I returned
to South Florida in January after being gone for about five-and-a-half
years. Yesterday, one of my best friends
asked me (yet again) why I moved back to such an effed-up state. Ah, Florida…where the current governor is a
climate-change denier, the prison system is rife with corruption and scandal and
parts of Miami Beach are flooding regularly with high tide. Just this week, a little boy who is the same
age as my oldest nephew was killed by a family member. Both of his parents have criminal records and
DCF was called multiple times with abuse reports, but of course now it is too
late.
When she
asked me why I returned to Florida, it did make me pause for a moment. When I am being objective, I understand
completely that this is indeed an effed-up state. But the truth is that Florida is the only
place that feels like home. For me, Florida
seems to be that ex-girlfriend that I just cannot get over. We have “broken up” twice before in 1996 and
in 2009, so this is the storied third time around. If I am being truly honest I have to admit
that all of the craziness and all of the paradoxes in Florida somehow fit
me. I fit here.
Another
truth is that I feel an urgency of mission.
Before too many years have passed, almost certainly in my lifetime, this
spot where I am sitting will be under water.
Climate change and melting glaciers have precipitated tremendous change
already. This week is the 100th
anniversary of the founding of Miami Beach.
In yesterday’s Miami Herald,
along with celebratory articles about the week-long activities that will be
taking place, there was an article that asked if Miami Beach will become a
second Venice (Italy, not Florida). For
Miami Beach is an illusion, a man-made beach filled with sand that was dredged
out of the sea and the sea is ever fighting to reclaim its rightful place. Miami Beach was manufactured in the truest
sense of the word -- made by man. But I
digress…
Why am I
here? I am in South Florida because I
understand that South Florida is living on borrowed time and I want to be able
to enjoy the time that is left. I am
here on a mission to become involved in and to serve my communities – the HIV/AIDS
community, the LGBTQ community, the South Florida community, the Florida
community. These are my people and I
came back to serve them. I can’t change
Florida, but I can give back to my community.
This community that helped to make me the adult that I am today.
For despite
my cringing whenever another crazy story about Florida attracts national
attention or at other times when Florida makes headlines for all the wrong
reasons, this is my community. This is
where I belong. This is where I have a
voice and can be heard. I can make a
difference. I can use my talents and
skill to help my local HIV/AIDS community as a proxy for the entire HIV/AIDS
community and I can help my local Pride Center as a proxy for the entire LGBTQ
community and so contribute to my city, Broward County, the South Florida region
and the state of Florida. I am
needed. My spirit matters, my energy
matters, my heart matters, my mind matters, my love matters, my light matters…I
matter. And so as March 2015 is speeding
to a close, that is The View From Here. 