Narrowmindedness

Ok so I know I've disappeared for a long while and I'm not going to into the details of why because well it's just not that exciting. However what I will talk about is something that struck a chord with me today. What it boils down to is narrowmindedness; this is something I cannot stand.
There's been so much of it going on lately it makes me sick; especially with several states passing and/or drafting gay marriage or gay civil union bills (Thank God I live in a state that had the brains to have at least a civil union bill). What gets me is people that bash other people simply based on the fact that they are gay. Nevermind that your bible thumping do gooder neighbor could be raping women but at least he's not gay right? The same thing goes for judging people based on their race, religion, or culture. Who gave you the right to judge ANYONE? What suddenly made you the authority on everything known to man? Doesn't the Bible say let he who is without sin cast the first stone?

Whats even worse is the people that don't know they're biased or haven't come to terms with it. I'm sorry if you say things like "You know the girl with the black kids" when a woman has mixed children or "I'm not racist, but" sorry Charlie that says right there that you are biased. Now am I perfect? HELL NO but I like to think that I'm open minded enough to judge people on their words, acts, behaviors, etc rather than whether or not they're black or white, gay or straight, or Christian or Muslim.

Now a lot of people will cite their religion as their reasoning, but then do you just blindly follow it or do you question things? I'm a Catholic, but do I believe the Bible word for word? No I do not - if I did I'd be getting stoned right now for having a child out of wedlock or be stuck walking 50ft behind every man in the world, which for those of you that know me know that ain't gonna happen. First of all The Bible was written by man who is not perfect, second it was an interpretation of what different individuals experienced, and third it's been translated into God only knows how many different languages. Plus they had to narrow down what gospels, etc that they were going to put in there otherwise it'd be as long as all get out. Not many ppl know that there are gospels written by Mary Magdalene and her experiences with Jesus, and let us not forget St. Thomas Aquinas who's gospels are not even acknowledged by the church, but I think he says it best when it says (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Church is not in a building, but it is all around you" What that means to me is you can pray in the bathroom and God will still hear you.

Ok let me get back to my original point which is basically jump into 2011 - this is not the 1960's. Stop judging people based on what they believe or who they love, or the color of their skin. I thank The Lord everyday that he gave me parents that taught me to think for myself and not judge others. There are two stories of sorts that I would like to share about my family that will help you understand what I mean about being non judgmental and about how if you do judge - you'll get yours. The first one is about a friend of my grandparents who worked at the mill with them. He was a black man and it was the 60's, which meant it was virtually unheard of for him to go to my grandparents house (For those of you who don't know me I am white) for dinner. They however didn't care and would have him over often and each time he would offer to use the back door as to not cause trouble with their neighbors. My grandfather's response? "You use the front door like everyone else" The second involves my mom (btw the previous story was about her parents) who would often tell me she felt sorry for children of inter racial couples for the simple fact that when she was growing up the families of the children wouldn't be accepting of the children. Now I'm not saying God is vengeful, but guess what happened? My older brother grew up and married a black woman and they have a son. Ask me now if he's unloved or unaccepted by either family and my reponse would be oh the spoiled one who gets what he wants? Our families love that boy to the point of embarrassment. Unfortunately I would learn later that that guy was right about my grandparents' neighbors because when my brother's family moved into my grandparents' old house the one neighbor - who I had known and loved all my life- started hollering how that brown baby was going to bring down her property values. I tell you if not for my brother I'd be in jail cuz Lord knows I wanted to go after her.

To bring it full circle all I can say is that I hope I've done a good enough job raising my son so that he doesn't end up like so many narrowminded individuals; cuz in the end it'll be them that I'm praying for. Praying that they can finally see that no matter race, religion, sexuality, etc that people were created by God and he doesn't make mistakes.