The times have been sobering to say the least. So much violence, so much suffering and the inescapable feeling that the world is moving backwards. We seem to have taken a turn towards religious sectism, narrow views, intolerance and war. The issues have been so depressing and so many I have chosen not to write about them. It feels like every topic almost deserved a book, not the concise and easy read format of a blog.
Well, a topic has just caught my attention in a black hole of bad news. N.J. is moving towards legalization of gay marriage.
I have to admit to having fallen for the NYer stereotype. I was not a huge fan of N.J. Having dwelled there for a short period of time, I don’t have many good memories of the town where I lived. I was always aware of how ridiculous the usual comments were, that people who moved to N.J. have exchanged a rich cultural life for a large house, but deep inside I couldn’t help but have my own thoughts that maybe there was some truth to the comments.
And then something happens to prove us all wrong. In a moment of enlightenment and civil rights justice, N.J. starts moving towards the legalization of one of the most basics of social steps towards a truly democratic system, that which ensures all of its citizens the same basic legal privileges to all direct family members. Seems logical, doesn’t it? But because of extremist religious groups (and the amount of money they have been using to manipulate the system) and a lack of understanding of what liberty and democracy really means, this country has been denying its citizens the right to pick the people they love and to provide for them in times of need.
I am still to understand why some people believe they have a right to dictate who others can or cannot love. I live under the principles that your life is yours to live unless your choices harm someone else. And love is never really the reason why people get harmed, now, is it? If anything, we are in dire need of some more of that to go around.
So I bow my head in shame. Shame for not giving N.J. the respect it deserved. For making the same generalizations I criticize others for making, and for assuming the narrow minded influential minority would make enough noise to bring us one more step towards the middle ages
So there is hope...
Bravo, N.J.
Let’s just stay the course (the right one)…
