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Ron Jackson's Perspective
The Sunday Journal -
Think
Kankakee, Illinois
August 24, 2003
Put Genie back in
the bottle |
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It can seem at times that
life just isn't fair. What if we all found a genie in a bottle
and were given one of three choices, but the choices were limited to
being an American G.I. in Iraq, being gay in America or being a
Catholic in Congress.
Since the war against Iraq ended May1, 2003, American
soldiers have been dying at the rate of more than one per day.
The euphoria that preceded the attack on Iraq has been reduced to
reporting of daily death tolls. I was very young during the
Vietnam War or conflict, but I remember the news giving daily
casualty reports.
September 11, 2001 made us all temporarily feel unsafe
being American. According to some polls, most of us feel safe
again, but our young, decent soldiers in the Middle East don't have
that luxury. And complacency on their part is almost certain
death. I'm grateful still for their service, but I would not
choose to be an American G.I. in Iraq right now.
Ah, but to be gay in America. Gays go through
life doing all the things that make up a model citizen only to be
denied certain rights other Americans have or even illegal
immigrants. It can't be easy paying taxes, serving in your
country's military and participating in the voting process only to
be told you are abnormal because of whom you love. And any
public expression of your love is considered "putting it in my face"
by others. When non-gays go about daily life, it's called
living; when gays go about daily life, it's called a lifestyle.
To be a gay teenager in American is even worse.
There is now a school in New York City just for gays. The
school is necessitated for the safe and harassment-free learning
environment for gay students. Imagine that. Being gay
and young means you must be segregated for your own benefit.
You get harassed for being gay, so you must be ostracized.
In the old days, when you stole a cookie from the
cookie jar, parents didn't remove the cookie jar. They dealt
with the thief. Why don't the NYC school officials apply that
to the harassers? Put the harassers in their own schools that
already exist -- jails. I wouldn't choose to be gay in America
right now.
As the issue of gay marriages and civil unions picks up
public steam during this presidential election year, it won't be
easy being a politician, especially a Catholic politician.
Talk about serving two masters, congressmen of the Catholic faith
must decide to represent their voting constituency or the non-voting
Pope who has mandated they vote against the immoral idea of allowing
gays to enjoy rights of other unions. Let's not forget that
the current 150 Catholic elected members of Congress were not given
any direction to stop the systematic pedophile priest epidemic.
Will it be government of the people, by the people, for
the people or government of the Pope, by the Pope, for the Pope?
Separation of church and state will be put to the test on this
issue. I wouldn't choose to be a Catholic congressman right
now, either.
Dying on foreign soil, dying from public denial or
dying at the ballot box. Nope, I would not be able to pick one
from those three choices.
I think it's time to put the genie back in the bottle
and throw it back into the Kankakee River and just choose to
continue living happily stupid. |
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