Sunday, March 15, 2009

On Love.

I believe in Love. I believe in the ability of one person to care for another, the desire of one person to share their life with another, the dream of one person to build a future with another. I believe in the power of Love.

Love is limitless. Love is kind. Love is beautiful.

And, I believe that everyone has a right to Love. Whoever it is they choose.

I don't understand why it is that we haven't legalized same-sex marriage. Sometimes, America boggles my mind. It seems that we are incapable of learning from our past. We realize that slavery is wrong but allow segregation. We acknowledge that women should have the right to vote but refuse that same right to African Americans. We forcibly march Native Americans off their land, leading many to their death. We imprison Japanese Americans throughout WWII despite their being American citizens. The list goes on. It seems, that at every point in our history, we have found someone "different" and made them less because of it.

Today, we outlaw same-sex marriage because, for whatever reason, the love a same-sex couple is wrong. It has been decided that marriage is, by definition, between a man and a woman and that a child cannot be brought up well if it were to be defined differently. It's irrelevant that 50% of marriages end in divorce and that children are abused by their parents. All that America stands for seems to be at peril if same-sex marriage were to be made legal.

We are only as strong as our weakest member. We are only as true as the words we make real.

When will we learn from our past? When will we learn that we can't weaken the humanity of those who are different simply because we choose to not understand? They are not less human simply because we diminish them. In order to grow as a Nation and as a People, we have to create equal ground for everyone. Always.

We must breathe Life into our Words. We say that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal", and yet, we continuously act to the contrary. Our words mean nothing when we limit their reach.

We have been witness to the destruction that fear and prejudice create. Let us learn from our past so that we can create a new future free of those mistakes. To do otherwise, is to diminish our better selves.

To do otherwise is to diminish Love.

Love deserves more. Much more.

1 comment:

Jennifer Lehmann said...

Believe it or not, a line in "What Happens in Vegas" stuck with me. It was something to the effect of...its not same-sex marriages that are ruining the value of marriage - it is the people who go to vegas, get drunk and get married...the people who get married time after time...the people who have affairs...