Hatred Unfounded

The other morning, like most of you, I woke to the news of the latest cast selected for the ABC television reality show Dancing With The Stars.  Apparently this selection has stirred up more controversy than the first season which came back to provide a dance-off.  This morning I woke up to more news regarding the selection of Chaz Bono for DWTS.  It seems the good christian folks in the United States find fault and are trying to make a statement.

I do not make it a habit of watching reality television.  Real life is reality enough for me.  However, there are times I am flipping through and land on one or two and may pause for a moment to see what is on that channel.  Doing this I have landed on DWTS several times.  Before I got sick, I loved to dance and especially ballroom dances.  So I pause longer at times if the pair dancing is dancing well.  There have been times in doing this that I have regretted my decision to pause.  It seems more and more that DWTS gets away from the dancing and focuses on the costuming, or lack thereof.  Dancing should be about dancing and NOT about the lack of clothing, unless of course it is striptease.  It is my understanding that DWTS was designed to showcase ballroom dancing and not tawdry stripping.

That said, back to the issue at hand.  So-called Christians all over the United States are saying they are going to boycott DWTS if Caz Bono is not removed from the cast.  This morning on the news they were claiming it would cause confusion for children.  I don’t understand how a man dancing with a woman on a television show is going to cause confusion for anyone especially children.  These same people don’t have an issue with their children watching strippers so why should they have a problem with their children watching a person who is very happy and healthy dancing and enjoying life.

Chaz Bono did not feel happy in his own body and like many people decided to do something about it.  The only difference between Mr. Bono and the rest of the celebrities is that he didn’t just have cosmetic surgery, he changed his gender.   I have heard arguments regarding transgender from the churches where they use a statement that God doesn’t make mistakes.  This implies that we should accept our bodies as they were given.  If I were a gambler, I would lay bets on the mass majority of those protesting Mr. Bono have and do attempt to change themselves on a daily basis through dieting, exercising, potions and lotions for anti-aging and so forth.  In my opinion, their claims hold nothing more than a lot of hot air.

Humans have difficulty looking within and how the festering hatred they harbor is worse for them than anyone else.  I never rally considered the reality of transgender until I met someone who is in the process to transgender.  I accepted this dear sweet soul as a human being long before I learned of what they were going through.  When I learned of my friends’ decision I could have deserted and forsaken the friendship formed to latch onto hatred toward the decision.  Had I done that I would have missed out on further getting to know one of the most gentle souls I have ever met with a heart bigger than the state of Texas.

It seems to me that as a whole, the christian sect is full of even more hatred that white supremacists and other radical groups.  These outcries only serve to add even more tarnish to their group and those who are part of the group and don’t harbor such hatred have to endure the ugliness heaped upon them due to those who go too far.

Hatred causes even more pain.  Acceptance of each other on the grounds that we are all human beings is what will go the distance to bring about peace.

Borrowed From Mr. Bono's Website http://www.chazbono.net/

**NOTE:  This is not meant to say that all Christians are haters.  I personally know some Christians who have very good and kind souls.

After I Am Gone

I have a lot to get done in the next two weeks so this will probably be the last words I post here within Blogtopia.  Some have said they read my Meniere’s Blog regularly.  Either they missed my Letter Of Resignation, or they just didn’t care.  Since I am an advocate of giving people the benefit of the doubt, I will believe that they just lied to me in saying they read it regularly.

I spent last night in and out of sleep.  When I was out of sleep I was thinking about everything that still has to be done.  I woke up thinking about this post.

There are those who will wonder why I didn’t come to them with all of this.  Well, how could I bring you my tears when you didn’t want to share in my laughter?  In my life I have had one thing in my heart that I have striven to bring forth to the world in my meager words and that is peace through understanding and acceptance.  The world has not listened.  My heart is not to be heard.  The world is not ready to hear what is in my heart, for it would rather hold onto its anger and hatred.

Perhaps in my next life, the world will be ready to hear what is in my heart.  I believe that the intent of the heart follows you into your next life, so perhaps I have been trying to get the world to hear my heart for generations.  Not this life, but hopefully the next.  If you desire to me honor after I am gone, then remember the message of my heart and learn to accept others no matter the differences and understand that everyone is a human being above all else.

True peace will come when people move beyond the fears of what is different and accept everyone as individual human beings without the anger and hatred that continues to bind this world through ignorance.

Keeping The Peace

As a fan of the Canadian police drama Flashpoint, I often hear the phrase “keep the peace”.  This sentiment also explicates throughout each episode as if a lighthouse illuminating the way for ships in the night.  Keeping the peace has been the focus of police officers the world around for decades.

To keep the peace is not just a purpose of law enforcement.  Peace has been sought by groups and individuals alike for generations.  Many times these people are labeled “peacemakers” and “dreamers”.  I stand before you accused.  I can only hope you find me guilty as charged.

Growing up, my kinfolk would speak derogatorily and make fun of other groups of people they deemed lesser.  This broke my heart and cut me to the core. Especially when they would speak differently in the open.

All through school and college when studying history, my heart broke.  From the torture of the Native Americans to the inhumane treatment of Negros to the mass murder of Jews and other “undesirables” in Nazi concentration camps the pain I felt was wretched.  But this was nowhere near what these others suffered at the hands of terrorists.

I grew up hearing music by John Lennon, Bob Dylan and others who wrote and performed songs laden with the message of peace.  This message was not specific to any particular genre and had no boundaries.

Recently, I sat in awe and watched as the Egyptian people stood and fought back against their oppressive government.  We are still watching as other nations are following the same path.

For some time now I have been writing poems about peace.  In December 2010, a friend in Second Life ® asked me to come to her group and read my poems of peace and then perhaps stay around and DJ a gig so they could dance and have a party.  I agreed.  As I pondered this event, I decided instead to do something never done in Second Life ® before, I interlaced my poems into a special playlist of music with one theme.

I dubbed this setup to be the genre of peace and began my research for appropriate music.  I wanted my listeners to be surprised not only by my poetry, but by the selection of music as well.  I was extremely surprised throughout my research and included music from a variety of genres including jazz, blues, rock and even Celtic.

Keeping the peace and being a peacemaker should not be left to police officers and dreamers.  This is a right and a privilege of every human being.  Learning to accept people is the first step in co-existing on this tiny planet.  The way I end my peace program is to charge all my listeners to go out, walk up to someone they don’t know (and probably wouldn’t befriend) and hug them.  Then tell them you are glad they are alive.  I so charge each of you now.

What is the verdict?  Am I guilty?

Segregating America

About a month ago a friend in New York City, in her attempt to help me overcome my shyness with the male gender, urged me to rent all episodes of the television show Sex And The City and find my “inner Charlotte”.  I had difficulty with the show in its broadcast format when I worked at the television station where there was less sex and vulgar language.  However, I followed through.  Last night I was watching episodes from season three and encountered one that I had forgotten about.  This episode had Samantha in a relationship with a black man.  The man’s sister, an acquaintance of Carrie, strongly disapproved of her brother dating a white woman.  He could be with her just for sex, but not have a relationship.

This morning I was watching Good Morning America and took a breath to sip coffee whilst Robin was interviewing Gayle King regarding the upcoming issue of O Magazine.  This made me think of recent news casts on my local stations and how segregation still exists in the United States.

Hit the Pause button before you snap my head off.

In the recent past here in the south there have been some semi-major issues regarding the flying and wearing of the confederate rebel flag also known as Stars And Bars.  While it is not necessarily displayed as a racial evince, there are those who do take offense with it because of historical connotations.  I can understand this as I have issues with the swastika.  I am not making an attempt to get inside the mind of anyone else and try to figure out why they do the things they do.  I just want to look at blatant segregation that is usually not viewed as such.

When the word segregation is used, most people think about the Civil Rights movement regarding the segregating of blacks and whites.  The word segregation means to separate, usually with regard to race, class or ethnic group.  So where is my mind going?  Walk this way, please…..

There is  new segregation in the United States to go along with the obvious racial segregation I have already alluded to.  I want to bring this up before I move further into the heart of the motivation for this post.  Homosexuality is the new racial issue.  I grew up being told that homosexuality is wrong and I should have nothing to do with anyone who practices this. (Mind you I was also told that I should have nothing to do with anyone who was black other than allowing them to breath the same air I breath)

I have a good number of those I claim as associate, acquaintance and even friend who are homosexual.  I am proud to claim these relationships and know in my heart that they are some of the best human beings I know.  So why is the United States trying to segregate them?

Human beings are human beings.  You have those who are downright wicked and evil and you have those who are everything good and kind and then there are those who reside in the middle.

Back to segregation.

I have noticed, mostly on local news casts, that it seems to be okay for a black reported to cover the occasional “white” story, but only black reporters cover “black” stories.  What’s with this?  Robin Roberts was the one to interview Gayle King.  This is national news coverage.  Is a white reporter incapable of interviewing a black person?  It has become predictable on my local news.  If there is a story about to air regarding a black person, church, etc I am assured that a black reporter will cover it.  However, I rarely see the same black reporters covering local stories about white people, churches, etc.

This is blatant segregation.  The back reporters are just as qualified as the white reports and perhaps more so.  They should be able to cover every story as well. I am not saying this is what happened this morning on GMA as I am sure the story would have been covered just as well had George conducted the interview, it is just that it drew my attention to the more local issue.

Homosexual couples are more and more in the news and how the “church” is trying to keep them from having rights that are afforded to all other couples.  This is a form of segregation.  We are separating these vital people and telling them they are not allowed to exist in this country the way everyone else does.  They have to conform to what we want them to be or they have to leave.  As a country we did this to the Indians and blacks in a major way.

This is also being done to other “minority” groups in the form of bullying.  Living peaceful means we accept all other human being for the sheer reason that they are human beings.  Every person is different and deserves the same respect as everyone else.  Segregation needs to be abolished, not the people that are segregated.  Stop hating and start imagining everyone else as if their insides were on their outside.  Then there are no differences except the heart of the person with their loves.

The Domino Effect

For eighteen days the world watched as citizens took matters into their own hands in Egypt.  They wanted only what should be afforded every human being; the right to live a dignified life. Now we are watching the dominoes fall all over the Mideast and Northern Africa as others follow the template established in Egypt.

Those who live in what is known as the “free world” don’t always have an understanding of how others around the world live.  Visiting a third-world country can only give  a brief surface visual of how people live day-to-day.  Things that are taken for granted in many parts of the world are but a dream in these countries.  While many juggle two and tree smart phones there are millions who can’t even afford a land-line that could ultimately save their life.  There are many who sit within the comfort and protection of their locked doors while so many can’t even lock their door to the government who can go in at will and have what they desire.

A young man in Egypt had the notion to use modern technology in a way that no one had ever seen.  He began posting in a social network to gather Egyptians to rally and move in a peaceful demonstration to bring change in their country.  Eighteen days later, Mr. Mubarak resigned after a 30 year reign.   While there were those who took advantage of the movement to loot and wreak havoc, the ones rallying for change remained as peaceful as they could.  There are still many days to come that will be venturing into the unknown for the Egyptian’s, but they are on their way as long as they do not lose focus of why and how this all began.

Since this success there have been other countries following the same route; Libya, Yemen, Iran, and still other Arab countries.  These are not covered by the media as well as the Egyptian rally was covered, but it should by no means be swept under the carpet.  While it seems that many of these rallies are more violent it is difficult to tell by the lack of coverage if the violence is coming from the protesters or the government.

The writing was on the wall as eyes were glued to see the outcome of the Egyptian rallies.  It was only a matter of time before others followed through and began their own demonstrations for decency and dignity.   History is being made in the world as we become spectators within the virtual realm watching and waiting.  The dominoes were set up many years ago and last month a young Egyptian man tipped the first one and brought light onto the darkened stage and now we watch the dominoes fall and land as they will.

No one has the right to berate and cause another person to live in a manner that is less than the same dignity that he would have for himself.

Eggs-actly!!

I have been going through a financially difficult time lately.  This is due in part to a medical condition and in part the recession.  Last week a friend I used to work with came by to take a letter to mail for me as I was having a bad day physically and couldn’t get out.  When he came he brought me some tomatoes and eggs from his father’s farm.  He commented that the eggs were colorful.  I kind of chuckled and mentioned that they were all still eggs.  I couldn’t get this thought out of my head.   Seems when I am feeling my worst, my tornadoes really start to twist and turn the words around in my head.  I thought about how some folks say that brown eggs are the best and others aver it is the white eggs you should choose.  I have never tasted a difference in either.  After I was feeling better, I took the carton of eggs from the refrigerator and just looked at them.  There they sat, ten eggs of various shades of white and brown.  there was even one that was a kind of rusty color.  It was almost as if the hens which laid the eggs wanted to celebrate the Christian holiday of Easter.

My thoughts weren’t just about the eggs as eggs.  I kept thinking how I said that eggs were all the same no matter the color.  This is like people.  No matter the color of your skin, eyes and hair, every human being is the same.  I recall the old movie Tammy And The Bachelor.  During the course of the movie, the uneducated swamp girl, Tammy makes a startling statement about war.  In essence she said that if people would remember that under all the armor and clothing there is nothing but flesh and blood, perhaps there would be few wars.  Oh, the innocence.

Those who have followed my blog for any length of time have already figured where I am going.  My favorite topic to write about in here – PEACE.  Just like those eggs in my refrigerator, people are the same.  We may look different on the outside, but inside we are flesh, blood and bones.  The shell may be different sizes or colors or perhaps shapes slightly off; but inside there is a yolk and the whites.

When we focus on the differences we have there is strife and war.  It will only be when we focus on what we have in common (i.e.: being human beings for one) that we can truly accept others and bring about peace in the world.  Greet people without noticing what is on the outside.  Nearly three years ago, to escape the illness that has invaded my body, I entered Second Life (I have a blog just about that and have mentioned it before).  I began getting to know people where all I could see of them was their avatar representative.  After a while I was getting to know them not as their Second Life persona, but who they are in the real world.  It hit me one day that had I been walking down the road in the real world and passed most of these people, at the most I would have just given them a glance, but we would never have become friends.  I used to think I was not a prejudice kind of person, that I was very accepting.  I learned how wrong I was.  I can now boast that I have friends from all walks of life, skin colors, religions, races, nationalities, etc.  I got to know them as people keeping in mind that there was a human being on the other side of the computer, not just a bunch of pixels.

To the rest of the world I offer this advice – Put your blinders on and meet some eggs.

Peace

To start, let me specify that I am not using this post to bash religions nor religion in general.  Neither am I trying to sway anyone to believe a certain way, nor open up to a challenge/debate on religion.  However, of the five major world religions, Buddhism, Catholicism,  Christianity, Judaism; only two are not laden with controversy.  I have written blog posts, essays and poems regarding world peace and it never fails that I receive at least two comments telling me that “only G-d can bring peace” or “there will be no true peace till Jesus comes again”.  I sit and ponder which g-d they are speaking of and what religion has to do with what I have written about peace.

In the core of each of the aforementioned religions is the stress for peace.  But with all the controversy and turmoil surrounding three of the five, I find it difficult to see their message of peace.  I am not judging and I do not aver that the actions of some make it the way of the whole.  However, when those actions are so negative, they tent to put a cloud over any good that could be done.

In the United States, especially here in the ‘Bible Belt’, it is supposed to be a good thing to say you attend church or are a christian.  I wrote an essay a while back addressing two christian groups.  One in the US and the other in the UK.  These groups protest poets and writers just because they don’t like what is written, especially when the writer writes against war.  They also go to airports and protest soldiers coming home from the war as well as protesting the funerals of five young girls killed in a car accident on a rainy night driving home from a football game.

I have personally seen church people and Christians judgmentally taunt people for their beliefs and lifestyles because they differ from their own and what they teach.I have often heard the statement made in churches that they “love the sinner, hate the sin”.  Yet they treat those they call sinners in an ill manner when they don’t conform and give up said sins.

I am trying to see the peace through the cloud.

For decades, Catholicism has dealt with its own issues.  One of the biggest issues is the allegations of sexual abuse of children by the priests.  Most recently it is alleged that the pope has known about specific allegations and buried the information.  Priests take vows of celibacy and break those vows to have sex with boys and women.  I was always taught that when you make a promise, you keep it.  Especially if you make the promise to G-d.

If the leaders are discontent, how can I see the peace?

You don’t have to go far these days or do much research to find anything negative regarding Islam.  members of Islam are ever being suspected and blamed for terrorism around the world.  All a person has to do is look the part or be seen attending a mosque and they are suspect.  Not long ago a man in the United States Army went on a shooting spree at a military base.  As soon as it was said he is a practicing Muslim the media went wild that it was an act of terrorism.  I wrote about this and had stated it appeared to be PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  As soon as the authorities came to the same conclusion I did, the media dropped it.

The other day I watched a piece on 60 Minutes.  They profiled a woman who had been a CIA agent.  The woman, originally from Lebanon, came to the United States as a teenager.  She made no secret of her past and had to undergo many stringent background checks to be employed by the FBI and the CIA.  After many years of service she was scrutinized for her place of birth and her (dis)connection to her sister’s husband.  It was later determined that she was NOT a terrorist.  She still lost her job and all she had worked for and was even dubbed in the media as “Jihad Jane”.  I foresee a return to the McCarthy Trials.

With suspicion and a select group terrorizing the world in the name of G-d, I can’t see the peace.

Thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, I have friends of different religious views including those who are Atheist.  Many years ago I was asking friends what they truly believe and why.  One person accused me of only asking like-minded people.  I had only begun seeking, but after this gentleman made his harsh comments, I quit asking.  I just wanted to know what other peoples views were.  I wish I had kept going.  I have one friend now who kind of jokes that he has taken parts of various religions to get to what he likes.  He does always seem to be at peace.  Well, except when his computer eats his music.

I once heard (or read) where someone said, “Prayer is you talking to G-d.  Meditation is G-d talking to you”.  Most religions are about praying.  To me that translates to us making petitions and doing the talking.  When do we listen?  Before I got sick, I loved hiking and spending time in nature.  I felt closer to my creator at these times and did some good writing during and after these hikes (sometimes during long drives in the mountains, too, just listening and feeling).  These days I feel most at peace during meditation.

The veil of controversy is thick with regard to many religions and therefore I find difficulty finding the peace they claim to have and disperse.  For me, I seek and research to draw my own conclusions.  I don’t debate them, but will answer any legitimate questions asked of me.  As for world peace, I still believe it will only come by  understanding and accepting each person without bias or prejudice.

We Are The World Misses It ~~ By A World

When “We Are The World” first came out in March 1985, I remember thinking that it was nice of them to put this together to raise money for African  Famine Relief.  Now twenty-five years later they have remade the song to benefit the earthquake stricken Haiti.  I still think it is a nice song and it is also nice to consider raising money to help others.  However, I do believe that they are missing the big picture and missed it 25 years ago as well.

I was watching the news when they aired a piece about the remake of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s infamous song.  It struck me as odd when they began mentioning the people who would be  participating in this recording.  I went on a mission to learn more and found pretty much the same people had been involved in the original recording.  This group is made up mostly of North American musicians, singers and actors; a handful of English performers and a sprinkling of Latin artists.  I can understand these people wanting to be involved to lay claim that it is Michael Jackson’s project and is a good will song.  What I can’t understand is how they can, in good conscience, perform a song which talks about bringing the world together and not include the rest of the world.

Where are the Haitian’s, Russian’s, Romanian’s, Iraqi’s?  Why are the German’s, Afghan’s, Chinese not involved?  How can you have a song about the people of the world being one and not include a group from all nations of the world?  I haven’t figured out why they allotted a month to complete the original project (which they barely made the deadline for) and this time far less time adding even more undue pressure.

For those who are doing this project and want to do it properly I suggest you step back and add more time to your self-imposed deadline.  Get a clue by actually reading and comprehending the lyrics you are performing.  Get a nice sized grouping of entertainers in ALL nations of the world.  Let them perform the song not only in English, but their native tongue as well.  Taking the time to do this right and being ALL inclusive will provide a much more accurate fulfillment of the words being sung.

If it is FOR the world and ABOUT the world, then it should be delivered BY the world

We ARE At War!!!

A year ago I came to learn of a song.  It isn’t a new song by any means.  The song “War Is Over” was written by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, in 1971.  With the US in the midst of the Vietnam War, John Lennon was very vocal in his anti-war beliefs.  At a time of war it is usually construed that Anti-war is the same as Pro-peace.  Pro-peace is so much, much more than just being against war and violence.  Some say that true peace can only come from Yeshua.  Others believe good Karma and meditation are the path to real peace.  All of this is good and so many other things as well.

I came to know this Lennon song after losing my hearing.  I knew I liked the music but didn’t know what the words were saying.  I did know it was played in the course of a Christmas segment of some sort.  I had a conversation with a friend who loves music and is a wonderful DJ in Second Life™.  I told him some of the words and finally he said it sounded like I was talking about John Lennon’s Happy Xmas.  I promptly went to Google and found myself listening to the song streaming on YouTube with the lyrics showing on the screen.  I listened and read for about 3 hours.  Yes, the same song for three short hours.  I cried so hard as my heart listened to the words as I read them.

War Is Over speaks of reaching out to others; other races, cultures, ages.  As humans we pride ourselves in 20/20 vision.  Perhaps if the entire world population were blind and deaf we would stand a better chance for peace.  We learn to disapprove and even hate those who are different from us.  We are so intent on revising and editing each other to chisel out a world-wide society that is identical to us.  We are alike.  Every human-being all over the world.  We all have bones and blood beneath the skin and hair that holds us together.  We all have hearts that beat and pump the blood through our veins.  We breath air into our lungs.

Where we differ is in our appearances, our beliefs, the way we think.  Yes, some of the ideas we hold are in error (i.e.: thinking ourselves better than everyone else), but not all of them.  It should be out differences that bring us closer together and give us the opportunity to learn from each other.  Perhaps I don’t like to eat pig, does this make those who do evil for doing so?  My skin is pale and I have green eyes.  Does this mean that a person with olive complexion and dark eyes can’t be a good person or my friend?

There is a war that we are all involved in.  It doesn’t matter our age, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.  WE ARE ALL AT WAR.  The war is for peace.  I will post later regarding fighting.  But when we say we are a peaceful people, we should live it.  Thanks to the wonderful world of Second Life™, I have made friends with people all over the world.  They are of different races, cultures, religions and even sexual orientations.  We met on a different plain and got to know each other and accept each other as human-beings without adding prejudice and bias.  On this last day of  Chanukah, I hope those who celebrate it each received a set of blinders.  I hope those who keep Xmas will also receive some and then for Kwanzaa the same.  Put on your blinders and use ear plugs to fight this war.  Use your heart to get to know other people who are not like you in the way you think and believe.  No one says you have to change your ways and believe as they do.  Education, understanding and acceptance will be our weapons.

Listen and watch John Lennon and do so with your heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvNRHrKyaX4