This morning when I arrived at work to open the library, there was a new key on my desk. Apparently, they changed the locks on the computer labs last night. After I finished opening the building--a process that involves not only opening the front door, but includes unlocking the student success center, the office behind the circulation desk, the media room and three computer labs--I sat down to put the new key on my ring and take inventory.

I now have eight keys on the key ring I use for work. EIGHT! We're not talking a huge library, folks--it's a collection of approximately 20,000 items that supports about 200 students. Yet I have the following: a key for the front door of the library; a key for my office that also unlocks the kitchen and a variety of closets; a key for the office behind the circulation desk; a key for the media room; a key for the computer labs; a key for the student success center; a key for the projector in the conference room; and a key for the mail room in the administrative building. I'm supposed to be getting another two keys for the file cabinets that house replacement ink jet cartridges and tablets for the art programs. I jingle like a jailer when I walk. Haven't these people heard of a master key?

Granted, our house has a different key for every lock, so I shouldn't throw stones. But The Beloved and I have discussed having the locks changed so that the doors could all be opened on the same key--my mother did that last year. It was a brilliant move. We may try to do it this summer, depending on how our finances are, or we may do it when sibling moves out. I have visions of putting all of sibling's belongings on the front lawn and having the locks changed. No, I'm not a nice person. This could all work out just fine....

The other day I promised I would write more about the statement from the Presiding Bishop and the response from Bishop Robinson regarding our "season of fasting" in ECUSA. Unfortunately, I don't really have a lot to add. I have nothing erudite to say and nothing important to contribute. You can view a conversation with the Presiding Bishop or read her opening remarks here, and you can access Bishop Robinson's response here.

The entire situation mostly makes me sad. Perhaps I suffer the effects of a very small brain, but I don't understand. I don't understand why a person's sexual preference makes him/her a sinner. I don't understand why it should hold him/her back in a chosen profession--be it doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, Bishop or CEO. And I certainly don't understand the amount of energy and money spent denigrating a segment of the population. After the Civil Rights Movement and the Sexual Revolution, one would think we had learned about making judgments on people based solely on the color of one's skin or based solely on gender. How is this different? As for scripture.... Well, scripture says I should sit quietly with my head covered and be subservient to my husband (The Beloved is not a church-goer, but he really digs this idea and wonders why we didn't have this passage read at our wedding). And, apparently ECUSA has gotten past that part of scripture, since we elected a female Presiding Bishop at our last general convention!

Imagine the good that could be done were we to focus all the energy and money spent on lambasting the Bishop of New Hampshire and the "proper role" of gays and lesbians in the church and put it towards something like the Millennium Development Goals. Or if we were to work on removing the log from our own eye before pointing fingers at our neighbors.