Today, I gotta get on my soapbox. It's gonna cover a lot! So I need you all to brace yourselves. Some may agree, some may be truly offended, some will be shocked as to how I see a few things...but I'm gonna say it.
I always make it clear that I am no where near a blue or red koolaid drinker. Just because I don't agree with you certainly does not make me a koolaid drinker for "the other side". I don't like the fact that I always have to point that out, because there's a lot of folks who forget when I make a statement they don't agree with. However, I know a koolaid drinker when I see one/talk to one! I could start listing if need be, but that would be wrong.
But...I am going to take the post to talk the most current issue swirling at this very moment:
EQUALITY
Today is when the Supreme Court decides if California's Prop 8 was/is truly legal or not. It all sets on a decision of 9 people...well, probably more like 5 of 9 people...but whatever.
Here's my thinking:
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Why is it even a discussion?
I see love. I see people wanting commitment. I see people looking for their steady partner to be their beneficiary and emergency contact should anything happen to them.
For heterosexual couples, if your parents didn't want you to marry the one you wanted to be with...would you still get to marry them? Of course!
Well, same-sex couples are going thru the same thing right now. But it's not just confines of disapproving family...it's society! And all they want to do is be legally united. And there are LAWS in place to tell them not to! What if there were laws in place to tell you that you couldn't unite with your partner legally? Just think on it...
For any couple to be denied legal unification because of who they chose & felt they should be with is asinine!
OK...now things are gonna get weird here...but I'm going to throw this idea out there...to think on:
Generally & technically, a marriage is a religious union. In general, same-sex couples are not allowed to get married in churches but can, in some states & other countries, get to a justice of the peace to be recognized (but not universally) as a civil union...
Just because many main-line denominations do not uphold the sacred of marriage within a same-sex couple, there are still clergy who do not agree with that & would love to perform a ceremony for the union of such couple. So here's what I'm thinking, and stay with me.
What if any legal union presided over by the justice of the peace is considered a civil union, and any union presided over by clergy is a marriage? I'm talking REGARDLESS of who comprises the couple! You could still be called a wife or a husband...but your union would be classified differently.
That, my friends, is true equality! Well...on the marriage front.
I know there's my red koolaid drinkers who are having heart palpitations right now...and they talk about the plumbing of a human & how it was made for procreation...and you just want to put a stop to it!
First...who are you to cast a stone? I'm certainly not one! You are not the judge! God has final judgement...oh...and God loves ALL of His children...and we are to love whom God loves.
The righty-tightys want small government & really don't like the government behind their own doors...so why are you so concerned about any same-sex couple's living behind their own closed doors? You want the government, that you berate so much for being nosey, to take over their homestead?
Wow! How hypocritical of you! Especially when heterosexual marriages are breaking up at over a 50% rate! What does that say? Maybe it should be harder for anyone to get married...then the divorce rate might not be so high.
For all of those who are so worried "about the children"...the same-sex couples who want children will be, and tend to be, better parents. Many of us heterosexual couples who are fertile...tend to get surprises. Oh wait..."blessings".
(I heard a story where a mom told her 4 adult children as they sat there, "You were planned; you were blessed; you were planned; you were blessed." Yeah...that's what I'm saying...we have 4 blessings.)
There are several fertile folks who don't seem to quite get the notion they need to quit indulging in a particular activity since they seem to be so fertile that they can't keep up with their own offspring.
How many times have you heard about children being taken from parents who cannot take care of them...or because the parents have endangered their children in some situation? Well, there are loving people who can be foster parents, or adoptive parents...who love these kids! Why should anyone who cannot have children, and WANT children, be denied that when there's parents out there taking their own offspring for granted? Just think on it...
And for anyone who wants to throw in the card that every child NEEDS a mom AND dad need to keep in mind the single parent who must be both to their child(ren).
Oh, and by the way...a same-sex couple being together has no impact on a heterosexual one. Whether it's a couple 1000 miles away, across town, the next door neighbor, or within my family...it won't effect the marriage between my hubby & me.
Also...there is this thing that is separation of church & state. I am truly baffled by those who want scripture quoted when it comes to a government issue. However, if the government would want to start taxing your church, there would be a huge uproar touting separation of church & state. Just think on that...
Now that we've covered that & I have you thinking (or twitching) on that...there's more:
This EQUALITY thing needs to transcend just that of the gay rights being fought at the moment.
~ There is still racism, and I'm talking within what is considered "minorities" than within caucasians
~ White males are now in danger of their own jobs & promotions, despite any hard work, due to over-striving of so-called "equality"
~ Hate crimes are more punished than any assault charges
OK...look...I'm gonna get right into it...
As long as we have divisive classifications when applying for a job, a school, a census...then we try so hard to make things "equal" that they actually aren't!
Promotions & hirings of positions should happen based on experience & qualifications, not if your male-to-female ratio is on target, or if you need to hire another black person to even out the latinos you have on staff...or on your campus.
Pictures, race, marital status should generally never be part of an application process! EVER! Each person should be viewed as a person, and that's it!
Imagine how offended & shocked I was when this new Pope Francis took on the papal role, and it came out the US is now trying to redefine OUR view of "latinos" based on this Argentinean's new world role! I was so frustrated that we have to find or redefine our own, small-minded classifications because something new in the world has changed.
So, in the same sense...bullying (who we all should know I FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT) happens to anyone! If Joe beats or belittles Jim, it's bullying/assault. If it Jim is of minority ethnicity and/or gay, the charge for Joe becomes a hate crime. If Jim is just the little nerdy guy who seems to be a weakling...it's assault. If the charge is "assault", it tends to be a slap on the wrist compared to turning it into a hate crime.
Bullying is bullying! Doesn't matter who it's to! And it shouldn't happen! EVER!! Thru words or actions. And the moment ANYONE is beat up because they are looked at as lesser than the attacker, it should all be treated the very same. That's equality!!
Now for my lefty-lous:
Taxes on rich or poor: if a flat tax is placed on all paychecks (ex: 10% Federal, 7% State, 3% Local) then it comes out the same. The rich will still have their money & the poor will still be struggling, but the poor will be giving much less than the rich...yet in equal amounts! EQUAL!!!!
For my fellow Christian friends & family...Jesus loved, associated with, and dined with the sinners. He only condemned the ones living hypocritically - the ones hiding behind their religious law. And the Pharisees were offended by Jesus' nature of doing so. Oh...and He loved ALL! He died for ALL! He did not die for all of us to become judges FOR God! So you can take all of your religious tones out of your condemnation of anyone who seeks to love! We are the ones to live like Jesus! When you are so offended by something that has nothing to do with you...you make the rest of us look really bad to those who make fun of Christians for these very reasons.
Still bullying, to all my non-Christian folk! The ones who still think it's OK for persecution thru words.
Folks...today we await, in the United States, to find out if any kind of equality in & for our own melting pot's citizens will be overlooked or if it will be opened up. And I am prayerfully hoping that the equality goes just beyond wearing red & changing Twitter & Facebook pictures to equal signs.
The '=' should stand for ALL! We are strongly urged to vote...but can't get our citizenship in line - between the money & time for these immigrants to want to be a part of our great nation, but we don't want them "stealing our benefits & jobs". *face palm*
So...just think on all of that. Are you really ready to throw a stone?
Peace, Love & Equality to ALL!!! And it's not a matter of "If", but "When"...nearly all of the young generation right now, despite their claimed political side...sees nothing wrong with the equality being fought for today. So why would we fight it?
Oh yeah...and I drink purple...just as a reminder...
Stay tuned...
God Bless, AM~Erica
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