Religion really has no place at this particuar table, so please stop serving it like it is the main course…

Well, here it goes.  I’m sure my “friends” number will plummet like a rock today.  That’s ok though. I’m hoping this will be “cleansing” experience for me.  I really need it.  So much this week has really made me sad and pissed me off in ways I did not think was possible. I need to get it off my chest, and I am sure it will anger more than a few. So, by all means, if you decide to unfriend me, please leave me a note that you are doing so and as to why, so I can block your ass, and you can forego stalking my facebook page.

Two words…gay marriage (friends list just dropped by a dozen or so.)

Ok, so let's review...those who stand on the evangelical right have made it abundantly clear that marriage between two individuals of the same sex is “wrong”, “perverted” and “against God’s will.”  They have a right to their opinion, and not once have I ever tried to change anyone’s mind who felt that way.  I don’t really care.  If you choose to live in your own little bubble then that is certainly your choice.  I live in a bubble of sorts as well, but generally speaking mine is a world of butterflies and unicorns, cute baby animals, and BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS FOR EVERYONE, regardless of what religion you are, what race you are, if you’re a man or a woman or a hermaphrodite, or what your sexual orientation is.  I want to live in a world where everyone is entitled to the same rights as their neighbour.  I am pretty sure that God isn’t particular about those things either.  Go ahead, cite some Bible passage and tell me I’m wrong.  I’m not a fan of that Book, mostly because it was written from MAN’S viewpoint.  I don’t buy into the whole “handed down from God thing.”  I’m pretty sure God has better things to do with his time.  Besides, the real perversion is how individuals and religions twist the words of the Bible to make it say whatever THEY want it to say.  It is the ultimate Book of Contradictions, handed down to man by other men who thought they were the foremost expert on all things “God.”

I've heard it said many times that gay marriage “blurs the lines between church and state.”  Honestly, there is nothing “blurry” about marriage and where it falls legally.  Marriage is a CIVIL union.  You don’t have to be married IN a church to be legally married.  So the religious right should drop that argument immediately.  If you don’t believe in gay marriage, then that is your right.  Don’t marry a gay person.  Don’t belong to a church that allows for gay marriage (there are many that do believe in it, by the way.) It’s all up to you.  But the bottom line is pretty clear to me.  If two people are married in a civil ceremony by a government official, then they are pretty much…wait for it…MARRIED.  That should afford them, and their children, and their pets, the same rights as any other married couple.  It’s really not a religious matter AT ALL.  So to the evangelical right I say, keep your religion out of my personal life, my marriage, my friend’s marriages, and everything else that does not personally pertain to you.

How does two gay people marrying effect others who don’t believe in gay marriage?  Does it make them uncomfortable?  Are they unable to answer their children’s questions?  Are they afraid it is contagious?  Really, explain to me, Mr. Holier Than Thou, HOW it relates to YOUR life, YOUR value system, YOUR beliefs. The answer is it doesn’t.  You don’t believe in the sanctity of marriage between two women or two men?  Fine. But do not shove your ideological beliefs down the throats of the rest of us.  We really don’t care what you think. Why don’t you go to church, or bible study, or something…whatever you do when you’re not preaching to the rest of us about why we’re going to hell and you’re going to heaven.  By the way, if I actually believed in heaven, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to spend eternity there, mostly because none of my friends will be there.  We’ll be off playing with unicorns and chasing butterflies.  But I don't believe in heaven and hell.  In fact, I believe in reincarnation.  Shove that up your butt and spin on it for a while.

For the record, I am a Republican…a Republican who is sick and tired of the extreme right dictating the Republican agenda and making us all look like complete idiots.  I don’t subscribe to much of what is being bandied around in the press as the "Republican agenda", and it makes me really really angry that Republicans are all falling under the same ridiculous label of  “religious right.” I'm not one of those people. I don’t judge when choosing my friends.  My friends are a brilliant beautiful cross-section of people from all types of religious, ideological and political backgrounds.  They are of different sexual orientations, different colors, and hail from a long list of different countries.  The one common thread that runs through my list of friends is their ability to accept others at face value without judgment.  I am proud to have these people in my life that I call friends, and they are just as much family to me as my own blood relatives. To them, I want to say thank you for giving me faith that there are kind, compassionate and wonderful people in the world.

To those who carry the cross of religion but still allow of the possibility of gay marriage, please don’t be offended by my rant, as clearly it is not directed towards you.  I salute you.  It is by far braver to go against the grain than follow the masses. My beef is with those who insist that “their way” is the ONLY way, God’s way.  

In my opinion?  God is probably very disappointed in “their way.”  God doesn’t create bigots.  Bigots create bigots.

Not goodbye...never goodbye...

Today is sad beyond words. 

Our very geriatric grumpy resident senior citizen/canine, Cherokee, nearly 17 years old, has lost the “quality of life battle” that we have been monitoring very closely for the past year or so.  We could see it coming…in her eyes, in her disposition, in the sound of her breathing.  But somehow, after several bad days, she’d suddenly perk up and start chasing squirrels in the back yard, so we shrugged it off, choosing not to think about the inevitable.

But as of late, the bad days have outweighed the good, and the past two weeks have been particularly gutwrenching for our family.  She lost weight, a lot of weight. She wasn’t eating and she was losing control of her bladder.  This morning, she couldn’t even get up.  Bill carried her outside at lunch and she couldn’t even stand on her own.  It’s always in that moment you “just know.”  She was suffering, the sparkle was gone from her eyes.  She was still trying to please us, but she was unable to do what she thought she should do.  We made the decision and Bill made the call.  We cried.  I’m still crying.

What is it about the animals in our lives that allows them to wrap themselves so tightly around our hearts that when they leave us we feel as though they took our heart with them.  Indeed, they do take a small piece of our heart, for it belongs to them, and them alone.  I have lost many pets in my life over the years, and none of them have been particularly easy.  This one is especially hard.  My mouthy mutt, lovingly nicknamed “Flappy” by me because she would “flap her yap” at you whenever she thought you weren’t listening, or she wasn’t getting her way.  I will miss her spirit, her love of our family and home, the way she always “wiped her face” on the carpet after she ate.  Those things will live in our house forever.

Whenever someone in my large group of friends who are animal lovers loses one of their own, I always send them this…I’ll read it to myself tonight before I go to bed, and remember how blessed I was to have known an extraordinary dog, an extraordinary family member.  I love you, Cherokee.

The Rainbow Bridge

inspired by a Norse legend

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,

Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.

Where the friends of man and woman do run,

When their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,

Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.

On this golden land, they wait and they play,

Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,

For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.

Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,

Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass, without even a care,

Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.

All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,

Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met;

Together again, both person and pet.

So they run to each other, these friends from long past,

The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart,

Has turned into joy once more in each heart.

They embrace with a love that will last forever,

And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.