Words, wordy wordy words....

Words are amazing things. We do so much with them. We name things with them, we communicate concepts with them, we use them in art, in school, in play, we use them to tell stories, to make confessions, to accuse people. We use them to lie, to convince, to persuade. We use them to incite religious devotion and we use them to try to try to "enlighten" people as to why what they believe is wrong. We use them to unite and divide, to love and to hate, for good and for bad. Words are magic. When we use them, we are weaving a reality that will take on a life of it's own. For some words, their lifespan will be short. They will have a neutral effect upon their environment. The life of some words reach thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions or billions of people. Some words turn into actions. This works equally for the good and the bad. Some words incite genocide, some result in lives saved. It is up to us to use our words wisely and to use them as tools to connect, not weapons to destroy others.

I am also surprised at the people who say one thing, but they don't really mean what they say. Like all the people who say America is a free country when what they really mean is that everybody who believes like they do should be free to do things they approve of. Like gay marriage. How many people against gay marriage are married themselves? They want to have the freedom to marry, and to marry who they want, but only people who make the same choice as they do (to marry someone of the opposite sex) should be free to do that. It's a little disingenuous I think to say one believes in freedom when what really means is "freedom for me and those like me". That's not freedom, that's one faction of a society being forced to live by the religious beliefs chosen by another. How is that right or fair? For someone to truly believe in freedom I think they should support their neighbors right to live as they choose as long as there are no non consenting others who are harmed. When harm is done to others is where freedom ends. But sadly, many think that it's not enough to live by their beliefs and to let their lives be their witness. For many, they feel they have the right to dictate what others can and cannot do.

I think of Conservative Christian America that is trying to keep gay marriage illegal just as I think of those who fought tooth and nail trying to keep civil rights from African Americans and women. They think they have the right to keep rights they enjoy away from other people and it's wrong. Not maybe wrong, or a little wrong, but dead wrong, period, end of story. To those who argue "but my morals object to it" I say, then don't marry someone of your own sex. It's that easy. If you feel the need to keep a right you enjoy away from someone else based on what you would call a moral choice on your part, then you are wrong and I can only pray you can realize this instead of getting angry at being called wrong. But if you're going to be angry, go ahead and be angry and with my blessing. There's nothing I can do about it, it's your anger. And in the enlightened tomorrow that lies ahead, people will look back and say "Isn't it shocking that anyone supported equal rights being kept away from them" just as people look back now and say that about those who fought against previous equal civil rights for other disenfranchised groups.