Equality for All!

 

Way back in January 2012, I wrote this blog post about the Lovings. You'd have to be living in a box to not know what's going on in the Supreme Court this week. 

But if you are living in a box, here's a brief snippet from Yahoo News:

The court's first major examination of gay rights in 10 years begins Tuesday with a hearing on California's ban on same-sex marriage. On Wednesday, the justices will consider the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of benefits afforded straight married Americans.

I believe in equality for all.  I believe in the right to pursue happiness.  I think by not allowing gay marriage, the United States is supporting a religiously-backed, flawed logic. 

In the 1960's in the South, there was a Civil Rights movement.  The black people who lived here didn't have equal rights, despite the fact that they were considered "free" men since the Emancipation Proclamation.  The Blacks fought for their rights to attend the same schools as the whites, to have the same rights, and to be able to drink from the same fountain.

I liken Gay Rights to the Civil Rights movement.  These are people who just want to live their life.  They want the same basic human rights that everyone else has, despite their sexual orientation!  They want to marry the people they love.  They want to have the same rights as heterosexual people, and why shouldn't they?  Because they love someone of the same sex?  Let me ask you, how does that in anyway hurt you?  It doesn't!!!  Gay marriage is about personal choice, but honestly most people I know who are gay say they are born that way and always knew they were different.

Most gay people I know are wonderful.  They're not pedophiles.  They're not out to change your Christian values.  They just want to live their life in the same way you and I do.  They want to make their OWN decisions about their future, and not be held back by a government who is currently denying them their basic rights to happiness. 

Stepping off my soapbox now. 

Loving/Hating

Today while wasting a few minutes at work, I read an article about the Lovings. The Lovings were an interracial couple who married in 1960's Virginia, despite a law against miscegenation.  They were evicted from their home and told they could go to prison or leave town.  They left town, going to Washington D.C., and from there they began fighting for their love and the right to live as they wanted, together.
I read this article, and I looked at the photos of this amazing family.  This family blazed the trail for thousands of interracial couples.  They, along with other Civil Rights fighters, changed the world for a better place.  They lead the way towards acceptance, not blind HATE.

People are really scared of what they don't know.  People have preconceived notions of others.  This leads to hate, misunderstanding, racism, prejudices, and nonsense laws to protect who?  I look at the Lovings story, and I think how far the US has come since then.  I live in the South, and I see plenty of interracial couples.  No one drinks at a colored fountain anymore.  We all go to school together, but still I see racism.  I see HATE.  It comes from both sides, black and white.  HATE comes in so many forms, and to me I see it most when people just don't understand differences. The Lovings supported marriage of any kind, because they were in LOVE.

I support marriage for anyone who is in love.  Why not?  It is their choice.  It does not affect me.  They are in LOVE with each other.  It's funny to me, because the proponents AGAINST gay marriage also claim they are for smaller government, but banning gay marriage IS BIG GOVERNMENT.  It's government getting involved in one of the most important decisions of your life: Who you will spend the rest of your life with.  It's also government banning these people from receiving the same tax benefits as heterosexual married couples.  If two gay people are in love and they get married, then why is it the government's business?  They are expressing their love, living together as a family, and they deserve to have this right just like anyone else. 

I realize that a lot of people have problems with gay marriage because of religion.  I believe in God.  I believe in a God who is loving, caring, and supporting of all people.  I don't believe in a God who would send you to Hell for being gay, for loving someone of the same sex, something to me that you most likely are innately born with: sexuality.  Like the Lovings said, you can't control who you fall in LOVE with.  Why HATE someone for that?

21 Hour Work Week...Here I come!

Last night, I read this article about changing to a 21 hour work week.  This would allow a lot of the unemployed workers to fit into the workforce, and it would also be good for the environment, reducing rampant consumerism a bit, and changing what the world prioritizes.  Yes, it would take a large re-haul of our current societal structure, but I think it would be worth it. 

I am all for this, mostly for selfish reasons.  Most of my days look like this:

5:30:    Drag myself out of bed, have coffee, blog, check the internet for useless news.
6:15:    Wake up Hubby, jump in shower
6:30:    Help Hubby get kids ready for school, eat cereal.
7:00:    Rush the kids into the car, drive to daycare
7:15:    Drop off kids.
8:00:    Arrive at work
11:00 : Take my 1 hour lunch break.
12:00:  Return to Work
5:00:    Leave Work
5:15:    Pick Up Kids from Daycare
5:30:    Arrive home and eat dinner (thanks Hubby for making it)
5:45:    Do homework with Son #1 (or alternatively take Son #1 to an activity)
6:00:    Play with kids
6:30:    Most days I go to taekwondo at 6:30 or 7.  Sometimes I play with the kids longer, or help
            clean up the house. 
6:45:    Put Darling Daughter to bed
7:30:    Put Son #1 and Son #2 to bed
8:00:    Chat with Hubby (if I'm not at taekwondo), Watch Game of Thrones, play a game
9:30:    Go to bed.
5:30:    Start Over Again

My life is extremely busy, and it's extremely routinized.  It revolves around going to work so I can buy things that I use up, so that I can buy more things.  Who needs things anyway?  Are things so important that our family gets turned into something we see for roughly 2 hours a day?  The world has its priorities backwards.  Capitalism isn't so important that it needs to get in the way of family, is it? 

Our children are growing up without parents, because parents are working so much.  Husbands and wives are divorcing, because they simply have no time to spend with each other.  Life is hectic and stressful, and it doesn't place value on the important things like family, togetherness, love.  Value is placed highest on material items in our society.  Isn't it time to make a change?

I'd love a 21 hour work week, so I'd have time to hang out with the most important people in my life: These Guys:

Alopecia Areata Triggers

Here’s an interesting article promoting flu shots to prevent hair loss from Alopecia Areata:

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/13/9417169-get-your-shot-swine-flu-may-cause-baldness

I get my flu shot every year—I’m anti-trend, so I’m pro-vaccine for me and my family.  I do think that Alopecia Areata is triggered by something, like the flu, or other viral illnesses, but I also think it is genetic.  I think it’s plausible that each one of my brothers and sisters has the gene and that each of my three kids has the gene, but nothing has triggered their immune system to attack their hair follicles.  I think that my kids may pass on the gene to their kids, and their kids may express the gene by losing their hair as a result of a trigger.  Genetics are a crapshoot.  As my kids’ teachers like to say, “You get what you get, and you don’t pitch a fit!” 

I do hope that all the research the scientists are doing on this disease comes to fruition and they can find a cure.  It is particularly hard being a child with Alopecia.  Kids just don’t understand, and they are usually too afraid to ask questions.  This results in a) rumors and b) bullying.  I was the brunt of both of these growing up, and it made me who I am today.  I had to overcome a lot, but it made me more accepting of other peoples’ shortcomings, ideas, skin color, sexuality, religion, political affiliation, and the list could go on and on. 

Sometimes you have to look at what life gives you and learn lessons from it, and I personally think that’s why I was given the gift of Alopecia.