The Real Me Is Very Complex

A new day, more labels. So here is the next installment of labels that others could assume about me because of where I live and the political party I align myself with. This is far from an exhaustive list but these are the things I most often hear “people like me” believe.

Homophobia

As for that long list of labels, I am not homophobic, I believe that God created us all as we are for a purpose that only He knows. Who am I to tell someone who they are or how they feel is wrong? What kind of friend, citizen, and all around human being is far more important to me than who a person is attracted to and chooses to marry.

That being said, I am vehemently opposed to forcing churches and businesses who have a religious opposition to gay marriage to provide goods or services that violate their beliefs. It is no longer good enough to legally protect the LGBTQi community and their constitutional rights. Today the demand seems to be that everyone, especially Christians, must abandon their beliefs and do whatever is requested of them or be labelled, ostracized and driven out of business. These cases are rare, but it keeps us from having honest conversations. Fear of being verbally attacked for thinking differently sends everyone to their own corner; thus the societal fragmentation grows wider and deeper.

My belief about gay marriage doesn’t fit with the doctrine of the church I attended for many years. The denomination recently went through a very public split over the issue of gay marriage. The congregation voted to leave. I am not going to stomp my feet and insist they believe the way I do; if I choose to participate in a church congregation I will find one that aligns with my beliefs. I respect everyone’s right to believe as they understand God.

Gun Toting, Confederate Flag Waving Redneck

I do not own a gun, but my husband does. I don’t object to the responsible ownership of guns, nor do I believe that banning them will stop gun crime. Gun crime, for the most part, is a cultural problem that runs so deep no one wants to address it properly.

Back in the dark ages when I went to high school in Texas, it was not unusual to see pick up trucks in the parking lot with a gun rack and a couple of rifles hanging in the back window. This practice came out of ranchers, farmers and cowboys using their trucks for work and they had to be ready for anything. They had animals to protect from predators. The kind of gun violence we see today was not a widespread issue back then. The world was a different place.

Then there is the subject of the Civil War, the Confederate flag and all that goes with it. I can remember being so fascinated with the Civil War that my souvenir on a family vacation through Mississippi in 1972 was a book about Abraham Lincoln. I was fourteen. Many people today still study and are fascinated with that period in our countries history. My husband reads most anything he can about the war and the people involved. His Christmas gift from me, possibly the best I have ever given, was Shelby Foote’s massive three part book series, the basis for Ken Burns award winning PBS series. I also purchased tickets for us to travel to see some of the historic sites from that period of our history. We must study all sides of history; learn from it or be doomed to repeat it.

I know that what I was taught in school was a one sided version and much was left out. Historically, winners wrote the narrative of any conflict or situation. White people wrote the narrative for a very long time. Black Americans had no voice. It was all horribly wrong.

I confess that I am not a educated on the subject as some. Thanks to my husband’s passion for the subject, I have quite an impressive home library filled with books to get me started on my journey. Then I will head for the library and find books not written by the winner.

Tomorrow and Thursday I will post the final two installments and then I will be away for a week. I am going on the road with my salesman husband for a few days of driving through Texas and knitting socks. I am looking forward to getting away from home and seeing something new.

Until tomorrow, think outside your box,

Sheryl