, I'd receive an email from one of you who had already fired off a letter and sent me a copy! Check, done, amazing!
I've received copies of letters that friends, Quakers, colleagues, rowing buddies, family members, religious leaders and even clients [have]sent in every direction that seemed effective. One friend, Julie, carried on a "stimulating" and pointed email exchange (okay, it was war...but very polite!) with one town official (and as an elected official should have acted more responsibly) from across the Atlantic Ocean in England! All I had to do is stand back and "watch!" (Such a gift!) I received cell calls from Florida and California and an email from someone I know in Canada. Lord knows how my Canadian friend head about all this, but he did. And then there was the Face Book force, where close to 300 people from all over (but mostly students at Dartmouth High) had joined the group "Save our Youth Advocate, which produced more letters and supportive notes to me as well. Last Monday night I sat home and watched the weekly Dartmouth Select Board Meeting on local cable TV as some thirty silent vigil supporters of me walked in wearing hand prints that said, "stop the witch hunt," "stop the smear," "we support Kevin." After 20 minutes they got up and silently walked out. Talk about the power of sheer presence! Gandhi would have been proud.
For sure, I cannot say that I'm very happy about having to retain an attorney, (though I'm being well taken care of by him too!), nor has it been easy seeing how hard all this has been on my immediate family members. That's probably the hardest thing to cope with, actually. Short of becoming a monk or crawling under a rock somewhere, there's really no way for me to shield them from all this. And they've been troopers too, for sure. It's just that I think it's actually easier in some weird way to be in the middle of the battle than standing along the sidelines looking in. Even still, daughter Rebecca, summoned her writing skills and anger at this situation and took on a few psycho nuts who posted crap about me on the paper's forums. (Spending all that money on Emerson College did pay off.... who knew?) And Jen, with her hands full with three children under the age of four, was equally involved from the get-go. And Amy, trying, somehow, to have a "normal" vacation with her boys and Jay visiting his family in Florida, was busily emailing and making calls back home to support me/us as well.
One of my Commissioners said, "the whole damn town is defending you, Kevin. You don't have to be doing anything...!" As lousy as this whole thing feels, the support has felt equally as powerful.... so I'm doing alright, really. And there were a few telling and light-hearted moments too by young and not so young:
"LS" says after spending days checking out the online forums, "Man, some of these people need to see a therapist!"
"You know that statue of the naked dude outside the library?" ("The Immigrant," A gift from Povoacaoi, a sister-town in St. Michael, that depicts a man arriving with only a tattered-wind swept shirt for clothing, and nothing more! See pics in this article) "Well, says Nick, in Teen Group, if they're gonna make a stink about a naked baby photo, I think that statue should come down, too."
Another teen, just before leaving Teen Group last Monday, looks at me as she heads out the door, turns and says, "...love you Kevin, and, (with a wink), have a nice time with all those provocative photos!"
Thank you, friends, family, everyone!
Kevin
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