Monday, September 19, 2011

Gee...I AM a baby

As you may know, Lenore Skenazy earned fame (and, in some circles, infamy) when she allowed her 9-year-old to take a NY subway by himself. I'm not going to get into the wisdom of that decision in this post, but the whole thing caught my attention and so I read her blog now and again. Recently, Lenore posted this.

I'll admit to being a bit cantankerous when it comes to mobile phones. I don't think people should use them while driving, or in restaurants, or in line for the cashier, an certainly not (with a few exceptions) while seeing friends or on a date. Despite this, I have found myself calling Dan while on the way home from one event or another simply to say, "I'm on my way home", and Lenore's comments have made me rethink the necessity of that practice. After all, Dan knows that, when I go out, I will indeed come home shortly after the engagement ends; if my plans change, I'll phone him with that news. He doesn't expect or need minute-by-minute updates of my location, course, and heading, so why I am providing them? Why are any of us?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

How the circle has turned!

It's pretty amazing to me the way that, in eight years, support for same-sex marriage has gone from about two-thirds opposed to a narrow majority in favor.

Still, something from the article gives me pause:

Barbara Von Aspern loves her daughter, "thinks the world" of the person her daughter intends to marry and believes the pair should have the same legal rights as anyone else. It pains her, but Von Aspern is going to skip their wedding. Her daughter, Von Aspern explains, is marrying another woman.

"We love them to death, and we love them without being judgmental," the 62-year-old Chandler, Ariz., retiree said. "But the actual marriage I cannot agree with."


Change the gender of one partner and the race of the other and nobody, but nobody would ever think that denying marriage equality was anything but judgmental.

It's amazing that, in this day and age, people still get a pass for harboring demonstrably bigoted notions simply because they say, "I don't agree." Some say that all opinions are worthy of respect, but I say that's bullshit. Respect isn't something you order like Chinese food; it's earned. An opinion that doesn't merit respect shouldn't get it.

And in case anyone's wondering, yes, if you oppose marriage equality for gay people, you are not my friend. That's not making politics personal; that's just personal.