Monday, May 21, 2012

There Is No Room Inside A Box

What a lovely night this is, on this very early Monday morning of May 21st, 2012.  It's Victoria Day weekend, and I did work Sunday, though I had Saturday off so Janice and me could attend a black belt testing for our longtime comrade Tina.  She graded to her 4th degree in taekwondo, and we're more than proud of that woman.  If you can picture her, she's shorter than Janice, no more than 100lbs soaking wet, long flowing brown hair and a charming face that could sell snow to an Eskimo.  And... in spite of all that, she could kick your ass from here to Mars and back no matter what size you are.  She has this deceivingly booming voice when she yells as she fights that alone would scare the snot out of anybody.  I was honored to record her test and look forward to creating video for her, including a music montage.  But right now, I've got a way overdue project to get onto that I owe to a couple of very special friends.

I was sitting here tonight after I got off work, and upon reading some Question Period rants, I wondered... just what affiliation in my country do I support anyway?  And would I call myself 'conservative', or 'liberal', or 'moderate', and why?  I hate to have to put myself in a box, politically speaking; I find it figuratively claustrophobic.  Some time ago, I watched an interview with Jesse Ventura, where he said that he wishes there were no such thing as political parties.  Wow, things would be a mess, wouldn't they, if that were the case?  And the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with him.  As it stands right now, our elected officials who belong to the Conservative, Liberal or NDP parties essentially are programmed robots.  They all have to tow the party lines lest they get wacked out of their organizations by their party whips.  Ultimately, who knows if your elected official really believes in what he/she is supporting.  They have a job to do and families to feed, supposedly, and if they disagree with their leaders or party policies, chances are they'll get shuttled to the backbenches in Parliament and pushed out of the scene altogether in the next election.  So say, if we in Moncton have a concensus that we support something like, for example, gay marriage (easy tiger, this is just an example), and we vote for an official that runs on a campaign saying that he/she does to forward that notion, then we know what it is we've voted for.  It wouldn't matter if that person was affiliated with any party.  But... if they did, and that party they were affiliated was Conservative, would it make any sense at all to vote for them, knowing they'd wind up in the nosebleeds of the HOC under a muzzle?  That's a waste of a vote, right?

Anyway, so what am I....?  Besides wide awake at now 1:48am on a Monday morning.  My views aren't really so cut and dry.  When it comes to election time, I'm often torn, because I have a problem with all the parties and some of their policies.

I'm not against gay people.  I think there are the odd ones that think I am, for whatever reason.  I'm kind of a religious guy, and so my own faith dictates, at least in my interpretation of it, that gay people are sinners.  So are straight people.  So are 'A' people.  So are transsexuals.  Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone.  I know all the things that the bible says, especially in the old testament, and St. Paul in the new.  I tend to go with the new testament, because Jesus rewrote a lot of the rules from the old testament, and He especially focused on forgiveness.  And revenge, how wrong it is.  I've never seen anywhere in the bible where 'God hates fags'.  I have read in a lot of places in it where God loves all his children equally.  But it says repeatedly that homosexuality is wrong and it's a sin.  Hm... but guess what?  It says repeatedly that sex outside marriage is a sin too.  I don't remember reading which degrees of sin each one is, or which is worse than the other, but I do know that I've fornicated quite a bit in my own lifetime.  Thus, I can't elevate myself above any homosexuals in innocence as far as right and wrong goes.  Geez, according to many verses in the bible, I think I'd be an outright pervert.  But, I do believe my actions speak for themselves.  I do love everyone and try to do right by all, no matter where they come from.  Do I believe in gay marriage?  No, I don't.  Does that mean gay marriage shouldn't happen?  What, because I personally don't believe in it?  Who am I to say?  I wouldn't go to a gay wedding.  I actually lost a person close to me because of that stance.  But, I'm not going to fight for them not to do as they choose.  I'm torn on gay marriage.  I've seen same sex couples who love each other genuinely, without being stereotypical horndogs and looking for wieners in all the wrong places everywhere they go.  I know more straight people who behave like that.  But I have to reason that if two people can't actually make a kid, then what's the point of marriage?  Even if they don't want kids.  Sometimes married people don't.  But the thing to me is, it's like a square peg and a round hole when it comes to marriage.  I tend to side with a civil union argument over marriage.  But again, I don't make the rules, and I'm not the One that has to be answered to in the end.  But there are still other nagging questions...

I am pro-life.  I am anti-abortion.  I do not believe in 'pro-choice', because to me, the opposite of pro-life is pro-death.  'Pro-choice' is a nice, neat little package wrapped around the abortion notion which ultimately means the termination of a human life.  "WHAT?  Human life?!"  I can just read some minds right now that might be reading that.  "It's a fetus!"  Whoa.  "It"?  Frig, dude.  We were all there.  You, me, her, him, them, all of us.  We were all at that stage in life in the very early goings.  If we hadn't gotten to that stage, if I hadn't, or you, we wouldn't be here on my blogsite right now.  So let's invent a time machine (that'll never happen, just work with me here).  The person closest to you, say your husband or wife... you go back in time to when his/her mother is six weeks pregnant with him/her.  By some random shift in reality, she's considering an abortion, because 'she's not ready'.  No no no!  You say to yourself.  No!  You can not terminate this person because that's going to change my life and so many others for the better!  And you WILL be a good mom, and if you won't, someone will be!  Hey, you know that because in real time, you're married to this person.  Back to the present you come, and you're relieved to find out that mom didn't have that abortion after all, and your wife is here.  What a vastly different world it would be without that one person in your life.  Now, the argument can be made that, what if that child becomes a horrible person and does horrible things.  The argument against it is, then don't raise that child that way.  Killing the child/fetus/embryo isn't the friggin' answer.  The embryo didn't ask to be born, and certainly not be killed either.  Did you ask to be born?  It's a good thing you were born though.  There are countless people around you right now that would absolutely agree with that.  Then there are others who would disagree, maybe.  But then you're talking dynamics.  Like how they were raised and with what values, and if it wasn't a good upbringing, then what about the parents' upbringing.... again, who casts the first stone.  But... then, there's the issue of rape.  I can tell you right now if my wife was still able to have kids and she was raped and impregnated by some fiend, she would likely want that child aborted.  I probably would too.  I would do some serious praying and asking for strength and guidance, but ultimately, my belief is that God is the creator of all life, regardless of the act from which it stems.  If you're a follower of God, especially if you are Christian, how do you come to the decision to do something such as this?  But in earthly human terms, how can you not?  That's a choice ultimately that's given to the people involved.  How about if the mother's life is in danger due to the pregnancy?  God created that life inside of her, according to beliefs.  Do you terminate that life that He created to save the mother?  In my mind, of course.  And pray for forgiveness.  Desperately pray for it.  Those two instances are exceptions to the rule when it comes to the abortion subject for me.  And again, these are based on my beliefs.  I don't have the right to force my beliefs on anyone, but, I would like to think I can be a positive influence somehow.  I do know that if I carried a sign on a street that says "Abortion is Murder!", that I'm not going to win over anyone who favors it.  Pregnancy is made out to be a ball and chain by society so much, that it's to the point that it's forced young women, and older even, to casually make the decision to kill the child they're carrying.  Casually!  That's truly the worst of all of this.  The value for human life has so been cheapened by 'pro choice' that it's made something like an abortion not even be as serious as a tonsillectomy.  Can I tell someone who wants to have an abortion that they can't get it?  No, I can't.  If there were no abortion clinics, they'd find another way.  I hate the idea of it either way, or in any way.  But, the bottom line is this.... if a woman is going to get an abortion, I want nothing, NOTHING to do with it.  Not one cent or fraction of a cent of my tax dollars.  You get it, it's on your own dime, unless in the extreme circumstances I discussed above.

Let's hit the brakes and put it in reverse just for a minute.  About gay marriage... here is where I'm arguing with myself.  And I put this question to any Christian out there:  If you had to choose between a baby being raised by a married gay couple, to having that child aborted, which do you choose?  If you have a woman who just found out she's pregnant with a child, and she says she can't have that child right now because she's 'not ready' or just doesn't want it, and you have this loving same-sex couple longing to raise their own, don't you give this gay couple that chance?

Now back to the original topic.  Does this make me conservative or liberal?  Because I'm very much against abortion, and kinda sorta against gay marriage, but neither issue is black or white.  So at election time, I'm torn.  The liberal parties are full-on supportive of abortion, and conservatives are pretty much full-on against gay marriage, and at election times, they will use those platforms to get votes.  A vote for the conservatives is a vote in support of traditional marriages (i.e. against gay marriages), and a vote for the liberals is a vote for pro-choice (i.e. government funded abortions).  Period.  There's no finagling with these things, no discussions.  This makes me consider spoiling my ballot every election, because I can't find anyone who has at least a similar point of view to mine to vote for.

Of course, then there's the Harper regime recklessly spending money like a drunk with a fat wallet in a liquor store, with pure idiots with too much power like Bev Oda, Peter MacKay, Lisa Raitt and Vic Toews, just to name a few.  At least I do know the Liberals will balance the books.  Granted, the Trudeau era saw the deficit balloon to $25 billion, but then Mulroney came in and nearly doubled that.  Eventually Chretien came in and cleaned it up, only to have Paul 'Mr. Dithers' Martin completely blow his re-election bid after pushing Chretien out of the big chair, only to have the Conservatives gain a few minority governments, then finally a majority where the spending went batshit crazy and left us with the mess we're in now.  The NDP is the dark horse in the ranch right now.  They kind of scare me.  But the unknown is always a bit frightening.

So, I don't know what I am.  I'm pro-environment, but not necessarily anti-oil, until we have something reliable to replace it.  I'm pro-gun control, but don't think there should be a registry of hunting rifles, because criminals don't care if their weapons are registered or not.  And I'm pro-life, and that includes against the death penalty, because that goes back to what I said about Jesus teaching us forgiveness and being against revenge.  I did say God creates all life.  He didn't give us the job to take it away.  That's His and His alone.

I'm aware that this blog may raise eyebrows; it may make people like me more, or less, or just be accepting.  All good in any case.  This is me, honest and open.

And I welcome you to be the same way.


4 comments:

  1. you wouldnt go to a gay marriage? i think thats a little far personally. once again id like to stess to the people of the world thats its hard enough to be gay in the first place because u never feel quite as accepted as everyone else.. and reading things like this makes it worse. makes people feel ashamed.. ITS NOT A CHOICE!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have on several occasions takin young girls who had been raped by there fathers for abortions.I feel that these girls had the right to end a life.I don't believe that having an abortion for the sake of just ending a life is ok but there is always the exception.As for a gay couple raising a child.Why not.What makes there ability to raise a child any different then any other couple.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here's where I expected there to be comments. It's all good.

    I thought I was clear about not being negative towards the gay community. I'm not a basher or a hater, I'm a live and let live kind of guy. I'm fine with all of it. You can no more make me want to go to a gay marriage ceremony than I can make a gay person straight, or vice versa. Being gay may not be a choice. Going to a wedding of any type is. To each their own, and I wish peace and love to all unions. You shouldn't feel ashamed if you're gay. That's kind of my point. Gay people I've known, by and large, are some of the nicest, most gentle there are. But like extreme right wingers, extreme leftists are just as wacky to me.

    I agree about the abortion issue with fathers molesting their daughters. It's unthinkable. It's true there are exceptions, that's clearly one of them. Obviously it's not a black and white issue, there are many shades of grey.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mnnnn yes indeed deep thoughts by Jack Handy coudn't have provoked peoples minds! Stating what you did is a bold choice by you Mr Cook and with that will come differing points of view. I myself am pro life and am opposed to gay marriage and would not attend a gay wedding. Does that make me a bad person??? How would that make me a bad person - I have an Uncle that is an atheist that will not set foot in a church - would writer number one from above say that he is going to far??? We are living in a society now that is dictating us in how we should feel and how we should behave. The president of the United States has come out declaring his feelings on gay marriage does that mean we have to side with him because he is the president? I think not. The Bible is clear on its stance about homosexuals and pending on who you are and what you believe you will have to formulate your own opinion. As a person who grew up in a strict church environment I know what it is like to have judgement passed on to me. I live my life for me and my family and in the end will be judged by Him accordingly and by no one else. As an adopted person people have asked me does it bother you that you were adopted and my answer is always the same - It is better than being aborted! So I encourage all to be open minded and opinoned whether one way or the other and respect everyones opinion because at the end of the day - YOU and only YOU will have to answer for your actions, behaviors, thoughts and opinions!

    Cheers - Tim - Jean Guy

    ReplyDelete