Every year I try and post ways to help our greater community. I try to encourage you to do what you can to make at least one persons life better, happier, and safer. This year I wanted to wait till after the main holidays had passed.
All to often like the holidays our spirit to help fades till another event comes along to remind us. This year I have only one suggestion to add. Make giving part of your life not an event in it. No donation is to small when it comes to lifting another Human being up and giving them life, dignity, and pride.
Reach into yourself and help another.
Love is Never Wrong!
Friday, December 27, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
To Sochi with love
I've been quiet for some time. Life can throw things in your path that takes up your time or energy. Today however I want to talk about Sochi Olympics. It has been a topic of great discussion in our community of late.
The issue before us all is Russia's drastic and cruel anti-gay laws and the brutal violence it is spawning against us, simply for existing.
Some are calling for a boycott or even moving the Olympics to a nation that respects Human rights. Others stress an embargo of any Russian product. The suggestions are many but I think they all sort of miss the point we should be making.
Condemnation rarely works in authoritarian societies. It only sets them against you and entrenches them further in their beliefs and ideology. An embargo unless on a huge scale may hurt companies but does little to touch a government. To boycott or move the Olympics does not change beliefs. It will be viewed as an attack on values.
So how do we make an impact on a society set on dehumanizing a group or hurting them? You love! Man may hurt you, lock you up, even condemn you. But it does not mean you can not do a thing. Love! Kiss, hug, hold hands, even dance. Love is not propaganda it is a connection. If you do not have that then your message is a voice in the wind.
Be who you are and stand. Refuse censure. Be proud and show love. Only in that purity can hate face the light of truth. When you see and know love before you it becomes much harder to hate. When you see it the lie that it is not natural begins to falter. When you stand, in love, you cause surety to waver.
I know I make it sound easy but it is not. To undo hate, violence, and miseducation takes time and many brave souls standing in unity and love letting that which society has unleashed know we are here and our love is not wrong.
Reject hate and do not allow it to flourish by inaction or complicity. Love and let the world see it. Let Russia see it.
Love is Never Wrong!
The issue before us all is Russia's drastic and cruel anti-gay laws and the brutal violence it is spawning against us, simply for existing.
Some are calling for a boycott or even moving the Olympics to a nation that respects Human rights. Others stress an embargo of any Russian product. The suggestions are many but I think they all sort of miss the point we should be making.
Condemnation rarely works in authoritarian societies. It only sets them against you and entrenches them further in their beliefs and ideology. An embargo unless on a huge scale may hurt companies but does little to touch a government. To boycott or move the Olympics does not change beliefs. It will be viewed as an attack on values.
So how do we make an impact on a society set on dehumanizing a group or hurting them? You love! Man may hurt you, lock you up, even condemn you. But it does not mean you can not do a thing. Love! Kiss, hug, hold hands, even dance. Love is not propaganda it is a connection. If you do not have that then your message is a voice in the wind.
Be who you are and stand. Refuse censure. Be proud and show love. Only in that purity can hate face the light of truth. When you see and know love before you it becomes much harder to hate. When you see it the lie that it is not natural begins to falter. When you stand, in love, you cause surety to waver.
I know I make it sound easy but it is not. To undo hate, violence, and miseducation takes time and many brave souls standing in unity and love letting that which society has unleashed know we are here and our love is not wrong.
Reject hate and do not allow it to flourish by inaction or complicity. Love and let the world see it. Let Russia see it.
Love is Never Wrong!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Looking to the Stars
A while ago I came across a piece arguing for celebrities to come out and do more to help our community. It was a decent piece laying out why they should. I can't disagree the value of celebrity role models and presence to so many of us, especially our youth.
The stars today are asked so much. Not only must they act, sing, perform...they must promote, do charity, tell us their private lives. All just to catch peoples attentions. If we add the LGBT to the equation it becomes much more.
I've thought about this topic many times now since I first saw the video on it. The call, to me, should be one of caution. If made it should be a request not a demand.
The one sure thing about coming out is it should always be our own choice. As an extension of that sharing the information with people, let alone millions, again our own choice. It is so easy to look at the situation from the outside and say you should do this or that. In fact we should never put such pressure upon others.
Very few of us truly knows the impact such actions can cause. Will ultra conservative communities ban them? Do they increase risk to their lives in some areas? Will the message get drowned in politics? The questions are many.
As valuable as celebrity role models are I think we need to stop looking up. Look around us first. To me it is much more valuable to have local role models. If I am bashed or threatened is their an LGBT police officer to help me? If I'm concerned about my health do I have a LGBT doctor to visit? If I'm coming out do I have a LGBT center to visit?
The greatest impact in our lives are those who touch us. The people who care and understand. Those people should be the ones around you. My call is to them. We need you far more than a dreamy actor or actress in some far off place.
Security, confidence, inspiration... All are wonderful things we need in life. And all should be a call away at most. Role models are a powerful thing. Maybe we should realize they are all around us. And that is a far more powerful resource.
Leave stars and clouds for dreams and desires. If we need help, support, even comfort look around, we are everywhere. The challenge is being visible. But know if your always looking up the brightest thing may be missed.
Love is Never Wrong
The stars today are asked so much. Not only must they act, sing, perform...they must promote, do charity, tell us their private lives. All just to catch peoples attentions. If we add the LGBT to the equation it becomes much more.
I've thought about this topic many times now since I first saw the video on it. The call, to me, should be one of caution. If made it should be a request not a demand.
The one sure thing about coming out is it should always be our own choice. As an extension of that sharing the information with people, let alone millions, again our own choice. It is so easy to look at the situation from the outside and say you should do this or that. In fact we should never put such pressure upon others.
Very few of us truly knows the impact such actions can cause. Will ultra conservative communities ban them? Do they increase risk to their lives in some areas? Will the message get drowned in politics? The questions are many.
As valuable as celebrity role models are I think we need to stop looking up. Look around us first. To me it is much more valuable to have local role models. If I am bashed or threatened is their an LGBT police officer to help me? If I'm concerned about my health do I have a LGBT doctor to visit? If I'm coming out do I have a LGBT center to visit?
The greatest impact in our lives are those who touch us. The people who care and understand. Those people should be the ones around you. My call is to them. We need you far more than a dreamy actor or actress in some far off place.
Security, confidence, inspiration... All are wonderful things we need in life. And all should be a call away at most. Role models are a powerful thing. Maybe we should realize they are all around us. And that is a far more powerful resource.
Leave stars and clouds for dreams and desires. If we need help, support, even comfort look around, we are everywhere. The challenge is being visible. But know if your always looking up the brightest thing may be missed.
Love is Never Wrong
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Pray The Gay Away
You know I have so many feelings on this topic and they stir such emotion in me. Quite simply Love is love. God made no mistake and we all play a role in this world, exactly as we are. So without saying more here is Shawn's confrontation. Please view it and let him know things are alright.
Shawn's difficult process began here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVVfFNW8YHI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whgd0AvyQJM
Love is Never Wrong
Shawn's difficult process began here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVVfFNW8YHI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whgd0AvyQJM
Love is Never Wrong
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Unity
One of the greatest acts that can benefit a person in life is unity. The simple effort to stand by someone, give them dignity, respect, remove fear, even allow life. But many fear to do so. They fear being labeled negatively for it.
Unity should not be about fear but about what is right. It's not an easy task all the time but it is a correct one. For we should lift each other up in life. We are each other have.
When I was in high school I remember a certain class party our teacher was giving us. It had been a successful time and we were celerating. As I sat talking to others and sipping on my drink I continued to notice from the back of the room a group of young men being loud, laughing and pointing at another classmate.
This concerned me. The young man was being oh so quiet and sullen. Finally he shuffled forward to the table with refreshments I think more to escape his tormentors than to get a drink. That is when I approached him. First grabbing a cookie and just being friendly. I tired to put him at ease.
Finally I asked him why they were giving him a hard time. He said "Because I'm gay." At the time I was far from dealing with my own battles of identity but still I knew what was right. So I put my arm around his shoulder and told him "It's ok I'll talk to you." As he looked down trying to process someone accepting him I gazed up staring at the others in the back disapprovingly. It was their time to go quiet, look away in shame and consider their actions.
Unity is usually a simple act of dignity, respect, compassion, maybe even life. It is an act of what is right.
Unity = Human + Human
Maybe if we follow that equation we will see it's not gay rights. It's Human rights.
Regardless of the differences in beliefs, life choices, or identity we are all Human. In that we should all be treated Humanely. Stand! Stand with a fellow Human and give them life, love, freedom, respect, and dignity that we all deserve.
For our legacy as Humans is marked in how we treat each other. Nothing else is added to the equation.
I guess the question is will you add to Humanity or subtract?
Love is Never Wrong
Unity should not be about fear but about what is right. It's not an easy task all the time but it is a correct one. For we should lift each other up in life. We are each other have.
When I was in high school I remember a certain class party our teacher was giving us. It had been a successful time and we were celerating. As I sat talking to others and sipping on my drink I continued to notice from the back of the room a group of young men being loud, laughing and pointing at another classmate.
This concerned me. The young man was being oh so quiet and sullen. Finally he shuffled forward to the table with refreshments I think more to escape his tormentors than to get a drink. That is when I approached him. First grabbing a cookie and just being friendly. I tired to put him at ease.
Finally I asked him why they were giving him a hard time. He said "Because I'm gay." At the time I was far from dealing with my own battles of identity but still I knew what was right. So I put my arm around his shoulder and told him "It's ok I'll talk to you." As he looked down trying to process someone accepting him I gazed up staring at the others in the back disapprovingly. It was their time to go quiet, look away in shame and consider their actions.
Unity is usually a simple act of dignity, respect, compassion, maybe even life. It is an act of what is right.
Unity = Human + Human
Maybe if we follow that equation we will see it's not gay rights. It's Human rights.
Regardless of the differences in beliefs, life choices, or identity we are all Human. In that we should all be treated Humanely. Stand! Stand with a fellow Human and give them life, love, freedom, respect, and dignity that we all deserve.
For our legacy as Humans is marked in how we treat each other. Nothing else is added to the equation.
I guess the question is will you add to Humanity or subtract?
Love is Never Wrong
Sunday, August 12, 2012
I've Only Just Begun
I've never been an advocate of violence but the symbolism of our struggle in this piece is quite powerful and telling on many levels. So to the many oppressed in recent days your not alone and your struggles is just.
Love is Never Wrong
Love is Never Wrong
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
A Life of Love, A Life of Pain
In our quest of love in all its wondrous forms we tend to hide the pain. For many of us we live in pain. We hide ourselves, conceal who we are, and what we feel. We spare the others in our lives the very woes that trouble us because we don't want to pass on the pain. So many of us live in pain when we should live with it.
Pain for all the misery and heartache it brings, is not a bad thing. Only those that create pain can be termed bad. The pain we have in our lives from the smallest to the insurmountable is really the same. It is a struggle to hold on to us and not be swept away in the hurt that afflicts us so.
When we are told we are disgusting or unnatural we may brush it off and move on. We may bury it deep inside and allow it to fester eating at our very soul. Neither is healthy. We must acknowledge the trauma it has caused and change it to love. We must affirm ourselves and ensure the pain stops with us.
When when our flesh bleeds and our bones ache the physical will heal, but our mind fears repercussion. We stray away from that which hurt us. We hide, if just a bit more. We allow the strife raging across our black and blue bodies to quiet us. Physical pain can go far beyond the obvious. We must confront it and strengthen our lives to be who we are in spite of it. We must love those who cause it.
When we are oppressed by law, society, or even religion we try to conform to a mold that is not us. We try to lose ourselves in a form that only inflicts grievous torture. We suppress our very identity to please those that rarely fit their own mold. In fact though we should be who we are and embrace our distinction. No one else is like us and can be no one else, without pain.
Love and pain often go hand in hand. It is through our pain we learn to be compassionate to others. We learn sympathy, patience, even humility. The key to life with pain is to acknowledge it and bring into your life. Take all that hurt and change it to love. It won't be an easy thing to do and you may very well have days when the pain has the upper hand. Still our search for love must begin within. We must take all that pain change it.
Allow for the pain in your life. But also allow for it to be love. Take those unkind words and tell someone their beautiful, you love them, or even you appreciate them. When our bones heal and wounds fade, tend to the injured. Share your love and make their journey a little less hard. When people oppress you confront it, change it. Break down the lies and hate one person at a time, if you must. The path of love is not an easy one but it is a good one.
Love and pain are not one in the same but we can choose to take one and make it better. Love has to start somewhere so why not in you?
Love
Love is Never Wrong
Pain for all the misery and heartache it brings, is not a bad thing. Only those that create pain can be termed bad. The pain we have in our lives from the smallest to the insurmountable is really the same. It is a struggle to hold on to us and not be swept away in the hurt that afflicts us so.
When we are told we are disgusting or unnatural we may brush it off and move on. We may bury it deep inside and allow it to fester eating at our very soul. Neither is healthy. We must acknowledge the trauma it has caused and change it to love. We must affirm ourselves and ensure the pain stops with us.
When when our flesh bleeds and our bones ache the physical will heal, but our mind fears repercussion. We stray away from that which hurt us. We hide, if just a bit more. We allow the strife raging across our black and blue bodies to quiet us. Physical pain can go far beyond the obvious. We must confront it and strengthen our lives to be who we are in spite of it. We must love those who cause it.
When we are oppressed by law, society, or even religion we try to conform to a mold that is not us. We try to lose ourselves in a form that only inflicts grievous torture. We suppress our very identity to please those that rarely fit their own mold. In fact though we should be who we are and embrace our distinction. No one else is like us and can be no one else, without pain.
Love and pain often go hand in hand. It is through our pain we learn to be compassionate to others. We learn sympathy, patience, even humility. The key to life with pain is to acknowledge it and bring into your life. Take all that hurt and change it to love. It won't be an easy thing to do and you may very well have days when the pain has the upper hand. Still our search for love must begin within. We must take all that pain change it.
Allow for the pain in your life. But also allow for it to be love. Take those unkind words and tell someone their beautiful, you love them, or even you appreciate them. When our bones heal and wounds fade, tend to the injured. Share your love and make their journey a little less hard. When people oppress you confront it, change it. Break down the lies and hate one person at a time, if you must. The path of love is not an easy one but it is a good one.
Love and pain are not one in the same but we can choose to take one and make it better. Love has to start somewhere so why not in you?
Love
Love is Never Wrong
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)