Author: Laurie Gauer
I woke up crying Tuesday morning. (Something I've never done.) I was crying for those whose lives won’t be extended or saved if NIH’s cuts to “Indirect costs” of medical research grants is upheld. The day before I had visited my daughter and family. She worked an “indirect cost” job at a university medical research center. She recruited people for studies and submitted the volumes of paperwork NIH requires when there are human subjects. She said that because of the way funding works, the cuts would not only reduce the number of future clinical studies with human subjects, but many current ones would stop immediately. It’s personal for them: her husband’s uncle was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and expected to live 4-5 years. She said that without the cuts, they’ll have hope that the prognosis would keep being extended due to new and more effective treatments. With the cuts that hope will be greatly diminished.
I’ve cried several times in the last few weeks. (That's not normal for me.) I’ve cried not only for those whose lives are the collateral damage of the many unjust new policies, executive orders, and cuts, but also for our country.
But there have been times I’ve embraced hope, because the people and organizations who have the resources and moral authority to do so are taking a stand against injustice by filing lawsuits. Organizations like the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA)! Yesterday the UUA Executive Leadership Team announced that the UUA . . .
has joined a multifaith coalition, representing millions of Americans across dozens of denominations, to challenge the ending of ICE’s sensitive locations policy and oppose any interpretation of law which would allow immigration raids in houses of worship and religious ceremonies. We believe, and the lawsuit asserts, that subjecting places of worship to ICE enforcement actions without a judicial warrant substantially burdens our religious exercise in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” (read more here)
If you are a member of Lake Fellowship, you are a member of the UUA, so you also are taking a stand against injustice. At our program on February 23rd, you’ll learn how we’re partnering with other local UU congregations to actively stand up for justice in our communities and how you can participate. (If you’re concerned that those activities might negatively affect our non-profit status, we have researched this and are confident that we are acting within the guidelines, which you can find on the last page of this document on the UUA website.)
I also cried – and laughed! – during last Sunday’s amazing program, Understanding, Accepting, and Including the Neurodivergent. I cried when I heard the heartbreaking stories and laughed along with our presenter. If you missed it, the first half, a recorded presentation by our guest speaker, is posted on our website at the bottom of this webpage. The second half of the program, a wonderful live conversation with his parents over Zoom, was not recorded to protect the privacy of those who attended.
I will be travelling next week, so there will not be a Message from the Chair. And I’m sad to say that I won’t be at the next two programs, which continue this month’s theme of Living Love through the Practice of Inclusion. I hope you’re able to attend one or both, in-person or on Zoom.
What have you been crying about? What has given you hope?
In Fellowship,
Laurie Gauer