No Shit Realization…
More or less, everybody pays attention to the news and everybody has an opinion about almost everything. I watched Ellen Page’s coming out speech and thought to myself: “tell me something I didn’t know”. It was so obvious since the first time I saw her. But this is not about me and it is not about Ellen, it is about LIFE and society.
I will not go into the speech details as it was beautiful from the beginning to the end and you can go find it if you wish to hear what she had to say.
I have talked about “coming out” before and I have asked when my readers are planning on coming out of the closet either about being gay or being religious, or being raped, or being abused, or suffering from a mental disease.
What makes me really sad is that our society instead or waking up and realizing that this life is about enjoyment, living, happiness, being different, being unique, is getting deeper and deeper in a self-created illusion of being perfect, fitting in, and being like everybody else.
“My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered, and my relationships suffered…” says Ellen. These could be words of any person who feels marginalized, who feels bullied in school, at work, in church, by husband/wife, by family, by coworkers, by their own country…
“Being normal”, whatever that means, is the poison that has poisoned our society. It is not getting better, it is getting worse. I am not talking about the acceptance, I am talking about everything – weight, looks, beauty standards, career, and choices. That is like a disease that is taking over the world, slowly occupying everybody’s thoughts.
I do not need to make a statement as I am just living my life. I do not need to go against the flow as my flow will end at some point sooner or later. It is not about fighting the norm as the norm is defined by a small community. It is about the freedom to live your life being free, being free of predefined roles, predefined ways of being and/or existing, predefined identities and predefined choices.
Don’t get me wrong, it is great for Ellen to find strength to be herself. However, it is so sad for our society that you have to go through such a tough journey just to be yourself. Do you really have to scream from the top of your lungs to be accepted?
Actually, honestly, what really makes me mad is that somebody judges me based on whom I love and not based on who I am as a person. They care more about what I or any other gay person does in the bedroom than who we are as human beings.
How about paying more attention to catholic priests who sexually abuse children? How about paying more attention to domestic violence? How about paying more attention to homeless people? How about paying more attention to starving kids in 3rd world countries? How about paying more attention to finding a cure for diseases? How about paying attention to getting some countries out of the poverty? How about paying more attention to Monsanto and genetically modified foods that are responsible for so many illnesses? How about paying more attention to global warming?
Why would me loving a woman be more important than a sexually abused child? Believe me, me being gay doesn’t hurt anybody…But a priest sexually abusing children or a man beating his wife leaves a bigger devastation…
9 responses to “No Shit Realization…”
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Amen! Spot on sister! More power to you…
Yeah, most everybody has something they’d feel happier about if it were ‘out in the open’….
However, Dace; I’m more interested in the fact that your header no longer exists..! It was a great header… and now it’s gone…! What’s ‘that’ about.. ? 😉 😉
you mean the picture of me with open arms at the grand canyon? Sometimes I like to change the design as some functional options are offered in one template and not in other.
I am just happy that you are back and still posting…
Indeed I do, it was a great pic. However, functionality is a great tool; hopefully one (template) will be created that incorporates both…!
In regard to the issue of same sex love, I believe many are beginning to feel less fear when contemplating the issue; I imagine that has a lot to do with the issue being ‘out in the open’; it loses it’s teeth/power when it can be seen more closely. Though, we humans still have a way to go – we prefer to throw stones at ‘obvious’ differences that scare us rather than looking into the insidious and foul; such as the examples you gave (again, they are lurking in the dark, in need of a brighter light)!
So frail are we humans…!
I’m not ‘really back’ – just can’t stay away….. 🙂
Great post, straight to the point that it is the person that matters. To much now are we focused on what we believe is wrong instead of excepting the person for who they are and centre on our attention on issues that reall matter for example
domestic violence and child abuse.
Thank you again. You are great with words by the way.
thank you for your comment. It really blows my mind that people would choose fighting gay marriage over addressing abuse or starvation. I just want to ask – really? are you serious? Me getting married for some odd reason is a bigger deal and requires so much attention but child molestation and physical abuse is somehow not important or less important or can wait? really?
Never is harm in any form to another human being not serious. People sometime focus on what does not fit right in their world instead of focusing on whats important eg child abuse or starvation.
Thank you for a great article.
Dace – You never cease to amaze me with your straight forward yet easy style of saying and writing some of the toughest blogs. Of course, the real problem is the blogs are tough, if we make the subject tough. Thanks for your honesty and staying that way blog after blog.
Sheri, somebody has to say certain things out loud. We need to talk openly about injustice, about things that need to change, about things that people do not want to talk about. Change doesn’t happen by itself out of the blue. You have to fight for it as it seems that common sense is highly desirable in some people’s lives.
As more we talk and write as more impact we create and, hopefully, one day one person will wake up and help the next one. Change is slow but it is inevitable.
You yourself write about tough topics. You raise awareness by sharing your story and by talking about things that need to be talked about to show certain aspects of your country that are not great.