I read of the recent passing of former Sixties activist turned prominent social critic and university professor Todd Gitlin with great sadness.  Though I didn't know Todd personally, I worked with many people who, during that tumultuous era in America, worked with and knew him.  In terms of goals for the country, he and I were of essentially one mind.

    Unfortunately, along the way, one by one, it seems, some of the Sixties's most well known protagonists have left our world, never to return.  So it is that when I consider Gitlin's time on this planet, from his youthful fervor and idealism to his subsequent career as incisive social observer and commentator, I see that he had, like all of us, evolved and changed.  Setting aside his more aggressive revolutionary ambitions, Todd generated an enormous amount of thoughtful insights on the nature of American society as it moved from the Sixties to the present day.  Yet he never lost sight of his original vision:  to create a more just America.

    Cast against the movements of transcendence and eternity, this vision may seem trivial and small.  But it's not.  How can things such as freedom, equity, and justice, rightly framed and understood, be anything but prime in the lens of ultimate destiny?

    Thanks, Todd.