Holiday Wishes to all: 

This is Jorge here just sharing some thoughts as we contemplate the end of 1997 and the season where the entire world raises it's hopes for a better future and for peace. 

This year began with my living with two of my sons and ended with all four living on their own. It was a tough transition for me but the loving family I have on PFLAG-talk and my real biological family brought me through it. 

I work for the Navy in Norfolk and as the Navy transition more and more the changes came faster and faster. The job security is not so reassuring anymore but is a wake up call to stay honed up on skills. We lost a very dear friend of mine to breast cancer and I had the unbelievable gift of being able to hand my friend's hand directly to God. I had never been at the actual moment when a person died but it gave me comfort and strenghthend my belief that we are pure energy that doesn't die. 

I moved back with my old roomate of 7 years and though his health is failing we continue to do things together and are encouraging each other through this thing called life. We sit many nights truly thanking God for the blessings of fabulous parents who taught right from wrong, the value of an education and the sheer joy of being alive. 

Speaking of my parents: My Mom and Dad will be going to Australia for a well deserved vacation for two months. It is scary to think that they will be on the other side of the planet but I know that they will be safe. My father had a scare earlier this year and had to go to the hospital. It was determined not to be anything very serious and he has bounced back like the champ that I know he is. My Mom coped with the emergency with the precison of a drill sargeant. Nice to know just in case : ) 

My siblings continue to advance in their careers and their level of acceptance is unbelieveable. I am truly fortunate that I have these siblings. 

My nieces and nephews are growing so fast that I can't stand it. My oldest niece Nicole will be 18 in May 98. She is a senior in high school and works already. To me she is still the little girl I carried around at the mall. My nephew is almost 16 and is a grown man. He is on the wrestling team and is a looker. The girls just seem to be around him all the time. It's driving time in 2 months for him. Lauren my 13 year old niece is very busy in the volleyball team and in her schoolwork. She went form being a little girl to a cool hip teen with no advance notice. Jennifer the baby is in DC at St Charles Elementary and is very busy with gymnastics. 

That leads me to my kids: 

Christopher almost finished his Optician's Assistant apprenticeship. He has been at his workplace for 5 years now. He is doing great. He has been going to the gym since September and it shows. It makes him look more gorgeous than he already is. 

Christian my other son is dating Christopher. He works for Virginia's gay paper Our Own. He is having a wonderful time there and the quality of the paper has increased dramatically since he got there. He does the financial end of advertising so without him no voice in Virginia. He just recently wrote an article on me regarding HIV and the reports from readers are great. They both will be moving on the 26th of December to a larger apartment with a nice young man and of course the evercrazy Shocker the cat and his hamster sidekick Chugiak. 

Jason my shyest one has become an outgoing professional hairstylist. We started this year with him working 40 hours and going to school 40 hours per week. He now works for the best salon in town and his clientele is from the "A" list of Norfolk. Many very very good looking young men are noticing him too : ). He will be moving to a new home on the 5th of January with our dear friend Mitch, who gave him his first job and is one of my coadvisors to the youth group. 

My newest and most challenging son Wallace has finally settled down to a life as an out gay man. He is very handsome and exotic looking as he is from Brazil. His work is going great and he has an apartment nearby. He has been an angel in keeping me computer literate and has created the youth group's homepage. Did I mention he is single. 

My volunteer work. My time on the HIV Consortium in SE Virginia has been one of learning beyond what I could have gotten in a school. The understanding that I have for HIV and human nature has been invaluable in my personal growth and also in understanding the many different people that I meet. My work with the Aids Drug Assistance Program Advisory Committee for Virginia has helped give back the blessings of these medicines to those that are not as blessed as I have been. Thousands of people have medicine because of the work of the committee. 

Youth Out United: This is the youth group for lgbt and questioning youth. It is a true blessing that God put this group in my path. My children came from there and I have seen some of the older ones go on to be successfull adults. Many have come back and told me that without the group they wouldn't be alive today. If that is not a good enough reason to have these groups I don't know what else is. 

Conclusion/Moral of the Story. Many of us at times feel like that no matter what we do it isn't going to make a difference. That statement has to be the most untrue statement in the universe. Look at TIME's man of the year. A holocaust survivor, who somewhere along his journey a stranger gave him a hand. At the time it may have been an insignificant gesture or plate of food or the like. This man comes to America like most of our families came for a better life. He becomes instrumental in the creation of the very medium that has moved us from provincial territorial beings to ones that have a collective consciousness, i.e. The Internet. How many children are alive because they found PFLAG-talk or a web page for youth, a bit of information for an AIDS treatment or the quick and rapid response of our very own Maggitator. None of this would exist without the chip this man created. Another person that benefited from this insignificant gesture is myself. The person that worked on Protease Inhibitors died on the Lockerbie accident, he backed up his laptop that had the research onto his desktop. Created by the same chipmaker, this information became the backbone for hope for millions and an opportunity for us to see a future for our kids. 

I know I have rambled on forever here but it is important. If you feel like you don't matter, you are WRONG. One day soon, a child will be born or may be already here that will have the cure for cancer or HIV or will be the next Ghandi or something even that we can't even imagine. It is that future potential that is 10 times 10 more valuable than anything material we may own. This treasure exists in the souls of our young. Next time you see a youngster who looks like a hoodlum or a punk, look twice. Two millenia ago a baby that was in a manger didn't amount to much, but look at what future potential he had. Whether you are Christian or not doesn't matter. That baby stood for that ever illusive goal of love and peace and in that spirit I wish it for all of you and anyone you may ever come in contact with. 

Love and Peace Jorge 
Jorge C. Sague jsague@visi.net 
Youth Out United youthout@juno.com 
P. O. Box 721 Norfolk, Virginia 23501