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Michael
Goforth: SafeSpace where peace is found
Holding
hands and working together
 By
Michael Goforth
Fort
Piece Tribune
October 2, 2005
"Let
peace begin with me,
let this be the moment now.
With every step I take,
let this be my solemn vow,
to
take each moment and live each moment
in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me.”
[Jill
Jackson and Sy Miller]
I
lost it. I struggled to get through the song, but I kept
choking up, my body shaking from sobs.
This
was during a funeral. I had no idea that the song would
be in the Methodist hymnal, but there it was. And I lost
it. Some songs just have that effect. They touch something
deep in the soul. Songs like Amazing Grace (which
was also sung during the funeral), and You'll Never
Walk Alone, and Climb Every Mountain and The
Impossible Dream.
The
men in my family are known as criers. We cry at funerals
and weddings and birthdays and Christmas and when our
sports teams lose. It's an embarrassing family trait,
but what can I do? It's in my DNA.
Back
in Fort Pierce following the funeral and listening to
my car radio on a Sunday afternoon, I heard another one
of those songs, another one of those anthems that especially
move me. I turned up the radio volume.
"Hold
my hand,
set me free,
from all the pain and sadness.
Stand by me.
We
will be free.
Our glory will be,
if only you
will stand by me.
It's
all so simple.
Human touch.
It can move mountains.
It will mean so much.”
[Michele
Anastasio]
I
listened for a minute or so before I realized why I knew
the song. It was written and sung by my friend Michele
Anastasio of Port St. Lucie. It was the first time I had
heard it played on the radio. The song, which Michele
has recorded in 15 languages, has been performed at the
Pentagon and will be placed in the President Bush presidential
library.
The
next week, I e-mailed Michele and told her how listening
to the song had renewed some sense of hope in me. She
e-mailed me back to thank me and told me that she had
received my message on the day her stepfather had died.
Pain
and remembrance. Death and life. Fear and hope. They intermingle
in our thoughts and music. And, we hope for peace. It
is not just the peace that is the opposite of war. It
is peace from violence. It is the peace from hunger. It
is the peace from discrimination. It is the peace from
neglect. It is the peace from abuse.
There
are far too many on the Treasure Coast who are not at
peace, whose lives and hearts are in nearly constant turmoil.
Many of them are the women and the children who are victims
of domestic violence.
This
is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time to remember
the continuing problem and to rededicate toward ending
it. Each year in the United States more than 4 million
women are physically abused. Many more are victims of
verbal abuse and neglect. Fifty-three percent of children
living in violent homes are abused.
The
problem continues on the Treasure Coast. There is, however,
SafeSpace, a non-profit United Way agency that provides
counseling, education and outreach programs for abusers
and counseling, education and outreach programs as well
as shelter for abused women and their children. The agency
serves clients in St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River counties.
Next Sunday, the Life Care Center of Port St. Lucie and
the Port St. Lucie Film Commission will present the second
annual Love Into benefit SafeSpace at the Life
Care Center at Harbor Place, 3720 S.E. Jennings Road in
Port St. Lucie.
The
doors open with a silent auction at 2:30 p.m., followed
by a concert at 3 p.m. featuring Michele Anastasio and
Herb Oscar Anderson, the Morning Mayor of New Yorkand
a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Tickets
can be obtained from SafeSpace at 595-0042 or the film
commission office at 871-5219.
The
benefit serves an invaluable asset in improving the quality
of life for many on the Treasure Coast.
“Let
there be peace on earth. And let it begin with me.”
Michael
Goforth is editorial page editor of the Tribune and
can be reached at
409-1332 or by e-mail at tribedit@fptribune.com.
Michael Goforth: Celebrating
our ‘beautiful people’
By
Michael Goforth
Fort
Piece Tribune
December 4, 2005
We are blessed to live in a place
filled with talented, generous and caring people who daily
put their hearts and souls into making this a better community
in which to live.
It is that time of year again when
I recognize a few of these very special people who enrich
us in so many ways. Today, I present my ninth annual listing
of the “beautiful people” of St. Lucie County.
My totally biased and incomplete
list begins with the “beautiful people”in the
area of arts and entertainment who inspire us, inform
us, bring us laughter and tears, and allow us to see the
world in new and exciting ways. This year my list includes
Michele Anastasio, Jernie Talles, Stephanie Neubert,
Ray Noel and Chrystine Polzin, David Moberg, Bob Russell,
Jon Ward, Kathleen Fredrick, R.L. Freeman Davenport, Ron
“Doc” Grober, Anne Abood, Michael Horowitz,
David Jenkins, Carlos Barrena, Patty McGee, Darryl Bey,
James Gibson, Anita Prentice, Pat Cochran, Ginny Piech
Street, Bob “Laff” and Leslie Lafferandre, Alison
Sidlo, Linda Relis, and John Luchka.
The community is extremely fortunate
to have so many “beautiful people” in education.
My list represents a broad range of talents in a variety
of educational pursuits. My list of “beautiful people”
in education includes Audrey M. Studholme, Katherine McClure,
Robin Dannahower, Kerri Walukiewicz, Jon Bell, Jim Holmes,
Jill Roberts, Michael Lannon, Charles M. Cuomo, Gertrude
Walker, Carol Clover Dawkins, Kathryn Hensley, Samuel
Patterson, Keith Andersen, Camille Yates, Dorothy Brennan,
Shirley Pomponi, Gloria Moore, Ada Coats Williams, Carol
Hilson, Anne Satterlee, Gerri McPherson, Marsha Thompson,
Michelle Abaldo, Suzanne James, Linette Trabulsy, Susan
Kilmer, and Wendy Dwyer.
There are visionaries within the
community who lead us into the best of our potential.
My “beautiful people” in the area of community
activism include Ken Pruitt, Ed Massey, Doug Coward, Chris
Craft, Dick Hellstrom, Bud Adams, Doug Anderson, Doris
Tillman, Pat Alley, Robert Brown, Jerome Gayman, Larry
Clancy, Joe Smith, Betty Lou Wells, Hylan Bryan, Laura
Alexander, Jo Pye, Pam and Mike Cully, Ellie Hightower,
Joanne Davis, Maria Creel, and Britt Reynolds.
The community could not reach its
full potential without those who represent the best of
us in their generosity. My choices this year for the “beautiful
people” in the area of community service are Judi
Miller, “Corky” Behncke, Steve Patterson, Delores
Hayes, Vern Melvin, Ginger King, Theresa Gabarino-May,
Don Daniels, Kathryn Basile and Sydney Liebman.
This will be the third year that I've named individuals
to my “beautiful people” Hall of Fame for a
lifetime of service to the community. Previous inductees
include Judi Miller, Bud Adams, Anne Wilder, Dorothy Brennan,
Pat Alley, Strelsa Schrieber, Anne Abood, Ada Coats Williams,
and Betty Lou Wells.
Last year I named Carl Junker as
the first posthumous inductee into the Hall of Fame. This
year I name two other posthumous inductees — Zora
Neale Hurston and A.E. “Bean” Backus. Joining
them this year in my Hall of Fame are Gertrude Walker,
Gloria Moore, Ed Massey. and Kathryn Hensley.
My lists of “beautiful people”
would be incomplete if I did not also thank those “beautiful
people” who have uniquely touched by life during
the past year. They include Kat, Pat, Kathy, Stephanie,
Christine, Gail, Tabitha, Gloria, MacKenzie, Tori, Andrea,
and Sorella. I thank them deeply for their goodness and
their abiding friendships.
My lists, as I said, are very incomplete.
There are many, many more “beautiful people”
in this community. It is my hope that those who know such
people will let them know that they, too, are appreciated.
Take time today to thank the “beautiful” people
in your own lives.
Michael
Goforth is editorial page editor of the Tribune and
can be reached at
409-1332 or by e-mail at tribedit@fptribune.com.
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Michele
performed at the SafeSpace Benefit at the Life Care Rehabilitation
Center in Port St. Lucie on Oct. 9 at 3 p.m.