I was busy wiping computers for the end of the semester much of the day, so the first I heard of Jerry Falwell's death was when I logged onto JoeUser. And I must say I am disappointed.

There's a lot of celebrating going on of the wrong kind. A lot of people making judgements on Jerry Falwell's life that did not know the man in any way, shape or form. While I don't know the man either, I have known many like him, and almost every Falwell "type" I have known has been a kind individual if you truly got to know them. For many, Jerry Falwell and people like Fred Phelps are interchangeable, when from all accounts I have heard (and I have heard plenty), nothing could be further from the truth.

The amazing part of it all, the truly astounding and unbelievable part is that so much celebration comes from the "tolerant" left. The same people who demand we be "tolerant" of gay lifestyles, and a whole host of other lifestyles that many Christians do not consider Godly, is entirely INtolerant of people like Falwell, people who spoke their mind even when it was unpopular to do so.

I am not saying I agreed with Falwell all, or even MOST of the time. I am saying that if you demand tolerance, perhaps you should start by offering some. By living the example you hope to see others live, and by realizing that even when they are disagreeable, people like Jerry Falwell have as much right to their opinions as anyone else.

Jerry Falwell was a man who lived what he believed. And I can't fault that, even when I felt he was wrong. He was a man who truly tried to make his world, his country what he perceived to be a better place. Was he right? Was he wrong? I don't know if we'll ever know in this time. But I DO know this: if more people in this country put forth the effort that people like Mr. Falwell did to make their country a better place, we would certainly be much better off.