Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Joy and Disappointment


I wasn't the only one still wearing my Obama pin today. The joy of so many is palpable.

Last night, downtown. was like VE Day with people dancing in the streets, crying, hugging strangers, playing drums, honking horns, and dancing on cars. I wish I'd seen it. So many of my fellow Obama supporters have said how they cried and cried.

When I checked my e-mail last night I had letters of congratulations from Australia and France. My French friend, a fellow woman warrior, Mathilde, said that she wished she had Obama as her President. That's gotta be the first time in my lifetime that France has ever been jealous of an American President!

For so many reasons, I am so proud of you, Obama, and everyone, within our borders or without, who helped usher in this new era.

My literature professor began class by reading the famous sermon by John Winthrop about building a "city upon a hill" for the world to emulate. His inspiring, hopeful words were wholly relevant to what we have achieved. And to think... Sarah Palin shares the same ideas. I mean, really. She said in a speech "Let's build that city on a hill like Ronald Regan said!" Winthrop delivered the sermon in 1630. Sorry, hun.

The California elections have turned out rather unpredictably. I am happy that Prop 4 (parental notification of a minor's abortion) did not pass, because yeah, I hope that a girl would have a good enough relationship with her parents to be able to tell them that she's having an abortion, but in many families that's not the case, and a girl would rather go to a back alley "doctor" to get the procedure done rather than have her parents notified. Yikes.

Prop 8 also passed, modifying the California constitution to ban same sex marriage. Now, mackenzie's momma, in your comment on my last post you said, "As for the rest of it- your human right? You make mistakes." I'm not entirely sure how to interpret that, and forgive me if I'm misinterpreting what you meant, but it has given me a talking point if you're insinuating that same sex marriage (or marriage in general) is not a "human right." If so, I can understand your point of view. Personally, I believe marriage is a somewhat archaic socio-economic arrangement (and a booming industry). For many, it is also a religious ceremony/commitment. I have trouble ever envisioning myself as married, but understand that I am also at a point in my life where marriage is way off my radar.

The belief that marriage is between a man and a woman stems from the Bible and is the basis for most arguments against same sex marriage. I understand this, however, being a heathen, it's difficult for me to wrap my mind around. And to avoid couching the conversation in religious terms, let's look at it this way:

Proposition 8 took legal rights away from a group of people.

The very principle should be enough to raise the hackles on any who know their history. In it's purest form, Prop 8 is oppression, and I find it highly ironic that we're patting ourselves on the back for electing the first black president yet have changed law so that people who love each other can't get married.

No, I am not gay or bi, and yes, I do have both gay and bi friends and even family, and I know that my consideration of their lives influences my voting. But seriously, what are anti-gay marriage people afraid of? Is anyone reading this anti-same sex marriage? If so, I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts. Who are these couples going to hurt? Gay marriage already was legal and, as Rachel Maddow said, "the sky didn't fall." So why the panic? Does God want you to oppress a group of people? Was Jesus' message "Love everyone except for people the semantics of a translation of a translation of a translation of a translation from languages that don't directly translate into each other from a document written at least 200 years after my death specifies should not be allowed to get hitched"?

My irreverent humor may be failing here, so I turn to Sherman Alexie: "Gay men don't threaten my marriage -- gay men catered my marriage."

Here's today's song. "We Shall Be Free" by Garth Brooks.

"We Shall Be Free"




theincrediblemo -- Haha! Peeking in class. I used to IM my sister in class. ;) And yes, your friends who do not recognize the significance of this election will find out soon enough! :D Oh you're right - I have very little idea of what snow is, other than the one time in recent memory (in other words, when I wasn't a toddler) that I went to the snow and didn't like how the stuff kept turning into water and melting in my boots and hair. ;)

mackenzie's momma -- That's so cool that you and your friend come up with such big plots and such! You guys should write it out as a book. :) And yeah, the SGA titles are often really similar... and cheesy. ;) But hey, that's half the charm!

2 comments:

Mackenzies Momma said...

Okay, just to clarify- the 'your human right?" comment was in reference to you being forgetful and mixing up the titles.


Guess this is what I get for preforming a 'do it yourself lobotomy' this week{AKA restoring my laptop to factory settings}. My brain has melted into goo.

As for the Gay Marriage ban- I have ZERO against Gay, Bi, etc people as my favorite(sadly now deceased) uncle was Gay.

And to clarify my Role Playing comment- we usually focus on one particular show or Genre at a time otherwise it would get way too confusing, lol. Somedays its hard enough to keep the Stargate stuff straight without throwing in another shows worth of characters.

melissapaakkonen said...

I am quite saddened by the fact that Prop 8 passed. It could be how I was raised, or even the country I was raised in, but for as long as I can remember, there was no direct ban on homosexual marriages. Its taking away rights that belong to all people. I could go on and on about this! I swear, I'm a very passionate person!

Snow is the pretty white stuff that you can make snow balls, igloos and snowmen out of! It is fantastic things. Infact just today we started to get the first snow dump of the year-there will be pictures- Its fun, and the only time its not is when it melts, and poof! the streets turn to black ice and it then becomes frightening. Or when its like March and its so dirty that its not white, but brown because of the gravel and sand put down on the roads to try and prevent people from almost killing themselves.
Snow is great for skiing and snowboarding and death gliding. WHICH I AM SO STOKED FOR THIS YEAR! (Death Gliding is getting on an innertube sort of thing, making sure that the bottom is either slick or wet and then sliding down the giant snow covered hills, without breaking your neck!)