Well, it is time to venture a bit further down my path of personages who have indelibly influenced who I am today. This time, I want to expatiate upon those individuals whose life circumstances have positioned them to positively impact many lives on a grand scale. Most of us in the helping professions, work diligently to help one life at a time. Sometimes, the circle widens to embrace a group or community; but rarely are we able to have a broad sphere of influence. But that’s okay. It is always the soldier in the trenches who wins the war.

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” (The profound statement of WWII martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.) It looks like California is about to flunk this test. Instead of working to preserve the broken down bus to deliver our kids to a better future, Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislative leaders, including San Luis Obispo’s Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, want to throw the kids under the bus and then blow it up for good measure.