Just Who You and I Are

For some reason, the other day I was bothered by the fact that the media was segregating a person out by classifying him as a homosexual.

But it wasn't just this classification that bothers me - it's how we as a society classify people in general:

• Black or White
• Male or Female
• Christian or Jew or Hindu or Islamic, Atheist, etc.
• Smart or Dumb
• Handicapped
• Tall or Short
• Fat or Skinny

Just to name a few.

A professional athlete came out of the closet.  To which my first thought was "who cares".  Why do any one of us need to know this person's sexual orientation?  Why is this my business?  Why is this anyone's business but this person?  Why do any one of us need to judge this individual?  Why does this person feel like they have to "come out of the closet"?

Which brings me back to a conversation I had with one of brother's recently.  He mentioned that homosexuality is not "normal".  To which I essentially replied - For those of us who are heterosexual, and don't understand homosexuality because we don't have such "feelings" can't possibly judge a homosexual person and call them "not normal".  Who is to say, we heterosexual beings are normal?

And please, don't tell me it's in the Bible.  I'm going to go out on a limb and probably upset a few family members and friends by saying this - but the Bible is a book that laymen have written and interpreted throughout the years.  Have you ever played the "telephone game"?  - If you have, you'll understand how one person can say: "I love you" and by the end of the line of people the phrase gets passed through could very well change to "I'm going to level you".  So I take the Bible as an outline and work from that perspective, but to take it literally word for word is ignorant.  Because in the end, I know a bunch of regular people wrote all this out and interpreted how they wanted to.  And to tell me they were commissioned by God - well how do we really know that?  Blind Faith is the typical answer - and I do a lot of blind faithing - but I have my limits.

Anyway, off my soap box about the Bible.

I will be the first to admit that I have been and continue to be guilty of "tagging" people.  However, I am truthful when saying that I try very hard as a parent to be less "tagging" of people and more understanding of the people that make up this world.

What has helped to redirect and shape my views on things is having a child that has a genetic disorder.  You begin to see certain things from the other side.  My son will always be shorter than most males.  He had to wear glasses at a very young age (18 months), he has medical quirks, and he stutters.  Growing up, I know that any child that was different then the "average child" was made fun of and left to feel bad about themselves.  To say kids of my generation were cruel - is an understatement.  And even the nicest of households (of which I grew up in) had segregating and discriminating thoughts.  It was the era and time in this world.  Not an acceptable excuse, but it is the hard fact truth.

I remember when I was in my late twenties and early thirties and I still hadn't met the man of my dreams.  I told my parents that they needed to be open-minded.  That they needed to accept whomever I chose to be my life long soulmate and partner in life.  I didn't know if he would be black or white, Catholic or otherwise, etc.  All I knew is that the person that I would spend the rest of my life needed to love and respect me and I him.  To me it didn't matter all the other segregating items.  Ok, I must admit though, I really wanted him to be educated and smart just because I needed to be around someone that challenged my brain capacity.

I know who I am - people can't and don't change me.  So the fact that my husband is Jewish and I am Catholic doesn't impact me in any way.  We know who we are as individuals - my husband and I.  I respect my husband and his religious beliefs.  I embrace his traditions because it helps me  understand the person who he is.  Likewise, he does the same.  By doing so doesn't mean I've given up any part of me and he hasn't given up any part of him.  My kids are the ones that benefit because they see so much more of the world through so many different perspectives, yes we are raising them Catholic because I practice my faith more overtly than my husband - but they share in the customs, etc. of the Jewish religion as best we can.  I want them to know both sides and when the time comes they can decide their true heart's beliefs.

And when it came down to choosing schools for my children - we wanted to make sure that the environment was such that my kids will be able to see different perspectives on the world we live in.  I originally wanted the all Catholic school - but we found a great private school that has small class sizes but is open to every type of demographic.  So my kids are interacting with a wide range of kids.  My son will be going to a Catholic grade school for kindergarten (5 year old class) as the school we want him to go to wants him to wait a year since he's a boy and will have just turned 5 when school starts in August - so we opted to send him to this school and the really cool thing about the school was that the school accepts kids with different educational needs.  They have an excellent program for kids with Autism and they help these kids to mainstream so they can become successful students.  Something I want my son to experience - to know there are other kids out there that may have educational struggles and you help each other instead of poking fun at them - which would have been the case had any of these children gone to school during my childhood.

The point of my blog is really that we need to as a society not be so quick to want the gossip of people coming out of closets - but just accept people for who they are and to treat them with respect and love them because they are another human being.