"Remember, bee yourself!"
-Genie, Aladdin
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
My Letter to North Carolina
Dear North Carolina,
"Carolina, Carolina, Heaven's blessings attend her..."
How can anyone be expected to sing any further than that?
It appears that our "Good Old North State" has somehow jumped on the southern bandwagon, which is by far my favorite part of the argument. Oh, good thing we double-banned gay marriage like all the other southern states. Maybe now they'll give us some respect.
Or rather, as one clever tweet brings to light, "Good job on that amendment, North Carolina. That was very South Carolina of you."
For those non-North-Carolinians looking at this with a raised eyebrow and a look of distaste (congrats, first of all), take a moment to be thankful for living in a state that knows what it wants.
My first reaction, before Amendment One was passed, went something like this:
"Upon reading this proposal for the first time, I was immediately forced to re-read it out of disbelief.
How can we deny anyone their right to love whomever they deem worthy?
It must be our bully instinct. We are the stubborn child equipped with the magnifying glass, channeling rays from His righteous sun to scorch those unholy ants, those vermin which dare crawl upon our sidewalk. We see them as targets, as sinners. They scavenge and run through our glorious green grass.They are so small, so unlike us, they must be evil.
Where is our mother, the voice of reason? She'd tell us that the ants cannot control what they must do to survive. They are in their natural environment.They do not choose to be ants any more than we choose to be humans. We are who we are, and we have no power to change nor should we be forced to. The fact that every life form on Earth is different provides interest, excitement, and culture. Perhaps we should not see the ants as what they appear to be, but for what they were meant to be : beautiful, unique forms of life.
But clever child that we are, we'd argue,
'Mother, I am a good child. I am only doing God's work. Although God loves the ants, he hates their sins. They should not be scavenging and wrecking our perfect world of liberty and justice for all.'"
But upon further review, I've decided hope for equality was lost long ago when the original law against gay marriage was put in place. Amendment One was but the cement and the opportunity to gloat.
However, besides being morally ridiculous, Amendment One is essentially cementing a repeat of the discriminatory actions of the Civil Rights Movement and a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution calling for the separation of church and state. Anti-gay arguments revolve around the Bible. And Homophobia. But I was hoping homophobia was restricted to teenage boys and inbred rednecks.
I guess I am an optimist.
While we're being friendly, I think I'll share the funniest metaphor I was given on the subject. Someone asked me, "How do you build a fence with two fence posts? Or two fence post holes? SPOILER ALERT YOU CAN'T! You can only build a fence with a series of fence posts in fence post holes!"
Kudos to one of my homophobic friends (who fits both of the earlier categories).
I sure hope humans have more emotional depth than fence posts. Although apparently that's not the case.
Furthermore, I'd prefer to build a chain link fence where everyone holds hands with his or her neighbor to build a stronger, taller, more effective barrier.
But there goes my optimism again.Of course that will never happen, since many of our links are having to move out of state now.
In conclusion, North Carolina, it is apparent some tolerance therapy is in order. But until then, may Heaven's blessings attend you.You surely need them.
"Carolina, Carolina, Heaven's blessings attend her..."
How can anyone be expected to sing any further than that?
It appears that our "Good Old North State" has somehow jumped on the southern bandwagon, which is by far my favorite part of the argument. Oh, good thing we double-banned gay marriage like all the other southern states. Maybe now they'll give us some respect.
Or rather, as one clever tweet brings to light, "Good job on that amendment, North Carolina. That was very South Carolina of you."
For those non-North-Carolinians looking at this with a raised eyebrow and a look of distaste (congrats, first of all), take a moment to be thankful for living in a state that knows what it wants.
My first reaction, before Amendment One was passed, went something like this:
"Upon reading this proposal for the first time, I was immediately forced to re-read it out of disbelief.
How can we deny anyone their right to love whomever they deem worthy?
It must be our bully instinct. We are the stubborn child equipped with the magnifying glass, channeling rays from His righteous sun to scorch those unholy ants, those vermin which dare crawl upon our sidewalk. We see them as targets, as sinners. They scavenge and run through our glorious green grass.They are so small, so unlike us, they must be evil.
Where is our mother, the voice of reason? She'd tell us that the ants cannot control what they must do to survive. They are in their natural environment.They do not choose to be ants any more than we choose to be humans. We are who we are, and we have no power to change nor should we be forced to. The fact that every life form on Earth is different provides interest, excitement, and culture. Perhaps we should not see the ants as what they appear to be, but for what they were meant to be : beautiful, unique forms of life.
But clever child that we are, we'd argue,
'Mother, I am a good child. I am only doing God's work. Although God loves the ants, he hates their sins. They should not be scavenging and wrecking our perfect world of liberty and justice for all.'"
But upon further review, I've decided hope for equality was lost long ago when the original law against gay marriage was put in place. Amendment One was but the cement and the opportunity to gloat.
However, besides being morally ridiculous, Amendment One is essentially cementing a repeat of the discriminatory actions of the Civil Rights Movement and a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution calling for the separation of church and state. Anti-gay arguments revolve around the Bible. And Homophobia. But I was hoping homophobia was restricted to teenage boys and inbred rednecks.
I guess I am an optimist.
While we're being friendly, I think I'll share the funniest metaphor I was given on the subject. Someone asked me, "How do you build a fence with two fence posts? Or two fence post holes? SPOILER ALERT YOU CAN'T! You can only build a fence with a series of fence posts in fence post holes!"
Kudos to one of my homophobic friends (who fits both of the earlier categories).
I sure hope humans have more emotional depth than fence posts. Although apparently that's not the case.
Furthermore, I'd prefer to build a chain link fence where everyone holds hands with his or her neighbor to build a stronger, taller, more effective barrier.
But there goes my optimism again.Of course that will never happen, since many of our links are having to move out of state now.
In conclusion, North Carolina, it is apparent some tolerance therapy is in order. But until then, may Heaven's blessings attend you.You surely need them.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Comment:
If someone could please direct my attention to the fine
print below "the land of the free and the home of the brave", I'd be
much obliged.
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