Intolerance

I gotta say, I don't know any other evil as powerful as intolerance. 9/11 was intolerance in action. Murders of abortion clinic doctors and nurses is intolerance in action. KKK is intolerance. Nazis were/are intolerant.

I read some tripe on how "Gays" are trying to convert our kids into homosexuals. This comic "tract" basically went on to say that "Gays" are controlled by demons and are going to hell according to the Bible.

How do people fall into this mess? When do they start believing that the world's problems are less important than stopping gay people from marrying each other? Why?

My personal feelings are along these lines, I can be friends with gay people, I can accept them into my home for dinner, I could accept my brother and sisters if they decided they were gay, I could go out and help raise funds for gay awareness intiatives. I could accept myself if I was gay. I don't know how to accept someone who thinks it is their business to tell me or anyone else how I/they must live life.

Diversity is a strength. We are all different people. We all have our own ways. It is important to the strength of our world to root out those differences and expose them, but never to correct them. Simply knowing that people are different from what you expect helps justify exploration of ourselves for difference that we were previously unaware of.

Knowing that we are different from each other is a beginning of sorts. Once you have found these difference, you can try to exploit them for mutual benefit. If this sounds abstract, think of it in terms of what we know. A city is comprised of people with different strengths. Some are good at banking/finance, some are good at construction, some are good at medicine, etc. You get the point. These differences are used for the benefit of the whole. Understanding our differences is an important first step in improving how we interact with each other.

The intolerant do not understand this point of view. They think they know enough to state without reservation that your way of life is not acceptable to them. The only basis they have for such a claim in my mind is on condition that your way of life obstructs theirs. And it is clear that gay people do not obstruct my way of life. If they marry each other, it does not hurt me. If black people live next door, I can invite them over for a beer. If Iraq wants to have a religious government, I can still vote for who will be president in the US. My way of life is only obstructed by the intolerant.