Last night, I had the privelage of seeing Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, speak at Bowdoin College. Many if not most of you know the story of the Matthew Shepard murder. He was a young man brutally beaten and left to die because of his sexuality. The crime took place in Laramie, WY.
At one point in the evening, Mrs. Shepard said that when she began to do speaking engagements, her husband had asked her if she thought she would ever not be preaching to the choir.
She said to us that yes, she was preaching to the choir, but, in her words, "We're the choir, and we're here to rehearse." Her point is one worth taking. This website is the gathering last night was very liberal, but we cannot simply stop discussing issues because we agree. She told her audience that by giving these speeches, even to audiences like us, she, and the viewers, are able to remember what we are fighting for, why the world needs justice, and why we must keep fighting.
So to any bloggers who occasionally suffer "preaching to the choir panic" remember. We are the choir, and we're here to rehearse. If I took one thing from her lecture it was that one should never, no matter the audience or company, take an issue for granted, lest we should forget what our battles are really about.