"Not That There's Anything Wrong With That"

It has been a week since my last confession.

First of all, Sunday went without incident. It was all good, really. We had a military speaker do a short presentation about his recent stint in Baghdad. He did a great job and it was really moving. He talked about how his Christmas was spent doing a Patriot Duty in which he had to time the company's salute to coincide with the passing of a casket for a soldier going home for the last time. It was really sad to think that we are still fighting so many years and so many thousands of lives later. Nothing more to say there.

Then, of course, we had the day off for Memorial Day. Misty spent much of the day cleaning out our garage. It looks great now, but it was quite a chore. We had spent much of Saturday planting and replanting some of our shrubbery. We had a young man from the church come out and do some additional work to make the front lawn more appealing. It looks really good now and, with the garage clean, we can actually move around with the cars parked inside.

Of course, this is also a week that I dread for other reasons. Our preschool is closed this week each year and so I was forced to hunt down other childcare possibilities. It ended up that I could find someone only for Tuesday and Wednesday. So, I have been with the littlest Keaton angels for the last 48 straight. I love them, but I am tired of children. It did not help that this was also a week of craziness from the wife. Several problems arose. First, she was expecting two end-of-the-year packages to arrive in the mail and they never came. She had what we think is another gall bladder attack late Friday night (a week ago) and then Tuesday night she bit down on something and a crown popped off. This was cause for the greatest concern because right now she does not have dental insurance. She found a dentist who is affiliated in some way with the school and got in quickly and painlessly. The crown was replaced without having to pay for the visit. Sometimes it is very nice to be living in a small town. Somebody we know always knows somebody else who can help.

In other news ~

What is up with Barack Obama and all these ministers coming to his "defense"? I mean, what is it about him that makes ministers, this time a white priest, think it is perfectly acceptable to paint Hillary Clinton as a racist and those who have voted for her as such? There must be something in the water in Chicago. I just cannot fathom that these people think they are helping him by bringing up the exact opposite of what he is trying to preach--tolerance and unity. The most stunning thing for me is that these bigoted diatribes are coming from members of the clergy who are supposed to take on the peace-seeking garb of Christ, not the clothing of hatred. It makes me wonder if some of these mainline church leaders see an opportunity to project themselves onto the political landscape in a way that only evangelicals have in recent years. If this is the case, how self-seeking can one be to use the pulpit to spread bigotry. There is a reason we have the separation of church and state--to protect both institutions from each other.

It has been a little over a week since the California Supreme Court issued its ruling in favor of gay marriage. It is interesting to me that, even though the state seems to be mostly opposed to the idea of gay marriage, the Supreme Court would basically decide to overrule the mind of the people. But that is a digression. Why is it that we have such a problem with gay marriage? Now, I am not a fan myself. I kind of always thought that being gay was a way to avoid getting married. And I know the religious right answer to that. "Homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord!" Or "The Bible says God hates fags!" Or my favorite: "Gay marriage will destroy the institution of traditional marriage and the family." I guess my real question is: "Will legalized gay marriage really destroy the institution of marriage?" I heard an interesting question on CNN last night from an average Joe who asked whether gay marriage or the 50% divorce rate in this country would do more damage to traditional marriage. It is worth thinking about at the very least.

All of this reminded me of something that Thomas Jefferson wrote in his book Notes on Virginia (1782).

"But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

Now, Jefferson was talking about religion here, but I think the same logic applies to the gay marriage issue. What does it really matter if gay people are allowed to get married? It does not pick my pocket or break my leg. I may not approve of it, but there are a lot of things of which I do not approve that are perfectly legal. A gay individual commented on CNN that he thought gay marriage was relatively insignificant since there were still places in the world where gay people are killed just for being gay (and, I might add, these actions are often condoned by the religious establishment of these places). I am concerned that it will become one of those political issues that derails our country from more pressing struggles like the economy or the environment or poverty--and there is something wrong with letting these things slip to the sidelines.

That's all for now. I have to plan a date with 3 young ladies tonight. Mom is painting the town with her gal pals tonight, not that there's anything wrong with that.