The Great Decision

The Urn

Muffy

I will never again see that happy little gray face. She can no longer follow me around hoping that I will drop some food for her on the floor even though she never went hungry. You were my gray faced little buddy, my last link to Mom, to our "nuclear" family. We got you from the Humane Society in St. Louis waaay back in May 1998, right before 8th grade completion. Aunt Stretchie was the first extended family member to see you, the first Minnesota Hamm to pet you. Grandma was reluctant to fall for you still soon after Gopher. You were so nervous when we brought you home, so confused by your new surroundings. You clung to me for safety even though you did not know me, I just felt safe to you. I remember how you used to take Mom's wallet out of her purse to chew on, used to steal shoes to chew. We had to buy you blank leather disks, coaster kits, from the boy scout store. I remember you running around our back yard chasing the rabbits you were bred to hunt. I even remember our sadness but your confused jubliation at finally catching some, even though they were cute babies. I remember how you thought everyone wanted to see you, that any stranger was your new best friend and that everyone should pet you regardless. I remember chasing you in the snow at Christmas and watching you frolic in this mysterious cold white stuff which only came once ( if that) per year. I knew deep down you wanted to be a sled dog but your little legs just wouldn't cut it. I remember that you didn't like moving but always took comfort in me and Mom that even if we had a new house with new smells your family had not left you. I will never forget all those trips to the vet and how upset you look that this awesome spontaneous car ride didn't go somewhere fun. I remember chasing you around the neighborhood and marvelled at the day you escaped and how your Avid chip really did bring you home again. I watched you grow old and become less energetic, less inclined to chase rabbits but you still loved to play in the snow pushing it around with your face. The years passed, I went to College and brought home my girlfriends who absolutley loved your sweet face and pudgy body and your little Muffy waddle. Food was the name of the game for you. You could never get enough! When I discovered toys that were also food well...let's just say that made your day! All you ever asked was to love and be loved in return and boy, girl, were you loved! Your move to Florida with me was the best thing in a while that happened to you. You got a new family with a big house to sleep in. You even got a few new buddies in Tara and the cats who also counted on your napping to keep life sane. You loved your new family and all your worries melted away! You became happy pudgy Muffy again! This last year had it's problems for you. Your health declined a bit but we worked at it. I gave you your medicines and you felt better, free to roam the yard following Tara, to pee on the floor and then look at us like nothing had happened. You loved dinner time and we loved that you were so into food, even if you were an obstacle in the kitchen. I'm sorry your last couple days were spent not moving much, trying hard to breathe. I wished to make it better for you but I think we both knew what was happening. I hope you know, in your own doggy way, that I loved you to the end. I hope you were comforted by my presence right thru to the end. I wanted you to be comfortable and to have your family around you and that happened. I am so happy you were my dog Muffy, I hope you were happy I was your human. I will miss you little girl, gray face, Muff, Muffigy, Muffler, Muffster, Muffy Mo, face, furball, sweet, sweet girl. Goodbye my friend.

Muffy Hamm '95/'97- September 23, 2009

Art

Why I am a Democrat

     I am a Democrat and proud of it! I do not belong to the party for its politicians but for its principles. Mostly though I am a Democrat for the people, for Americans everywhere. I believe in the ideals our Founders put forth in 1776, that we are all created equal, that we have certain unalienable rights, to life, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How can we say we live up to these principles when so many of us are poor, lack health insurance and/or access to quality health care? How can we laud America's greatness when our schools are failing and our future, our children, cannot get the education they need to be productive, capable citizens of the 21^st century? How can we be complacent when not all our fellow citizens are treated equally, when wealth can buy your way out from justice, and love (and commitment) is not recognized because of the gender and orientation of the person with whom you share your bed? And what of our home, our land and its resources?

    These are questions that most Democrats, myself included, seek to answer. Why? Because I believe every person has worth, has talents, goals, ambitions, and it is our responsibility to help our neighbors achieve them. It is in our motto: E Pluribus Unum—From many, one. We are a nation, a people with great love and talent, an historical beacon of promise, of freedom, of justice—of hope. We have all strayed to be sure and the concerns of daily life sap much of our time and energy. Ultimately we must all remember that “the buck stops here,” that it is our duty as citizens, as neighbors, as Americans, to take care of each other, to lift someone out of the muck and to ensure that true equality, of opportunity and person hood, is the rule of the land—not greed, corruption, and decay.

    We must ask ourselves what kind of America we wish to leave our children: one of great wealth for the few? Or one where each person determines his/her own future from the fruits of their abilities? Do we seek that “more perfect union” or do we leave “as is” and watch our land of great promise wither and die? These are big questions, daunting questions, but ones we must all ask ourselves. Why am I a Democrat? Because I believe in the promise of America, of her democratic traditions, and in her people—all her people. Because I refuse to accept that some people must be sacrificed, that principled freedom must be abandoned for the sake of special interest and fear, of narrow vision, of “every man for himself.” E Pluribus Unum—what powerful words. I am a Democrat so that these words will, at the very least, be alive in one person and will not be sacrificed to time at the altar of complacency. In closing I will leave you with the following quote from JFK's Inaugural Address.

Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.