i was in my eighth grade english class, surrounded by kids just as clueless as i was when it came to the nyc trade center, terrorism, osama bin laden or oil prices. the teachers got an email to turn on the news, and they did. i don’t remember if there was an explanation of what was going on before or not, i just remember turning on the tv to a burning building i had never seen before, and then watching another one that looked just like it get hit by a plane.
my mom had one of her friends come get us from school, we went to her house & turned on the tv, watching the looped footage & repeated stories over and over again. i was the oldest of the group of kids, but we were all equally confused. they were talking about a terrorist attack that had happened in the underground parking garage the week before that no one had really talked about, this was my first clue that we weren’t being told everything that happened in our country. i’m lucky that i live far enough away i didn’t lose a loved one, but i get chills every time i think of this day. how scary it must have been to experience it inside & out of the towers, and how frustrating it must have been to be an adult at that time. now, i’m 22, i don’t know how i would react to an attack on what i consider my homeland. its a scary thought, i hope we never have to face it again.. and i hope as a nation we can help other countries who face brutal attacks such as this one.
earlier this morning, i watched an episode of 30 Days, the show that morgan spurlock (documentary maker & creator of super size me) created that places people in foreign environments for 30 days. this particular episode featured a mother of two adoptedchildren, Kati, who opposed gay marriage & same-sexadoption. she went to live with a family of two gay men and their four adopted boys. all of the children came to live in the household as foster kids, and were eventually adopted by the couple. this woman was against gay marriage & their having children because she believed it was a sin. at the end of the episode, her opinion had not changed. although she spent time with countless members of the LGBT community, she still didn’t think they should have the same rights as a man & woman who choose to enter into the “sanctity” of marriage.
i don’t know if i’ve ever been so outraged while watching a tv show. i felt my blood boiling as i sat there watching her claim a home clearly full of love, care and support unfit for children. she said that having kids in a gay household was teaching them to be gay. ha! i have a question for this lady, who taught these people to be gay in the first place? they were mostly from “mom-dad” households as she called it, yet they are still attracted to people of the same sex. WHO CARES?! in a country where divorce is almost as common as marriage, who the hell are we to say what is RIGHT OR WRONG? heterosexuals can’t make marriage and family systems work, why not let gays and lesbians try it?
there’s a facebook group that addresses this issue in a sort of off-the-wall fashion; 17 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong (Joke) http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=35027790578&ref=search. it lists the 2nd reason as: ” Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.” ha! how true! in the land of plastic surgery, fad dieting, tattoos, makeup and fake tanning, how can we even use the argument of something being unnatural? the woman in this show is an accurate representation of many americans, blindly accepting the mistakes of past generations, ideas filled with unacceptance, hatred and ultimately untruth.
i come from a family of divorce. i don’t remember my parents being together. was i affected by this? absolutely. luckily, i had an amazing mother & support system and i was lucky to have a very happy childhood. but i saw how hard it was for my mom to raise two kids on her own. i feel as though my experience made me stronger, yet it left me a bit jaded towards relationships for awhile. how can a home with two parents, both female or both male, be any worse than watching your only parent struggle? even more, how could a loving home with a healthy relationship be worse than group-homes & foster care for those without any parents at all? its something i’ll never understand; denying someone the RIGHT to love who they want. to deny same-sex partners the same benefits that heterosexuals get, when they’ve done so well at screwing them up in the past decades..
during the show, kati meets with the daughter of two gay men who has grown up and chosen to share her story. the woman, i don’t remember her name, speaks of her experiences with her two dads in a negative light, saying they spoke of sexually explicit things at the dinner table on a regular basis. she says she doesn’t believe same-sex parenting is right & once again uses the term “mom-dad household.” if i were given the chance to talk to this lady, i would ask her to consider the fact that many children grow up in abusive or neglectful households made up of a man & woman, that even some heterosexual parents choose to expose their children to hurtful & scarring things, but not all of them. the same is true for gay households, they aren’t perfect, as nothing is, but they have their strengths as well as their weaknesses. not to mention, a diminishing number of children are given the luxury of “mom-dad households” and just as she yearned for normalcy at home, a child of divorce may do the same.
i have attempted blogs in the past, i always end up forgetting the passwords or moving on to something else… hopefully, this one will be different. i am going to use this blog as a tool to develop myself further in activism and debates of human rights. i am a sociology major, about to receive my undergraduate degree. i don’t yet know where life after college will lead me, it’s a thrilling yet terrifying feeling to not have a set plan for yourself after a lifetime of schooling, bittersweet. i always knew that i would go to college, and hopefully finish.. but then what?
being a sociology major, i’ve had the rare opportunity to discuss pretty much anything and everything in classes, with intellectual minds that i respect. in such an open and diverse department, we really aren’t given the chance to be shy.. in one class we may be discussing sadism & masochism, and in the next we may debate about racial slurs and inequalities. in any given day, you could find yourself involved in a heated discussion with a classmate or empathizing together over the truths of life. although this may seem less than appealing to some, we are taught harsh realities in order to have the motivation and knowledge necessary to make a difference in this world. many times, people judge others simply because they are unfamiliar and ‘different’ from themselves. if you read about all kinds of people and learn about the ways that previous generations have dealt with certain problems, you find yourself to be more objective and accepting. i was lucky to stumble into this major, i have learned more about life and the real world in the past four years than i could have ever imagined. i think going to a liberal minded college is also to thank for that. i am a senior at appalachian state university in the mountains of north carolina. what better place to come to grow up? i guess i can say i actually grew up somewhere else, but you don’t truly become an adult, or find yourself until you leave home.. and sometimes you have to leave all things familiar.
i hope to use this blog to relate to people i both know & don’t know. those who share my opinions & those who don’t. i don’t want this to turn into a nasty hate site for those who don’t agree with me.. & i won’t allow posts that are in anyway derogatory to other groups.. there’s nothing off limits as long as it isn’t outright mean & judgemental. even those with opposing views can agree to disagree, i just hope to use this blog as a vehicle of personal change. to have a chance to put into words my thoughts and opinions and to hear what others think. the internet is an amazing resource, its beginning to transition to an archive of smut and lies.. full of false information and malicious people trying to steal your money. why not use it for what it was originally intended for? information sharing, networking, and the opportunity of change. not like the ‘change’ our current president has promised, that poor man, but like the change that our country is built upon. change by the people. we are the ones who built the united states, we live here, our children will too. we are responsible for what happens. although sometimes you may feel powerless, like you can’t make a difference.. you can. just try.
anyways, this is my blog. these are my opinions, lets discuss them.
"For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future."
- John F. Kennedy
