Mrs. Weiss, Mrs. Clegg, Miss. Pat Werrell, as well as Miss. Elizabeth Seely did their best to make an even distribution of food available. Allen Clegg, a very small boy, who maintained a remarkable composure, did a wonderful job in helping ladies in their difficult task of feeding hungry crowd. He was almost always around with a tray asking “Have you been served?” When I asked him for another very small helping, he sharply retorted “No second helpings, Sir.”

But highest credit goes to Marines in general and to their chief Ernesto (Gutierrez) in particular. I have never seen such a self-sacrificing young man in my life. He was on duty almost 24 hours a day. He never ran into a temper. He always gave us best possible advice and kept us informed of tragedy that was going on outside station. He was so efficient that we soon felt and acted like disciplined soldiers under his command. I would like to call him a shepherd and us his flock.

As to tragedy itself, apart from intensive bombing and shooting that went on around and over us, I was not much scared, because Marines continually advised us on exactly what was going on.

On Sunday night Mr. Weiss gathered us in corridor and told us that he had received instructions to evacuate only Americans and third country nationals. When we asked him what would happen to us, locally hired monitors and others, who had borne brunt of past week as far as monitoring was concerned, he was so moved that he could hardly say, “I wish I could take you all with me. I will try to take you all with me.” But no sooner did he utter these words than he choked up. That very moment alone proved how sincere he was. Our confidence in him was reinforced.

At Mare Monte, where evacuation took place by helicopters, Mr. Weiss was last to board helicopter, because he was struggling over an impossible telephone to obtain approval for us. When we met on board British aircraft carrier off-shore, we all wept for joy. We were all out of danger and Mr. Weiss was proudest man on earth because he had saved lives by defying rules and regulations.

On board British aircraft carrier Hermes and U.S. warship Trenton we were excellently treated. No treatment could be more humane. I am over 60 and should know by now how important praying is. But I will never abandon kind of intense and devoted praying I have learned from Mr. Weiss.

I thank God, I thank Mr. Weiss, and I thank Marines. I thank warships and I thank FBIS as a whole from very depth of my heart.

Can we legislate love? Is there ever a good reason for society to put limits on a loving relationship between two consenting adults? What responsibility do we have as citizens to support caring, long-term relationships? How will our culture be affected by our choice to support or limit partnerships between two individuals who choose to sustain each other throughout their lives?

Just as important as these questions are those related to time, expense and divisive discussion required to alter our nation's official stance on this issue. I fail to understand how anyone can decide to focus such enormous resources on clarifying personal relationships at a national level when there are clearly so many more pressing problems that demand attention.

I'd like to see less focus on legislating loving partnerships, and a lot more on preventing truly heinous acts.

Like, say, axe murder. Or maybe war.

With mouths to feed, children to educate, jobs to create, and communities to support, discussion surrounding gay marriage is pointedly political and decidedly distracting. I don't know what Socrates would have said about this issue, but my guess is that he'd enjoy debate. It's likely that he would argue to allow individuals to thoughtfully pursue their personal quest for excellence and enjoy same benefits granted to every other adult member of community.

As our society continues in its welcome development of a more evolved sense of ethics, we can rise to challenge. As individuals, we can dedicate ourselves to continuing this thoughtful debate in our communities, our homes, and within ourselves to foster enlightened decision-making at local (state) levels.

I'm hoping for careful consideration, honesty, full disclosure, and a willingness to accept risks required to expand our thinking. My father had guts to pursue his own sense of excellence in 1964 and, despite years of personal anguish, was successful in opening minds of everyone in my family. I hope our nation's leaders will be as courageous--and more importantly, as compassionate--in their approach.