Wal-Mart & Trading Races

"I went to Wal*Mart yesterday, with much reluctance, to purchase car wash supplies. i would've gone to AutoZone, but the nearest one is quite out of the way. i was already apprehensive about going to such a disgusting place on a saturday afternoon, as it would be crawling with people. in the parking lot a man approached me and asked if i was registered to vote. i told him of course, and then he began to ask if i'd like to sign a petition. my first thought was 'this is great, people are in the Wal*Mart parking lot expressing their dislike of george bush.' but then he went on to tell me the petition was to ban gay marriage. a hundred things ran through my head that i wanted to scream at him, impress upon him, and implore to him. but then as i felt tears trying to break their way through, i just said 'no.' and walked away. 

on my way out i saw him with a crowd of people. there were also several more of his cohorts scheming throughout the parking lot. i decided i couldn't let this continue, and i wouldn't be able to sleep at night if i did nothing. so i went up to him and said 'excuse me, but why do you care who gets married?' he immediately backed up two steps, and said 'i ain't got nothin against gays people, but you know the bible says noah took two of every animal, one male and one female...' to which i answered 'uh huh-' that was his explanation, he would've been finished right there. i offered 'the bible never mentions homosexuality except in reference to prostitution and false idol worship. it does, however, mention divorce as being a mortal sin. why not then instead make a petition to ban divorce, isn't that more disrespectful to marriage than two people who love each other getting married?' he shifted his eyes, looking for an escape. his crowd was waiting for an answer. he shrugged 'uh yeah.' again. i then told him 'how can you want our constitution to embrace discrimination?' then he went on to tell me 'it's not discrimination, but the constitution goes back a long way in history and doesn't say anything about gayism...' with the use of the word 'gayism' i tuned him out. i thought, here is a man who really just doesn't understand, and really he has no beliefs, but he'll let hate slide if it will pay him to stand in a parking lot with petitions. he was a black man so i thought maybe he would understand a little better if i told him 'if you allow this in the constitution, this marriage between one man and one woman, what's to stop someone from changing it to one protestant white man, and one protestant white woman? is that still not discrimination?' he averted his eyes and continued trying to inch away. i was finished. i said 'well, i don't think god would be very pleased with you carrying out hate in his name.' 

i did not wash my car when i went home."

I commend her on her brevity and am very pleased to see someone take a stand for what is right. Even at the risk of themselves being further ridiculed. I find it constantly appalling that our nation, as great as it is, is so confused about its own founding doctrines. We have consistently shown a divisive pattern of what we feel is right and wrong in terms of equality. Always on the part of the conservatives wanting to be so limiting. Who the hell cares if two gay guys or gay girls get married? Does it affect you? No? Did you even know that Cindy and Jessie got married? No? Then what the fuck do you care? Shut the fuck up and go home.

The same general inflexibility seems to purvey through the wounded minds of the religious. This is not to say that religion itself is a bad thing. It provides a necessary structure for formulating a base moral and ethical boundary for most people who seem to be ever so turbulently distraught by such things.

Again, not to harp on those of religion. I have a great deal of respect for religion and those who faithfully embrace and practice their chosen doctrine. However, most seem to simply state they accept and embrace a set of doctrinal beliefs and go about their merry way. And it’s not all religions that do this either. Do you see Jewish people bitching and moaning about abortion or gay marriage? Muslims? Hindi? Buddhists? No! You know why? Because they don’t give a shit! Okay, so no one is happy about killing babies. We’re not. But it’s not our right to tell someone what they can or cannot do with their own body. They’ll endure the emotional and physical traumas that accompany getting an abortion. They’ll live the same married life a heterosexual couple would with exception of the ability to procreate naturally. These are consequences they will have to endure.

Is it the merry way of Jesus of Nazareth to badger those around you until they either give in or at least pretend to suddenly turn to your beliefs? I don’t understand. Was it not Jesus who said, “Let he who hath no sin, cast the first stone.”? Was it not Jesus who endured the persecution of others at times to absorb the penalties of someone around him? Was it not Jesus of Nazareth who died and rose again to pay for the very sins of those you continue to persecute and badger and enflame? Do you not see how horrifically hypocritical of your own doctrines you are?

This is not to say that all Christians are this way. Certainly they are all not. My great friend Leslie is a testament to this. Does she approve of abortion, no, she does not. And I’m certain she votes for people who are adamantly against it. But she does not look down on, badger, berate, or place herself above those who would wish this right open.

When I was in middle school, I wrote a letter to then-President Bill Clinton. The letter asked simply how he could approve such legislation that would remove the life of an as-yet unborn child. This is not something I truly comprehended at the time. Not in its fullness anyhow. The reply came a month or so later. Form stamped with President Clinton’s signature on it. It stated back then that he was amazed at the thought and worry that had been placed on an issue such as this from a child so young. No doubt this reply was also a template for which someone may not have even edited. However, it gave me hope that our system provided such a way to communicate with the highest man in the land, even for someone so small. If you have an issue, WRITE A FUCKING LETTER!!! CALL SOMEONE!!! Don’t just sit on your ass and complain.

In truth, there is some hypocrisy from me on this matter as well. You see, I completely and utterly encourage you to write your representatives. Call them. Encourage them when they make good choices. Let your voice writhe in pain at them when they make poor choices. They represent YOU for fuck’s sake! I encourage action! Do something if you aren’t happy with the situation. It will take maybe an hour to write a decent letter. It will take maybe twenty minutes to make a phone call. It will take a couple days to set up a proper appointment to sit down with a member of your representative’s staff! It’s NOT that hard! You CAN and SHOULD make a difference in American Politics. However, no matter how much I encourage this action. There are those who would go above their call of duty and attempt things on their own. Most Americans do not agree with the far right OR the far left. We simply don’t. We’re somewhere in the middle. But there’s something about these extremists that seems to make blood boil in us. Whether we feel they’re attacking fundamental beliefs of our own, or someone else's, or if we feel they’re infringing upon our constitutional rights doesn’t matter. These extreme groups make a point of getting attention. Like children that aren’t properly disciplined, these extreme groups will get their spanking eventually as well. Most of America just turns a blind ear.

But, there are those who simply can’t or won’t wear earplugs to drown out the noise of extremist groups in the United States. Some get caught up in miscommunicated or distorted information that is being played by a group or political party that incites them to act more radically than they typically would. These people. These Americans. These constituents. They need to learn that the United States is founded based on the principals of human equality. Stop treating Black Peoples, Hispanics, Asians, Homosexual, or Heterosexual people any different from yourself. Whether there is a different in skin tone, shape of eyes, or choice of sexual partner doesn’t matter. Why do you suddenly look at someone differently simply because they’re different? How do they threaten you? Are they looking to take your job? So what? Fight for it fairly. The best person should win. Are they looking to ‘pair’ with you in an undesired way sexually? Feel flattered! Sex appeal is one of the greatest forces of nature! They want to friggin procreate with you! YOU ROCK!!! Don’t lash out at them. You could probably be very good friends, if it weren’t for your completely obtuse bigotry!

You kill me. You kill yourself. You kill America, every time you preach inequality in our nation. Tired of seeing so many white people in high-paying jobs? FUCKING FIGHT FOR YOUR SPOT!!! Tired of ‘The Man’ holding you down with his hand? FUCKING BREAK ALL OF THE FINGERS!!! And go where you want in life. You control your own damned destiny. You say you’re too poor to support your family... yet somehow you manage to spend money for a twelve-pack of beer every day and two or three packs of cigarettes a day! WHAT THE FUCK!!! Cut the addict bullshit and support your family.

My family was on welfare for YEARS!!! Fucking YEARS!!! My mom divorced my dad and we all went our way. Not saying there weren’t other factors, but we moved from a duplex in a small ass town to a townhouse in Sharonville. From Sharonville we move in with my grandmother in West Chester! There is a tremendous amount of respect I have for my mother for working as hard as she did to get us to where we are. If it weren’t for her hard work, we’d still be back in Morrow, living in a duplex having familial issues, and going nowhere! We moved from poverty to poor, to middle class. There is NOTHING stopping anyone from doing this in the United States. ONLY in America can you pull this shit off in the short time span she did. A single fucking mother, supporting two children, working a full-time job, pulling long hours, and being ultimately frustrated with no counterpart to be there and listen to how her day went so she could vent. For my part, I may have been a child, but I consistently look back and wish I’d just been understanding of the situation. For her part, she’s often apologizing for having not been there to see us through things and being constantly upset and frustrated.

I can’t fault her a bit. I work a full-time job. I love my job. But there are days when I lose patience and am frustrated quite a bit at something or another. A client was being a bastard, or maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Bad days happen. Being understanding to two small and growing children on your own is unimaginable to me. I can’t begin to comprehend the difficulties she went through privately while working. Never really had the chance to go out on her own and have a good time. Always dealing with us after work harassing her about our days, seemingly unworried about hers.

Life is tough. It’ll throw you LOTS of lemons. Make LOTS of lemonade, OK? Shit. If My mom had the strength to pull through all of this, and Stephanie and I turned out well enough, there is NOTHING! Repeat... NOTHING.... preventing ANYONE in America from achieving their goals aside from their own inhibitions, lack of will, and self-defeatist attitudes. Nothing happens overnight. It will take years! It took form the time I was six until I was around twenty to realize the transformation my family had made. This shit doesn’t happen everywhere.

Now, “Trading Races.” WTF is FOX thinking? Paying people to live the life of someone of another race? White people live the life of Black people and vice versa. I find this SICKNESS of theirs to be utterly disgusting. And frankly, it pisses me off. I’ll vote by not watching this show on ‘FX’ and suggest you do the same. Think. Ponder, for a moment, on how many stereotype possibilities there are being abused and brought to light here. Do we really need this trash on television? Think before you do something, don’t fucking air this trashy shit. America’s fascination with this ‘reality’ TV bullshit is really starting to show its age, and I hope it DIES a horrible horrible death. This show is cable only and will probably live longer because of it. Grrrr.