Morning musings

I went to bed thinking of Diana losing everything to the fires in Oklahoma yesterday.  I can't imagine the horror of it all.  This morning she posted that her house survived, but the sheds and barn did not.  Still, what an emotional roller coaster to go through -- evacuating, thinking all was ablaze and then finding out that all was not lost.  I've thought that of all the disasters, fire and earthquakes scare me the most.  I'm wishing some of the rain that England has had to endure this spring and summer could change course and fall over the parched sections of the US.

My little adventures here seem a bit silly when I read the headlines of the papers -- bloodshed in the hell on earth that is Syria, drought and fire in our heartland and mountains, the death toll of our service men and women in Afghanistan, the victims of the shooting in Colorado and the political discourse that is at the "got-cha" level and not substantive nor informative.

From this side of the pond I'm aware of the whole Chick-Fil-A dialogue.  I understand the right that private business can donate to and show support for any cause they wish.  In golf, despite their discriminatory membership policies, Augusta National is still deified as a tournament and place to play.  I don't think that way, but that seems to be the national consensus.  Does it bother me that yet another company is taking a stand in support of institutional discrimination?  Yes.  Am I surprised that people are lining up to show support for it?  No.  Do I wish we as human beings could have rational conversation about civil rights and basic human rights without all the name calling and hate?  Yes.  Is it going to happen?  No.

I believe institutional discrimination is wrong.  Conferring civil benefits to one group of adults based on who they love and telling the other group that they are not entitled because of who they love -- is bad practice.  Down the road,  I hope that we will look back at the arguments for marriage inequality in the same light as we now view interracial marriage.  What was the fuss?  How was it wrong?  For now, how does giving another couple the same civil/secular benefits that I enjoy -- tax breaks, inheritance, medical coverage, next of kin notification -- diminish my marriage?   

All I know is that the God I pray to in times of need and thank in times of joy is a God of compassion, mercy, forgiveness, tenderness, light, and love.  As a human being, as a child of God, made in his image -- it is my birthright to know God.  It is not my innate right to judge another human being as though I were God.  It is not my birthright to pretend I know what God wants or what would be in His favor.  I don't know what God's Will is.  I pray that I can live my life in a state of acceptance and gratitude for what comes my way, knowing that at the end of this great life, I will go back to my eternal Home and none of this will matter.