I think most of us can agree that system of ‘no pain, no gain’ can be a pain in the ass and needs to be
seriously re-jiggered. Now I'm not saying I have a better approach than this
pain/gain thing that's been in place for years, but that doesn't mean we
couldn't start tossing around some ideas. For instance, why an infrastructure for life couldn't be developed around the theme,
"no dream, no gain?" Sounds like heaven, right? Or is dreaming too
easy? Would life quickly become complacent and cease to gain? But then, is gain
really that critical? Or is gain the whole point? Is the fact that life exists
at all proof that God or the universe hates complacency? It certainly
explains why aboriginal people are constantly being murdered for the sake of "progress."
It is especially important when pain comes our
way to honor the experience, because our natural tendency is to push it away
and move past it as quickly as possible. We tend to want to brush it under the
rug. Yet, if we don't, it reveals itself to be a great friend and teacher. As counter-intuitive as it seems, we can honor pain by thanking it and by welcoming
it into the space of our lives. We all know that often the more we resist
something, the longer it persists. When we honor our pain, we do just the
opposite of resisting it, and as a result, we create a world in which we can
own the fullness of what life has to offer.
One of the burdens of being a black male is
carrying the heavy weight of other people’s suspicions. One minute you’re going
about your life, the next you could be pleading for it, if you’re lucky. And
far too many aren’t. That’s why the Feb. 27 26 killing of Trayvon Martinhas black parents around the country
clutching their sons a little closer.
By all accounts, Trayvon was a good kid. He
helped his father coach Little League. He had dreams of becoming a pilot. He
was good at math.
What we know is that the
17-year-old, visiting relatives in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., was on
his way back to their house from 7-Eleven with an iced tea and a bag of
Skittles. That’s when he caught the eye of George Zimmerman, a crime watch
volunteer who called 911.Listening to that call made my blood run cold.
As best as I can tell, life is
intolerable. Oh, not always of course. A case can be made for all the big
wonders and little blessings and blah, blah, blah. But when you really boil it
down, our entire existence rests on a few really ugly premises.
First, life, and by that I mean the
big life, life with a capital L, must ingest other life in order for it to
remain life. Or, put another way, in order to witness the miracle of creation,
we must continually eat, and then poop out, a little bit of that miracle.
Second, one of the charming side
effects of sentient life is emotional pain. The fact that dead and fermenting
plant life creates alcohol - a terrific anesthetic for emotional pain - might
cause one to think that this is, by nature, a compassionate universe. Think
again. Keep dulling that pain with booze and you wind up, if you're lucky, in a
church basement sharing your tears with complete strangers. If you're not
lucky, you wind up on a waiting list for a liver.
And finally, there is the ever-present
knowledge of death. In order to "more fully appreciate the gift of
life," we all get to ponder a violently sudden or slow and agonizingly
painful descent into oblivion -- after which our beloved bodies turn into the
stuff of nightmares. Which brings me back to my original premise: life is
intolerable. But rather than go gently into that creepy night, I've decided to
start a petition to protest the fundamental conditions of existence. I know
it's not much, but it's a start.
So who is with me?
Who wants
their voices heard before they are dead and your vocal chords are being eaten
by a swarm of disgusting bugs?
Friends say Eric James
Borges, 19, killed himself Wednesday after having endured a traumatic
coming-out experience.
Borges had worked for the Trevor Project, which described him
as “a dedicated, trained volunteer” in its mission of preventing suicide among
LGBT youth. And he’d taped an It Gets Bettervideo that tells the story of how he “was raised
in an extremist Christian household” and was kicked out of his parents’ home.
“My mother knew I was gay and performed an exorcism on me in
an attempt to cure me,” he said in his video. His family told him he was
“disgusting” and “damned to hell.”
Borges also described growing up bullied and eventually
dropping out of high school. “I was stalked, spit on, ostracized, and
physically assaulted,” he said. “My name was not Eric but faggot.”
“Back when I was in the closet, I never dreamed that I would
be able to express my sexuality and have a normal relationship,” he said in the
It Gets Better video.
Borges taped a
video project last year that seemed to bring his dream to life. The video,
shared online, shows him and another boy embracing lovingly and kissing. Inouttakes, a person behind the camera can be heard
whispering “That’s beautiful” as passing cars honk in support.
Watch the final version of Borges’s video project below. “The
underlining subtext of this video is love is universal,” Borges wrote about the
short film. “It has the strength to decimate the threshold of all prejudice,
all inequity. Human relationships, and those who come into our lives, have the
ability to ultimately shape who we are. There is importance in loving each
other the way each of us truly deserves.”
The Trevor Project reacted to the news of Borges death with sadness.
“We are deeply saddened to hear about the tragic death of
EricJames Borges, and our hearts go out to his family and friends, and his
community,” a statement read. “Our main concern right now is that those
affected by his death feel supported and can get the care they need.”
Those needing support can contact the Trevor Lifeline at
(866) 488-7386.
"Above all, it is an ethical problem. The change of behavior
that it requires – for example, sexual abstinence, rejection of sexual
promiscuity, fidelity within marriage – ultimately involves the question of
integral development, which demands a global approach and a global response
from the Church. For if it is to be effective, the prevention of AIDS must be
based on a sex education that is itself grounded in an anthropology anchored in
the natural law and enlightened by the word of God and the Church’s
teaching." - Emperor Palpatine, at the closing Mass of his visit to Africa.
Isn't this just peachy? Leaders of
America's infamous Westboro Baptist Church have vowed to picket the funeral of
Apple innovator Steve Jobs.
“Westboro will picket his funeral,” tweeted
Margie J. Phelps, daughter God Hates Fags pastor Fred Phelps.
The message on the micro-blogging site followed
a previous posthumous insult, which said: "No peace for man who served
self, not God."
Phelps, who used an iPhone to send the
messages, was denouncing Jobs for apparently putting commercial success before
divine salvation.
Margie Phelps defended the use of the iPhone to
send the message, saying God created it for the purpose of telling people that
“Jobs is in hell.”
According to PC Mag, a blog linked to the
official WBC site then claimed that Jobs was responsible for gay marriage,
which will "bring your destruction".
Two South American
teenage thugs were executed in Africa for being homosexual. They were allowed
one last kiss before being shot in the back of the head.
I literally cried my eyes out when I saw
this. It is unbelievable how heartless and thoughtless people can be. I am not
posting this to make anyone else cry, but to spread the word so the violence
stops. What will it take for us to live in harmony with one another?
That familiar
cliché is often the response I receive after answering that seemingly simple
yet complex question: “Do you believe in
God?” The response, “I’m agnostic,”
usually scares people off or moves the conversation to other points-of-entry,
but every once in a while someone will prod a little further because they are
legitimately interested or trying to figure out if I’m being
serious. The reason this question persists is because of the power
of labels. You can gather a large amount of information about someone who is an
atheist or a believer. And in a world where it’s all about how much information
you can gather in the shortest amount of time, my stance on ‘God’ does not sit well with many.
Many make the
assumptions that I am a cynic or a sinner, true or not, the ideas people have
about me does not turn me on or off. I’m always interested in seeing how people
react. Labels interest me GREATLY!
So much so, that I wrote two other blog entries on this subject (more or less). As a homosexual, I know
all too well how the language of stereotyping can be limiting, hurtful, and
sometimes dangerous. You’re gay. To some, that also means you’re feminine. Or,
it means you know how to dress well. In some cultures and religions, it extends
beyond the insulting and carries into the inhumane. To be gay means to be sick
or unholy.
I’m not claiming
this as a ground-breaking observation. But what interests me is how we label when
it comes to ‘God’ when we all are GODS!You don’t like being labeled as gay and having people assume you know
the choreography to Run the World (Girls), do you? Well, I don’t. I believe
we are many up of many different elements that no matter which side you fall on
in the god debate, you can fit into a mold because NO one is 100% correct. Being agnostic, I get to unfold the both
sides into something larger. So when I use the word ‘God’,am talking about the
believer’s god or the non-believer’s universe? I think you know the answer
to that question. So what do you believe?
When you look @ the history of what we know about the world, you see a
very noticeable pattern. Natural explanations of things have been replacing supernatural
explanations of them. Why
the sun rises and sets? Where thunder and lightning come from? Why people get
sick? How the complexity of life came into being? I could go on and on and depending on your view is more or less
complex than the questions I asked. I often wonder how we could come up with
explanations for the sun rising and setting and things of that nature, but not
be able to explain how or why we allow the short comings of ‘Christians’ to make so many of us feel like we are not human. What happens when they are asked to
prove the existence of God?
They use all the bogus
catchphrases, the sound bites, the emotional punches-to-the-gut to solidify the
existence of God. But can I ask, why
does God need arguments, anyway? Why does God need people to make his arguments
for him? Why can't he just reveal his true self, clearly and unequivocally, and
settle the question once and for all? If God existed, why wouldn't it just be
obvious? It is not up to the Atheist to
prove that God does exist. It is up to theists to prove that he does. And in
the absence of any genuinely good, solid evidence or arguments in favor of
God's existence (and
in the presence of a whole lot of very solid arguments against it) how can they
continue to hold the null hypothesis of theism: that God almost certainly does exist,
and that it is completely reasonable to act as if the Atheist is wrong? So as ‘Christians’ further perpetuated through fear, intimidation, tradition and social
pressure, I fail to see how asking an Atheist to believe them until
they get pie in the sky.
The more we investigate the
non-realm that lies just beyond, beneath or throughout the non-realm we think
we're in, the more I'm convinced we will NEVER find it. I suppose this is
the case because it is SO easy just to lay back and slip-slide into the daily
grind of consciousness/unconsciousness.
Many of us live by ‘what you see is
what you get’ motto and that is fine, but let's think about that for a moment.
What we see is what we get. Hmmm... We can't see electrons. We can't see a
virus. We can't see love and yet we still believe these things exist. This
brings me to the purpose of this blog entry…God. Doesn’t it seem strange that
we can look up at a night sky, at a majestic mountain, at the sculpted abs of
man with a nice package, and have trouble believe in God?
Thinking back, I see now that there was a brief moment when I had a choice as to how I would react to the situation that led to this blog entry. I could have just as easily chosen resignation, or amusement, or even sadness. So the obvious question is why did I choose a destructive emotion?Why did I take on a know-it-all attitude that sees my position as null and void? I suppose that on some deep, unconscious level I must be hard-wired to believe that anger is the appropriate response. Which leads to the next obvious question: how do I undo this negative mental process that appears to be woven into the soul of me?
Perhaps I could give my anger away. I know it sounds silly, but maybe silly is what is called for. Perhaps I should have buried my anger in her backyard and blame it on the dogs when no grass grows on that spot. She’ll believe me because listening to humans is COMPLETELY unfamiliar to her. Since she knows EVERYTHING about ANYTHING, and since she won’t question the dog, wouldn’t that just prove to her that she is right about that spot in her yard?
I often wonder if she ever gets tired of trying to be ‘right’ all the time. Why does she have a need to make people around her the audience she needs to make herself the center of attention? I get that attention and respect are the two things we all long for but...What do you do when you are around someone that comes off as a know-it-all?
At least 18 men and boys between the ages of 14 and 27 are charged with the brutal rape of an 11-year-old girl in an abandon mobile home in Cleveland, Texas. This all came to light when some of these savage animals actually were passing around videos of it at school and bragging about the incident.
Already 4 students have been arrested from the school district and charged with aggravated sexual assault with a minor under the age of 14. Two of those arrested are players on Cleveland’s state-ranked basketball team.
The victim has withdrawn from school and has been placed into protective custody for her own safety. Due to the large number of suspects, 18 in all so far, officials are warning the family that they should move because the family might be in danger. It’s even been reported that the family is already getting harassing phone calls.
This story turns my stomach on so many levels. How could so many humans take part in the rape of a little girl? The simple answer is that this group of people is not human at all, but is representative of the decline of man. Instead of evolving, we are actually moving backwards down the evolutionary ladder. And to make matters worse, the parents of the accused called the girl’s parents and harass them for him being arrested. Have we any humanity left?
The formerly homeless man with the gold voice, Ted Williams is strolling into his second act because he is the object of massive media attention. This man is the recipient of job and home offers that has the Americans standing and applauding, but what happens when his 15 minutes are up and the cameras are gone? Would America feel good about this feel good story? My answer is NO!
I have two cats. One has light fur and the other dark. I love both cats equally. A slur has never unwittingly crossed my mind inferring that the cat with dark fur is any better or worse than the cat with light fur. And so I ask myself this – if cats can just be cats, why the hell can’t people just be people?
Have you ever notice that there are certain gay men who dare to defy the societal impositions of manhood forced upon them? They live lives full of personal and professional success beyond measure without hesitation or signs of disgust @ the thought of them sharing a life with another man. We see these men every day, they are our doctors, lawyers, accountants and any man that has a profession that affords them many of what the world has to offer…including buying their acceptance or hidden aversion from persons that deem them acceptable because of the money they make. Why is that?
Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, has dismissed concerns that Qatar is unsuitable to host the 2022 World Cup because of its attitude to homosexuality saying that gay football fans should refrain from having homsexual sex while in the country.
According toUrban Dictionary a MAN-SHAKE is described as: A very masculine handshake, using a lumberjack-strength squeeze and a swift, firm up and down pumping action. Now you would think that all this man-on-man action would be easy for me, but it is not! When I go to the barber or meet a hetero-male and we greet each other, I just extend my hand to meet his and let him do all the work. I mean c’mon I don’t the rituals of hetero-men, all I know is that when I greet a homosexual male, we hug or give each other huge greetings. Now I have to deal with the MAN-SHAKE as if we don’t have enough things to deal with as gay men.
THIS VIDEO WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION & I THOUGHT I'D SHARE IT WITH YOU GUYS. CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING IN THIS GUY'S SHOES? WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? DID HE MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE?
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost.
She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am." The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.
She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be anObamaDemocrat."
"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."
The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Republican."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are -- or where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."
THIES, Senegal – the story of Madieye Diallo, an activist and gay organization leader whose body and grave was desecrated because he was gay. While Diallo was not killed by the homophobes, it is because of their heinous actions, fear, and pure hatred fortified by religion that he is dead.
Everyone on this planet should be in lament and outrage!!! If anyone should have sympathy on people having to live their lives on the run in safe-houses out of fear of the oppressing power is us. We are continually fighting over homosexuality in our communities as if it is an “us versus them” issue. We ARE you, and YOU are us. We may never agree about this issue, but just looking at the horrors and injustices that fear and hatred can create; we should want to erase that anxiety and revulsion to create a truly free and liberated future for ALL of us.
Diallo and his family did not deserve for him to live his last days in safe-houses in fear. Diallo and his family did not deserve for him to be unable to take his HIV meds because he couldn’t attend his doctor appointments out of fear of being in public where he might be killed. Diallo and his family did not deserve for him to die in a coma at 5:50am on May 2, 2009. Diallo and his family did not deserve for the mosque to turn them away and deny him a proper burial because he was gay. Diallo and his family did not deserve for his body to be dug up, spit on, and tossed in front of their home like a bag of trash.
To everyone that reads this, please repost this for others to read. Diallo’s organization was named Ligay, which means “Working Together”. Let all of us work together to erase hatred in our hearts, minds, and spirits by no longer accepting the status quo. No longer can we GLBTQ Men and Women allow people to degrade us or tell us that we are “no good” or “less than”. We must remember that WE are OVERCOMERS that have many more battles to fight than just those based on skin color and hair texture.
We MUST fight through organized action and boldness. We must step out from the safety and imprisonment of “the closet”. We must show the world that WE are much more than the comedic relief and a part of women’s accessories. We are human beings that deserve the same dignity and respect that everyone else deserves.
Why can’t we just live and let live? Why can’t we just be accepted? Why can’t we just be? Let us stand up for those who are afraid to go home…Those who are nervous when they notice folks looking @ a male in a tight pair of jeans…Those that walk into a church and the pastor, decides to preach his “love-the-sinner- hate-the-sin” sermon. Well, what happens when the “sin” is you?
It is frustrating putting entries like this out there when my mere words are NOT doing justice to the sadness, anger, and sorrow I feel in my heart. It extremely pains me to know that there exists grown men who still live their lives in fear of coming out because it may ruin the lives they have built. It sickens me to know that kids are being killed because they are presumed gay at school. When will all of this stop?!
The tears have dried on my face, but still rain heavily in my heart. One day I will be able to apply these emotions toward the efforts to truly make this world a better place.
The following article is taken from the local Bahamian site called Bahamas Press.I posted this because I wanted to share the way the ignorant society in the Bahamas see gay men and women. We are NOT people that living and co-existing with each other, we nothing other than SISSIES! I mean a young lady lost her life and that was TOTALLY overlooked and the story was sensationalized to get attention. I know it got mine and this type of journalism isn't anything new, but I had to post this nonetheless...
Nassau, Bahamas — A sissy women brawl last night had turned deadly and now police are investigating an apparent vehicular homicide, which we classify as murder #114 since 2009.
BP has learned that sometime around 4:20 a.m. into the wee hours of this morning, police were called to Gladstone Road in the area of a known sissy joint called, the ‘Garage Night Club’ where they were told a major fight to the death had erupted. Police were told the fight concluded when a vehicle, which was driven by another sissy woman who fled the scene of the rock and bottle session, as she struck the female.
Our deep throat on the RBPF said, “We have located a blue 2008 Toyota Corolla, which is believed to be the vehicle involved in this incident. And is now questioning at least one person believed to be the owner of the car. What a sad and terrible way to die BP.”
Investigators who responded also said the scene was bloody as the young girl’s lifeless body was clad in blue short pants; white T-Shirt and a green shirt. She had just exited the place with her new lover about to engage in session fun and frolic, eyewitnesses said.
We are told the male sissies were too afraid to join the fight and protect the deceased woman. We are also told many of them were too busy snatched up with their own partners despite the serious situation at hand.
My goodness, what wutlessness! They have no shame.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact persons within this society will FOREVER show their ignorance when it comes to homosexuality. However, there are moments when I forget that they are unaware and the things that come out of their mouths just stop me in my tracks. Most of things that are being said are by females and now that I think about it, I smile because it MUST burn them SO much that there are men out there who want NOTHING from them on a personal sexual level.
So the other day I was having a conversation with a female co-worker about persons passing the CPA exam on the first try and she told me that she know of one person that did it. Before she started to tell about how this person achieved such a feat, she HADTO let me he was ***. I thought to myself what does that have to do with the conversation @ hand? I knew the guy she was talking about and I thought to myself that NO matter what accomplishments you achieve, if you are GAY you will ALWAYS be seen as such. Talk about being just an educated GAY slave!
I don’t know about you, BUT I AM TIRED OF BEING ONE OF THE MOST MIS-CALCULATED ASSUMPTIONS IN THIS WORLD! Do you think that GAY men and women who receive degrees under this cloak of academic competence should be bound to struggle to "find themselves" because society does not care to know who we really are? Dealing with such persons can cause GREAT internal turmoil, even after reaching financial comfort. This type of mental and intellectual void can cause one to be an eternal slave to a society that does not have our interest @ heart.
How can we NOT willingly betray our own and hide ourselves JUST to be rewarded with acceptance from them? Isn’t it SO like us to value those that hold us down while they CONSISTENTLYlabel us as the 'minority,' though there are more of us out there than we would/could ever know? When a GAY person is NEVER given the chance to be him/herself, the degrees we obtain is just the beginning of mental deterioration and intellectual incompetence even though that is NOT the case. In light of all this, we need to continue to excel in living the best lives possible, not just academically but spiritually, mentally and socially. In so doing we are able to rail against the evil that is being perpetuated against us, since being educated men AND women just make us sinners with degrees! Even though I am ALWAYS aware that any effort to correct this way of belief will be vigorously fought and opposed, TOTAL liberation is @ hand, but it has to come about with a COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS! And that starts with the present reader.
On March 13, 2010,[19] Erykah Badu shed her clothes as she walked along a Dallas, Texas, sidewalk until she was nude at the site where President Kennedy was assassinated. Suddenly, a shot rang out as the song ended; Badu's head jerked back and she fell to the ground. The result was a controversial video for her song "Window Seat", which Badu said on her Twitter feed "was shot guerrilla style, no crew, 1 take, no closed set, no warning, 2 min., Downtown Dallas, then ran like hell."[20] Children with their families could be seen nearby as Badu stripped without any permission in DealeyPlaza , a popular tourist spot since Kennedy's 1963 assassination.[21] She tweeted it was a shot against “groupthink”.[19]
On April 2, 2010, Badu was charged with disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor, when a witness came forward.
Her voice over says:
They play it safe. They are quick to assassinate what they do not understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel most comfortable in groups. Less guilt to swallow. They are us. This what we have become. Afraid to respect the individual...A single person within a circumstance can move one to change, to love ourselves, to EVOLVE.
This video is THE essence of something SO simple yet it is UTTERLY powerful! A pure example of ‘them’ trying to kill what they don’t understand. ‘They’ would say that her nudity is utterly distasteful and would REFUSE to consider looking @ such a work or art as anything else. I think it is phenomenally powerful what Ms. Badu has given us and it took courage, conviction AND huge set of balls to bestow such a gift on mankind. Here’s to EVOLUTION!
When I come across someone that says or does something ignorant when it comes to things they perceive to be true about sexuality, I try my HARDEST not to understand why that person possesses that particular mindset. After all an opinion is just like an asshole…EVERYONE has one! So about 2 weeks ago I decided to start taking water to work with me. Who didn’t ask me about the water bottle I was carrying didn’t ask because they didn’t want to. I was like why all the interest in a simple bottle? So I got to my desk and a lady came in and saw my bottle, she then asked, ‘what’s the bottle for?’ I told her that it was for water, she then said ‘oh.’ @ That point my co-worker asked her what that meant she said, ‘well nothing really, I just thought ONLY women do stuff like that.’ My co-worker was like huh? He then turned to me and asked if I heard her? I said yes, but I going to keep on walking and I am NOT going to look back. If I had told her what was really on my mind I would have told her to…
CHECKYOURPERSPECTIVE because the narratives you tell yourself about what you think you know is WAAAYYY of base! Why berate yourself with accepted ignorance? STOP THE COMPARISONS! There is NO one way to live in this world and if she wants me to act like, be like AND shape like a man she recognizes, she is looking @ the WRONG man! There is no comparing me to others, for that’s a tool used by those who lack imagination and have a profound disrespect for humanity.
FACEYOURFEARS because WAAAYYY too many of you are held hostage by what you think I am. You’ve created all these imaginary monsters that you think are going to destroy the world and take something away from you…rather someone.
LEARNFORYOURSELF and don’t try to justify your ignorance! Find a way to have a DIFFERENT relationship with your heart N’ mind because we all live on this planet fighting some battle so…
I LOVE YOU because you were NOT born, nor are of evil or wrongdoing. You were born into circumstances and situations, systems and societies with ideas and beliefs that created a reality for the people who brought you here...Anything that happened to you is not a reflection of your worth, only a commentary on how the world is ignorant to OUR beauty and value as human beings.
I find it SO sad that she and others like her have strayed from the basic sense of humanity. We say and do SO many things on a daily that no one seems to have the time to analyze and think things over…SO THE MORE THEY COME @ ME, THE MORE I SUSTAIN MY INNER CALM & STABILITY.