Evidently I'm One of Those Political People

   

     As I approach the end of my first two decades, I have been realizing many things about myself, things that, previously, I would not have correlated to my being. And as the days go by, and I dwell on these realizations, I had another one: that I really just ought to embrace it. While there have been little realizations, middle realizations, and one or two bigger ones, I feel as though one takes precedence.

I am a really awful speller. 

     Just joking. I mean I really am, (you would have never known, thank you spell-check) but that is not the one that takes precedence. It is that I am extremely opinionated, involved in politics, and really enjoy spreading ideas around and vocally suggesting that while you may think you are right, really, because we are disagreeing, you are in fact wrong. WRONG! There, I said it.
     I know I have a determination to be right, to produce the correct answers, to solve the problem correctly,  but I had previously never ascribed these tendencies to having any sort of political or societal commentary. However as of late, as I read about policies that may or may not come to pass in our government, or our reactions as a society to a certain event or advertisement (here's looking at you Cheerios) I find my head abuzz with a chatter, all of my opinions and comments swarming, positioning to escape my head and flow freely out into the world. But before they are released, some part of me yells, "Wait! What are you doing? You are not that person! You do not go around spouting your opinions on how such and such ought to be done because of x, y, and z! You are not that old person at get-togethers who opens with their opinion on something and makes everyone else uncomfortable!" Well yes, I am realizing, I am this person. I do have these opinions, I am very involved (emotionally, it's not as though I have the power to call Barry O and suggest some changes and then have them happen) with what is happening in the world, I am concerned, I am passionate, sometimes frustrated, and I want to add my voice to the chorus.
     Previous to me embracing this, was me denying this, after having realized this, after living with this desire and honestly believing I didn't have it. Lets just say that some events in my life became painfully obvious as to why they turned out the way they did, because at some point along the way I was just spewing these opinions out while being in complete denial that I was, in fact, that kind of opinion-spewing person. For everyone who came into contact with the contents of my spewing, I really am sorry if you have been sprayed on. I know it exists now, so now I am channeling it wisely.
   In partnership with the need to spew opinions is the need of a venue to commence spewing. Weirdly enough I have my own blog where I have been commencing the spew of my opinions already. This works out for me because I really didn't know where to take this blog. I wanted it to be of my travels and adventures but as I haven't been able to get up and go anywhere, which is really boring, I didn't have much to write about. Instead, I will focus my spewing tendencies here, where I can project them into the world, continue writing, and save my Facebook friends the constant bombardment of my opinions and links to various topics with a political interest.Huzzah!
I will work to improve my spelling as well, as an aside. 

Seeing Red

Happy Tuesday to you all! In case anyone's Facebook wasn't blowing up with these red equality signs, here is what the majority of us are seeing today:

     Why? Well because it is a big day for us here in the Land of the Free, it is the day that the 'issue' of gay rights has begun come to a head. Today, the Supreme Court has begun the hearings for gay marriage in D.C.  The equality sign is actually from the Human Rights Campaign, who usually has a blue and yellow sign, but instead opted for a pink and red one to gather up supporters for this day in history.
     I myself have not changed my profile picture to this sign, why? Do I not support them? Am I too lazy? No, no, I do support gay marriage, one-hundred and ten percent, I just don't see what my changing my profile picture will do to further the cause. But you know what I can do? I can write about it.
     What I have seen across my newsfeed today has certainly made me want to turn my caps lock on and go nuts on some people, but I know that won't actually help anything, so I turned here instead.
     Let me begin with this: I can't even believe this is an issue. To top that, I can't even believe this issue has taken so many years to stir up a sizable movement, and now I can't believe it is being met with so many roadblocks, just to give people what we have already promised them as American Citizens: Equal Rights. It saddens me as an American to look through the pages of my American History text book, and see over and over again, that while we preach equality, acceptance, and say we are an encompassing and understanding country to anyone who's beliefs or ideas may seem different, we can't seem to uphold this in our practices. While we are proud of our freedom, of our constitution, our country, we seem to really enjoy taking these rights away from people, and putting others beneath us. And not just any other people, our own American Citizens. This is so unbelievably cruel, and wrong, I have no words; so instead I will move on to what I have seen today.
     On my Facebook, the majority of my friends (you guys are awesome) have posted these red equal signs in their profile pictures, shared pictures of protesters in D.C. with clever and moving signs, and have taken to the comment boxes to explain and defend their ideas. Others of my friends, have taken to their statuses to say they do not support this bill, and they don't all have the same reasons for their opinions but their words all have the same meaning: they are not for equality. These people have been blasted away by comments, one avid supporter of equality saying how dare they posses, and then share this opinion on Facebook. Well, girl, everyone has been sharing their opinions on Facebook, you can't blast them for joining the fray, just because their opinion is different than yours, common.
I do not have a problem with these opinions, what I do have a problem with are their reasoning for them.
Trolling through the comments, here are the defenses I've most commonly seen:
~ It is against what the Bible says
~ Being gay is a choice, and people should simply choose to be straight and save us all the headache
~ I don't like it/It's not right etc. 
     Alright, one at a time, beginning with the Bible. Leaving my personal beliefs aside (read:I do not have any) there is something glaringly wrong with this reason against gay marriage. Here, in America, the Land of the Free, we have a SEPARATION of Church and state. Sorry, I could not control my caps-lock in that instance. What does this mean? This means, that the affairs, beliefs and rules of a church, are not supposed to interfere with the managing of our government. How then, is a definition from a religious text, standing up in our government? How has this even gained footing as a reason to separate a group of people into second-class citizenship? This is what baffles me most in this battle for equality, this religious definition should not have made this many waves in our country, let alone wash up on the front steps of our nations capitol. It boils my blood to see this kind of bastardization of our law of a Separation of Church and State.
     For those of you who think it is a choice, I pose this experiment to you: Why don't you choose to be gay for a day, even a week, and tell me how it goes for you. Didn't work? You couldn't be gay by choice? Huh, well I guess that answers that question.
     And for the rest of you, who simply don't like it; I don't like you, so what are we supposed to do about that? Shall I take away your rights? As a demographic of people, who just don't like other people, shall I not allow you to marry? To visit your loved ones in the hospital? That seems rather rude doesn't it? How about instead, I won't take away your rights, I will let you keep on having your opinions, and then you can just let gay people continue on their way, living their lives which don't affect you in the slightest. My god, it's brilliant!
     Of course, those are my opinions, if you don't like them, well, you are reading my blog, which is all about my opinions, so really that's on you, but feel free to argue (or you know, agree) with me in the comments!
xoxo