Category: politics

Join the Impact: We Marched in Jacksonville!

jen holding her 'this mormon is for gay rights' poster

The rest of the pics are here. Unlike most other events I attend, I spent more time “present” than taking pictures. The stories from committed couples, many of whom have been together for decades, were both inspiring and heart-breaking.\
To me, this isn’t about whether or not homosexuality is right or wrong, it’s about allowing people to pursue their happiness, a right this country was founded on. Their love is no threat to my marriage or anyone else’s. These people are our neighbors, relatives, friends and fellow citizens. They deserve to share their lives and enjoy the same rights that married heterosexual couples enjoy. They deserve the public recognition of their love that I enjoy with Jen.\
The rest of the arguments are cover for something else, whether it’s ignorance, hate or some other motive, it doesn’t matter. Treating people as something less than full members of society for who they love is wrong.\
I’m really glad we went, and I’m so proud of Jen for getting up in front of a bunch of strangers and telling them how sorry she was for how our church has treated them by supporting Prop 8 in California, Prop 2 in Florida and the measures in Arkansas and Arizona. This won’t be the last time we protest, I’m sure. I’m just hoping we can march in Savannah next time.

Have you heard?

There is a national protest against Prop 8 on Saturday, November 15, being held in almost one hundred cities across the nation. This is, at heart, a civil rights issue and it is unconscionable that we are still treating some people as second-class citizens given that this is “the land of the free” in the 21st century.\
We’re roadtripping down to Jacksonville for tomorrow’s protest. YAY for roadtrips! Ooh, I should make a couple of new mix CDs. I bet Kevin would love that. Our power will be out tomorrow, so I’ve put off grocery shopping and we are out of milk (the unopened jug in the back was from 2 weeks ago- oops), which means no cereal, no eggs, no pancakes, no toast for breakfast. I am going to make “breakfast” bags of pb and j sandwiches, apples, and juice boxes that we can eat in the car.\
Kevin suggested I blog about tv shows you should be watching, so here it goes. Watch Friday Night Lights! This season feels a lot like the first. It is so heart-warming and just wonderful. It’s unlike anything else on tv right now. So, watch it! For those without the special Direct Tv hook up, you can watch in January. Also watch How I Met Your Mother! It’s funny and also heartwarming. Apparently I am in the mood for warm fuzzies lately, though I do have to admit that the Terminator show was totally KICK ASS this week. Umm, that is all, continue about your business [making plans for tomorrow’s protest].

Isn’t this a beautiful pile of crap?

The LDS Church’s response to Prop 8 passing: Read the statement.\
bq. We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position. No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information. (emphasis mine)\
Uh, yea. Tell that to your leaders. (More correctly, to the leaders of the Yes on Prop 8 movement.)\
Nice sentiment, guys, but too late.\
As a whole, the statement reads nicely. And, I am not sure I mean that as a compliment.

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Categorized as Jen, politics

Promise

It was a long night. It’s been a long campaign. But, as I sit here with tears in my eyes watching our new President-Elect speak, I can’t help but think about the promise of the next administration. Throughout the last two years, I’ve hoped that Barack Obama would be the next President. He’s the first presidential candidate we’ve donated money to.\
Now, that hope has been fulfilled, and now the promise of a new administration is here. A new day is coming, and in January, the worst president in our nation’s history will leave office and be replaced with one who promises to at least be better, and we hope will be great.\
The last eight years, I’ve been full of anger at what George W. Bush and his administration have done to our country. I hoped for change, and that hope felt in vain at times. I’ve been trying not to hope too much because I wasn’t sure I could take the disappointment this time around when the stakes are so high.\
But, I don’t have to worry about that. My hope has been fulfilled, and now I’m filled with the potential, the promise, of the next four years. I’m hopeful that Mr. Obama won’t disappoint me.\
God bless you, America. Thank you. Thank you for voting in record numbers, for (although a little late in my opinion) rejecting the politics of fear and division, and embracing the future. This election to me was the past vs. the future. We could either keep going the direction that George W. Bush had taken us, or we could decide it was time to embrace the future and become the country we say we are, but never quite live up to.\
Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes, yes, we will.\
(and not to spoil it, but I can’t help but think that all that Barack’s daughters will remember about tonight is that they’re getting a puppy and got to stay up really late)

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Categorized as politics

Hope

I just want to write this down so I remember it later. I woke up at 5:30 this morning full of nervous energy, thinking about today and what’s happening around the country. I’m excited, but most of all, I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that Obama will win, and not just with a slim margin like the last two elections, but a real mandate to start the process of fixing things.\
I’m looking forward to watching the returns tonight, and seeing what happens. I smiled this morning, at 7:45AM, as I drove past our local polling place and saw a line out the door and into the parking lot.\
I’m tired, but happy, because unless all the polls are wrong, and really wrong, Barack Obama will be the President-Elect tomorrow morning. That makes me smile. It makes me downright giddy.

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Categorized as politics

Spare Eight Minutes

Lawrence Lessig provides a great argument against Proposition 8. It’s reasoned, has a sound legal backing (because, he’s Lawrence Lessig), and is profound in its simplicity. It perfectly echoes my own feelings on it, and does a great job of dissolving the rationale for the proposition without insulting those who support it. Great great stuff. Please watch it.

It’s In Every One of Us to Be Wise

It’s in every one of us
To be wise
Find your heart
Open up both your eyes
We can all know everything
Without ever knowing why
It’s in every one of us
By and by
It’s in every one of us
To be wise
Find your heart
Open up both your eyes
We can all know everything
Without ever knowing why
It’s in every one of us
By and by
By and by

from It’s In Every One of Us by David Pomeranz

I should be going to sleep now, but I started watching Big Bird singing It’s Not Easy Being Green at Jim Henson’s funeral, which led me to the Muppet’s Tribute to Jim Henson, and then to Frank Oz’s lovely eulogy. In the second video, I heard a song I don’t remember, the one above, and it got me thinking (and yes, crying a little) about my heroes, and why they hold that position.

I love Jim Henson. He’s one of my heroes – a man of amazing creativity, warmth and love, who created so many great characters. More than that, though, he opened up imaginations by sharing his, and everything he created has at its core a gentleness, decency and humanity. You can tell right away that there’s a piece of him in everything he did. He died long after I’d outgrown Sesame Street (I was fifteen), but I still got choked up whenever anyone played Rainbow Connection (still do).

My second hero is Mr. Rogers. I used to watch both shows as a kid, but didn’t really understand who Mr. Rogers was as a “real” person until much much later. Mr. Rogers was seemingly without guile, someone totally in touch with their emotions and with the emotions of those around him – and like Jim Henson, the adjective that jumps to mind when I get past the things they created – the artifacts of their professional lives, is “gentle”. I love that Mr. Rogers dedicated his life to speaking softly to children without speaking down to them, to teaching them about the world without fear or cynicism. I told this to a friend today and she looked at me like I was crazy, but I think Mr. Rogers may be the most Christ-like person to live on the earth since, well, Jesus.

And last, but certainly not least, my dad. I certainly don’t tell him this enough, but he is my hero. He is the most patient person I’ve ever met, and set a great example of what a husband and father should be – one that I don’t measure up to, but aspire to. He is kind, and gentle. I think the only times I heard him raise his voice were either on the golf course or home repair “mishaps” with heavy tools, and they were never directed at us (the only reasons my brother and I ever went golfing with dad were: to hear him swear, and to drive the cart).

It all comes back to being gentle, something I’m not very good at, but want to be. All three of my heroes are good men: creative, smart, compassionate and charitable gentle men , who leave those around them better for having known them. They are who I aspire to be.

Thank you, dad, for being there when I need you. And thank you, Mr. Rogers and Jim Henson, for being examples of where imagination and decency can take you in a sometimes dark and always imperfect world.

And to get back to the song, it is in all of us to be wise. It’s in all of us to be better than we are, to aspire to being more like our heroes and to choose leaders more like we aspire to be instead of those that feed on our fears. I saw a sticker today Love More. Fear Less (you can get your own), which is what started this whole train of thought.

We, I, have been afraid too long – driven by fear to compromise our dreams, our futures and to choose leaders who feed those fears. It’s time to be led by love, to stop being afraid and embrace the future as a challenge to be better, to live our ideals instead of preaching them to others and doing the opposite behind closed doors when we think no one is looking. I’m tired of being angry. I’m tired of hearing politicians claim that the people who disagree with them aren’t “real” Americans. I’m tired of the pandering and the lies. Anger is fear turned outwards, a blind response to things we feel powerless to control, and anger is not love. I’m no hippie. I know I’ll still be angry when I wake up in the morning and catch a glimpse of the news, but I’m going to try to be wise. I’m going to try to love more and fear less, and I will keep my heroes that embody those qualities.

I don’t know that this makes any sense at all. It’s late, and I should have been asleep two hours ago, but I couldn’t go to bed with all this trapped in my head.

“It’s in every one of us to be wise. Find your heart, open up both your eyes.”