Namaste and welcome to another posting on my blog. Thank you for joining me today. Yesterday was the 8 year anniversary of this blog: the Quiet Mouse Strikes Back
I don't know how it works for some folks... but I understand everyone has a right to their own opinions. This doesn't make it any easier to tolerate intolerance toward others. For the sake of this blog I want to talk about homosexuals.
One of my best friends in life is a homosexual man, a cousin of my wife's. He is in a committed relationship with another man. We behave civilly. We talk about our thoughts, feelings, world issues, politics, veganism, etc. Sexual preference doesn't change the heart of a person. My friend is a good person. He deserves a life to pursue happiness, free from persecution and ridicule.
I remember growing up in the South, school age in Oklahoma. There was a lot of homophobia that I could never understand. I now live in Washington, a much more progressive state and the prejudice is still present, unfortunately. And I still don't get it. Besides archaic dogmatic religious beliefs that condone prejudice, what ACTUAL evidence is there that someone is ANY different than another person, solely based on their sexual orientation. There isn't. When I served in the Navy, there were many proudly serving lesbians and homosexual men: don't ask, don't tell. I never judged them then because they were willing, just like myself, to sacrifice their own life and freedom to serve something greater than themselves. That's heart. That's honor. That's courage. Can all the homophobic men say the same? Some can. Some can't. But most of the homophobia stems from men.
As humans, we all desire human connection, contact, and love. We want to find the one that will accept, support, and love us, despite our imperfections and insecurities (cause we ALL have 'em). It's universal. One person loving another, unless it harms children or animals, should never be perceived as negative. We should feel happy when someone else finds love and happiness, regardless if it's a man/man, woman/ woman, or man/woman, or even trans relationship. What's important is CONSENT.
We all are born from our mothers. We all breathe air. We all eat, sleep, piss, shit, fuck, play, and dream. We all bleed. We all seek out love and companionship from others. Most of us want the world to be a better place.
The world seems like a crazy place, but can be cured through tolerance and empathy. We have to admit that the old way of doing things and thinking has led the world to ruin, war, and suffering. Hearing ignorant people say "that's gay..." is frustrating. Young men are throwing these words around, spreading intolerance and senseless hate. WHY?!? It's not contagious! Perhaps you are having thoughts about the same gender? Regardless, the hate has to stop. The hate speech has to stop. The ignorance has to stop. So many of our societal issues stem from lack of education among the population. The late George Carlin once said, and I paraphrase, "Republicans don't like abortion and they don't like gays. Who has less abortions than gays? It seems they would be natural allies...".
I joke, but the issue is serious. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be homophobic. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be gender and sexually prejudiced. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND talk in a manner that spreads hate and division ("that's gay"). We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be racist, xenophobic, ethnocentric, and intolerant of other cultures and religious beliefs. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be homophobic.
We're all human and make mistakes. We are a product of our environments. We cannot help the ignorance of our forefathers, BUT we CAN do better and NOT spread ignorance and hatred. Instead we should trade the old ways for respect, integrity, and dignity. Let's go from saying "that's gay" to saying "that's great!" being happy for the happiness of others. You don't have to be gay to support the rights of gays. You don't have to be a woman to support the rights of women. I support the EQUAL rights of all, based upon mutual respect, dignity, and integrity.
If the world is controlled by fear, it can only be healed with love. Namaste.
This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse.
Peace. Love. Respect. Tolerance.
I don't know how it works for some folks... but I understand everyone has a right to their own opinions. This doesn't make it any easier to tolerate intolerance toward others. For the sake of this blog I want to talk about homosexuals.
One of my best friends in life is a homosexual man, a cousin of my wife's. He is in a committed relationship with another man. We behave civilly. We talk about our thoughts, feelings, world issues, politics, veganism, etc. Sexual preference doesn't change the heart of a person. My friend is a good person. He deserves a life to pursue happiness, free from persecution and ridicule.
I remember growing up in the South, school age in Oklahoma. There was a lot of homophobia that I could never understand. I now live in Washington, a much more progressive state and the prejudice is still present, unfortunately. And I still don't get it. Besides archaic dogmatic religious beliefs that condone prejudice, what ACTUAL evidence is there that someone is ANY different than another person, solely based on their sexual orientation. There isn't. When I served in the Navy, there were many proudly serving lesbians and homosexual men: don't ask, don't tell. I never judged them then because they were willing, just like myself, to sacrifice their own life and freedom to serve something greater than themselves. That's heart. That's honor. That's courage. Can all the homophobic men say the same? Some can. Some can't. But most of the homophobia stems from men.
As humans, we all desire human connection, contact, and love. We want to find the one that will accept, support, and love us, despite our imperfections and insecurities (cause we ALL have 'em). It's universal. One person loving another, unless it harms children or animals, should never be perceived as negative. We should feel happy when someone else finds love and happiness, regardless if it's a man/man, woman/ woman, or man/woman, or even trans relationship. What's important is CONSENT.
We all are born from our mothers. We all breathe air. We all eat, sleep, piss, shit, fuck, play, and dream. We all bleed. We all seek out love and companionship from others. Most of us want the world to be a better place.
The world seems like a crazy place, but can be cured through tolerance and empathy. We have to admit that the old way of doing things and thinking has led the world to ruin, war, and suffering. Hearing ignorant people say "that's gay..." is frustrating. Young men are throwing these words around, spreading intolerance and senseless hate. WHY?!? It's not contagious! Perhaps you are having thoughts about the same gender? Regardless, the hate has to stop. The hate speech has to stop. The ignorance has to stop. So many of our societal issues stem from lack of education among the population. The late George Carlin once said, and I paraphrase, "Republicans don't like abortion and they don't like gays. Who has less abortions than gays? It seems they would be natural allies...".
I joke, but the issue is serious. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be homophobic. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be gender and sexually prejudiced. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND talk in a manner that spreads hate and division ("that's gay"). We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be racist, xenophobic, ethnocentric, and intolerant of other cultures and religious beliefs. We cannot claim to be the land of the free AND be homophobic.
We're all human and make mistakes. We are a product of our environments. We cannot help the ignorance of our forefathers, BUT we CAN do better and NOT spread ignorance and hatred. Instead we should trade the old ways for respect, integrity, and dignity. Let's go from saying "that's gay" to saying "that's great!" being happy for the happiness of others. You don't have to be gay to support the rights of gays. You don't have to be a woman to support the rights of women. I support the EQUAL rights of all, based upon mutual respect, dignity, and integrity.
If the world is controlled by fear, it can only be healed with love. Namaste.
This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse.
Peace. Love. Respect. Tolerance.
No comments:
Post a Comment