FISA

I find it more and more difficult to watch the news. Congress approved the FISA bill? Really? What the hell ever happened to "Give me liberty or give me death?" Of course, Patrick Henry said that a long time ago. He might have felt differently if he'd had a Wii.

Seriously. Freedom is not free -- to coin a not-too-original phrase. While I was horrified by the events of 9/11 and am thankful every day that I nor no one I know was a victim of that event; while I empathize and wish I could ease the suffering of those who survived; and while I applaud and revere those Americans who stood up and were counted on that and following days; I have to wonder why previous generations sacrificed anything if we are so willing to give it away because we're afraid of another 9/11.

Do we really believe that they do, truly, hate us for our freedom and so the best way to make them like us again is to give that freedom away? And our we seriously looking at a senator who voted for this bill as the next president of the United States?

But just as I cannot figure out why there are still SUV's on the road with one person in them, I cannot understand why there are not marches on Washington, why there are not aggressive recall actions, why we simply take it.

Well, actually I do know. Because it's easy. As I reach the middle of my life I notice that my peers have taken on a certain tension. People at the same point of their lives as I am are comfortable. They've achieved their own versions of the American dream, or they've accepted that they will never become the lead singer of Journey and are content with their nine-to-five routine. Just don't' disrupt their LIVES! And then they meet me, and my life has been anything but conventional.

While they start sentences with, "When we went to Tuscany on our honeymoon..." or "Our nanny runs a tight ship during the week, so..." they look at me as if I'd just landed from Mars when I start my sentences with "When I performed at the Lyric..." They buy tickets to the Lyric because that proves they've arrived. I've stood on the stage.

Now, standing on that stage has been at a price. I'm single. I have no children. I don't have a common experience, nor professional experience that I have been able to parlay into financial security. But I've sampled different lives. I've had unique experiences. I've been free. Or at least as free as anyone in this country and economic system can possibly be.

So, while I wouldn't like it, while I'm sure that in the moment I'd have second thoughts, while I do not in any way have a death wish, if I found myself trapped in an airplane that was being driven into a building by a maniac who hated me for my freedom; if that's the price I had to pay for that freedom, I'd say bring it on.

If your senator voted for this bill, write a letter. Tell him or her that the vote was a mistake. Do it now before you are no longer legally permitted to write.