anotherlook

The recent upholding of Proposition 8 here in California was some how disturbing to me. This on the heels of an 18 year, gay, serviceman who was discharged from the service after spending 18 years of his life serving his country, because he came “out” about being gay. How does that make sense? I am reminded of the conversation can you cure homosexuals with religious intervention?

The question, if homosexuals can be cured by religious intervention, is a very curious question indeed. Cured according to Encarta Dictionary means to heal, to restore to health by therapy or medicine. In asking this question of curing homosexuality through religious intervention it implies there is something unhealthy about being gay. Is this really the case?

According to Ted Haggard, New Life Church, who was scandalized and removed from his duties at this church, for homosexual, sex abuse allegations and meth use and who preached against the homosexual lifestyle, he still has, on occasion, thoughts of men, however now he insist these thoughts are not compelling enough to lead him to seek out this life style anymore.

However, when the story first broke, he lied to cover up his behavior. Haggard, even now speaks openly about the love hate struggle, with his homosexual being, he has had over the years, but because of his religion he chooses to live his life as a heterosexual, at this point. Is he truly “cured” or is he just fighting the feeling with his religious justifications?

All homosexuals can not be put comfortably into one category.

1. There are those who are born in the wrong body; by this I mean that their outside body and inside body do not match. They may appear, on the outside, to be one gender, but on the inside, where identity is formed, they may truly think and feel like the opposite sex.

2. There are those people who are bi-curious. They have been heterosexual their whole life, but inside they have always wondered about what it would be like to have a lover of the same sex and, indeed, been attracted to both sexes.

3. There are those people who have been emotionally damaged by the opposite sex, found or placed themselves in situations with the same sex and discovered that this lifestyle was more gratifying for them than the heterosexual encounters they have had, in their search for love and fulfillment.

Religious Reference To Abominations In Life: Old Testaments

The Bible, Old Testaments, states specifically in Levitious 18:22 and 26, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is an abomination.” “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments.”

Levitious 20:13, “If a man also lies with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; and their blood shall be upon them.” Yet, there are other abominations that we are all guilty of, to some degree or another, and neither this verse nor any other verse in the Bible, directly addresses women lying with womankind.

These other abominations range from lying lips (Proverbs 12:12), the way of the wicked (Proverbs 15:9), everyone who is proud in heart (Proverbs 16:5), the unrighteous (Deuteronomy 25:16) , a husband who has sent away his wife then accepts her back (Deuteronomy 24:4), he that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just (Proverbs 17:15).

Even some of the things we choose to eat such as “whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoof, and chews the cud,” are among the animals, that you may not eat, such as the camel, the rabbit and the pig, mankind is guilty of eating some of these things. Also, “whatever is in the water that has no fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water and all the living creatures that are in the water”, we are supposed to be prohibited from eating. (There was a story where God spoke to a man sitting on a roof that I could not find that changes this and states something about blessing the food makes it clean).

These abominations written about in the Bible do not stop here, but include many other abominations as well, to include, “women shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man” (does this include pants, boxer shorts and by simply saying these garments are specifically made for women, does this erase the fact that they were, originally, the clothing of men), “neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.” (Deuteronomy 22:5), Invariably, The list goes on and on, to those who “oppress the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, has lifted up his eyes to idols, has given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase, has been unrighteous, to bringing into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, abominations”; none of these abominations have been brought to the table in discussions regarding the “sin” of homosexuality, for we would all be guilty of some type of abomination - Judge not least ye be judged.

So again does homosexuality automatically imply that you are in some way mentally or medically sick and able to be cured by religion?

Jesus And The New Covenant: New Testaments

Based on the list of abominations mentioned in the Bible, we are all guilty of an abomination on one level or another, according to the Old Testaments. However, Jesus brought a new understanding to the table when he walked the earth, an understanding you can judge for yourself by reading, thoroughly, the New Testaments and paying close attention to the parables he uses in an effort to get people to see things in a different light.

Jesus also brought to light a new meaning to judgment, forgiveness and clarity on just who will be welcome into Heaven and in most cases it was not, he who had high expectations because they felt pure within themselves.

Matthew 7:1 and 2 states, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Luke 6:37 states, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”

John 7:24 states, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Romans 14:13 speaks of judgment by saying, “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall, in his brother’s way.” Corinthians 4:5 states, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

As you sit tight in your righteous beliefs, you feel you have, in passing judgment on homosexuals, be aware that only God has the true power of judgment because only God knows the heart of man. Choices are given to all, so too does judgment come to all.

Before you step out there passing judgment on a homosexual lifestyle, know that with the same intensity you judge, you will be judged and saying homosexuality is a sickness, is a judgment. The question you should be asking yourself is, how pure is my heart and my deeds in passing this judgment for God is the only true Judge.

And that’s the way I see it!!!

EXPERIENCE SAN FRANCISCO - Where gays live openly and lovingly

I was impressed with the story of Marlene Hernandez who saved her husband Luis from potential death as he was being attacked by a shark. With all the news stories of husbands killing their wife, wives killing their husbands, mothers killing their children, wars, violence, hate, it was refreshing to hear this story.

Imagine being in the water when suddenly and unexpectedly, sharp teeth clamp down on your arm. Attached to those teeth is a bull shark which can weigh between 200 to 500 pounds and be between 7 to 11 feet long. What chance do you have of survival? Imagine the fear!

While in the Bahamas on a vacation Luis and his wife Marlene decided to go snorkeling for seafood which they both had a taste for. After spearing a grouper, the scent of blood attracted the attention of this shark. Luis and the shark eyed each other and Luis poked it with his spear. At first the shark simply swam away and Luis decided it was best for him to get out of the water. However, before he could reach the boat where his wife was waiting, the shark returned and attacked him.

After fighting with the shark, begging it not to kill him and cursing it out for a few seconds, he began screaming to his wife for help. Luckily he was able to force open the jaws of the shark with his free hand and get loose. Meanwhile his wife, realizing what was happening came to his rescue.

Never mind the fact that she is only 5 foot 2 and 108 pounds, she jumped into action pulling her 160 pound, injured husband to safety, out of the water and into the boat. She fashioned a tourniquet from a towel to stop the bleeding, called for help over the radio and sped towards shore in the boat; all actions that potentially saved his life.

Since May 7, 2009, when this happened, he has undergone five surgeries and expects to undergo several more as his forearm is rebuilt. The shark narrowly missed severing an artery in Luis’ elbow and he was very close to losing an arm from this vicious attack. Thanks to the quick thinking of his wife, who says that she does not know how she did what she did – “It just happened, and I just did it and I don’t know how” Luis’ life, as well as his arm was spared.

Luis, on the other hand, calls Marlene his angel and says “God came from heaven and gave her strength.” She needed that strength to lift him out of the water to save his life. Be thankful for what you’ve got!!

And that’s the way I see it!!!!

SAY IT WITH FLOWERS

Why does OPEC have the power to play the gas price game so effectively with the people? During the holidays at the end of 2008, gas prices were reasonable – that is to say they were at a low that had not been seen for sometime. This gave consumers a little extra money to spend on other things such as holiday dinners and gifts. After the holidays were over, gas prices began a slow upward climb but remained between $2.25 and $2.35 a gallon for the first few months of the New Year.

About two months ago, gas prices broke the $2.35 mark and have been slowly rising until they are now around $2.55 - $2.65 a gallon. I have watched this progression daily and I am amazed at how frequently gas prices fluctuate. Almost on a daily basis they are up by $.02 or down by $.01 but now that summer is upon us and the demand for gas will be higher, so too will gas prices as they creep higher and higher in anticipation of the coming demand.

According to Wikipedia, supply and demand is an economic model based on price, utility and quantity in a market. It predicts that in a competitive market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity. In microeconomic theory, demand is defined as the willingness and ability of a consumer to purchase a given product in a given frame of time.

Equilibrium is defined as a state or situation in which opposing forces or factors balance each other out and stability is attained. My question is when will gas prices become stable? Without that stability, living on a budget becomes difficult because the fluctuation in that specific cost affects the budget.

Why is it that the traditional laws of supply and demand do not apply to oil prices? Earlier this week, the 12 member countries that are members of OPEC voted in Vienna to maintain output at current levels even though tankers across the world are overflowing with oil. This decision has the effect of raising gas prices during a period of the year, here in America, when demand will be greater making the supply limited and the cost greater.

OPEC is a permanent intergovernmental organization of 12 oil-exporting developing nations that coordinates and unifies the petroleum polices of its member countries. OPEC seeks to ensure the stabilization (which is not happening) of oil prices in international oil markets, with a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations, giving due regard at all times to the interests of oil-producing nations and the necessity of securing a steady income for them.

It seems to me there is a very distinctive “conflict of interest” taking place in this arrangement and the consumers are paying the cost of this conflict of interest. Of the twelve oil-exporting countries, Iraq is one of them; also among those in control of the oil, thereby the oil prices are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran. All countries America has had violent contact with.

The thing I do not understand is even “after” the war in Iraq which is benefiting from the cost of oil, we as Americans are donating billions of dollars in relief and reconstruction to this country while they vote to stick it to us with the cost of oil/gas. This confuses and alarms me and I have to ask again – Is America being used by foreign countries that seem to be intent on breaking down the American financial systems? Is America losing its grip on reality or am I missing something?

Dependency is a dangerous thing – have we waited too late to realize this?

And that’s the way I see it!!!

HEAR ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE HEARD

SAC BEE Photo

Is being poor a choice? Does being poor open the door for those who have to take more from you? This is the proposal of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as he proposes to eliminate government health coverage for low- to moderate income children in the state of California.

In his efforts to save money, approximately $300 million, he is proposing the closure of the Healthy families program. A program that provides medical, dental and vision care to over 900,000 children in the state of California. This is such a needed program especially in light of the fact that California’s unemployment rate is spiraling out of control and more and more families are losing their employer covered medical plans.

What was the purpose of President Obama signing legislation to expand this federal program during his first month in office if individual states hold the power to extinguish this ray of light at the whim of local government? Is this a political game on the part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger? Is this a cry for more government help by targeting the programs President Obama is endorsing?

Schwarzenegger has already furloughed thousands of state employees, cutting their paychecks by two (2) days per month with the threat looming that layoffs are imminent. How long can the American people suffer the consequences of misjudgments made by powers designed to have “our best interest” at heart but who are failing us miserably? Why should our children have to suffer?

According to a pledge made by Governor Schwarzenegger, beginning his second term in office, to “reshape” healthcare in California why would this be a program on the top of the list to place on the cutting board. Schwarzenegger has also proposed cuts in education, which is another of President Obama’s high priority propositions. The President giveth and local government taketh away. What kind of games are the politicians playing with the American people and why are we so willing to accept this treatment?

Trying to bridge the gap in a $24 billion deficit with broken promises and social injury to our children is hardly the way to shine in the eyes of the people who elected you to serve their interest. Protesting after the fact is useless – we all need to be better researchers, better listeners when these people are up for “re-election”. The old saying “fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me” is definitely relevant in the case of George W. Bush as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While I am not standing in judgment, I am making an observation on the way our politics flow and I am not only questioning those politicians but the American public as well and their repeated decisions to vote blindly on people who have proven – in a four year term, just who they are and what they are capable of. When you close your eyes to the light (truth is the light), what’s left but to stumble around in the dark – which is where we all are now – stumbling, suffering, alone and broke.

And that’s the way I see it.

THESE SHOES ARE MADE FOR WALKING - As you look for work

Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, to name a few, all getting financial aid from America at a time when America is barely able to cope with its own financial situation. For me there is something definitely wrong with this picture. After eight years in Afghanistan and six years in Iraq, what have we really accomplished in these areas?

We are continuously throwing billions of dollars away to governments that are intent on condoning chaos, maintaining corruption within their governments and we give this money freely with no oversight as to how this money is spent. Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest countries even with the cultivation of a thriving drug trade with the opium poppies grown in that country. Where is all that drug money going; to the Taliban that has flourished there?

Meanwhile here in America the incidence of child abuse is on the rise as parents are frustrated with the state of their financial affairs. The 1980’s held higher unemployment rates for a lot of states but this time around unemployment has touched the lives on a more middle class level, with more to lose. What will the summer hold with high unemployment; with more frustrated people with nothing but time on their hands; will this create an atmosphere of higher crime rates?

With the cost of these two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the money donated towards the reconstruction of these war torn countries continuously rising, we the people complain not about the money spent in these countries and the lack of oversight of how this money is spent but instead the complaint is of the bailout of the auto industry and the banks, demanding stricter oversight on these levels. Yet we allow for the wasteful spending of billions of American dollars in foreign countries – how is this acceptable? How is this sane or rational?

While headlines scream of continued violence and death in these countries I have to question the effectiveness of our presence, as well as the finances being spent over there while Americans are losing their financial security here at home. After eight years of fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s denial of the existence of the Taliban even being in their country we now see the power of this denial, as well as the true existence of the Taliban or al-Qaida, yet we donate more life and more money to the “cause”. I, for one, am having a hard time grasping the concepts of Americans being so free with money and life.

And that’s the way I see it!!

In this day of economic, political and personal betrayals who amongst us has not been betrayed? In this life, I have always felt betrayed. Betrayed by parents who showed no love which I sensed from an early age but could never put into words. I later found out from my mother, as she was dying, that she gave me no support because she knew I was the strong one of her two daughters. I was the third child born into a family of four. My oldest brother was the “one”. The pride and joy of the family – he became a lawyer.

My sister was next. My mother told me that she needed more attention, more support and so she was given that attention and support. Then there was me, I gave back to my mother what she gave to my sister. I cleaned her house every Saturday, gave her a break from her babysitting job; whenever she needed to take a break and I was available, I would take over with the kids and take them outside or watch them while she ran an errand. I was even her cane as we walked to the bus stop on Sunday mornings to catch the bus to go to church. My mother had polio when she was a teenager which made one leg grow more than the other so for the remainder of her life she had a severe limp. She would rest her arm around my shoulder and walk proudly to the bus stop.

My baby brother was next and he was the baby of the family so in that role he became the spoiled one. I gave and gave but whenever I was in need I got nothing in return. I bore that burden and proceeded in life. I got married and experience more betrayal from my first husband, who betrayed me with senseless violence; and by police who would come to the house and in their way accuse me of “provoking” the violence.

I took it for as long as I could, long enough to have two children, and I finally took my children and ran from everything that was familiar to me at which time I became betrayed by society as the bondage of my color worked against me in a society where bondage had always been the existence of my race.

I could tell you stories about interviews for jobs I have had in Cleveland, Ohio, a very, very segregated city, to this day. One in particular I remember clearly as I had taken their test and scored 100% (this was later in life). They called me in for an interview to find out how I had “cheated on the test” telling me that no one had ever gotten 100%.

There was a question on the test regarding timekeeping. I even got that question right (my daughter and I had just taken a test for the state and there was a similar question on that test. She got the answer right, I got the answer wrong but I learned from her how to figure it out) and they were amazed at that because most people got at least that question wrong. They did not want to hire me even though I had passed the test they wanted to know how I managed to get 100%.

Then there was an interview in Texas I had where the person interviewing me actually made a statement to the effect that Mexicans were the second class citizens there and tried to imply that racism towards blacks did not happen there. Although I did get that job, his statements made me angry and I did not work there long, because I immediately started looking for work elsewhere only to get hired by an organization where I was the one and only black. Even in this position, they could not believe that I handled the job so well and Management called me into their office to give them a step by step process as to why I seemed to get the work done in such a timely manner because it had never happened like that before.

Then there was the job I walked away from working for the State of California. Without going into detail that was the biggest betrayal of all in a job situation. I survived that and on some levels became stronger from the experience but I am left wondering just why I am even on this earth being betrayed by everyone I come in contact with.

Betrayal – my betrayals did not end with these things. My mother called me one day and told me she was sending my sister to where I was living because of a situation she found herself in with the “man” in her life. I allowed my sister to stay with me and my second husband thinking she would come here and attempt to get her life together. She stayed with me for six months, not trying to find a job, hanging out every night at this neighborhood bar, leaving her two children at my house. Finally, I had to tell her she had to find a place of her own.

I remember after she moved out, I would give her money for cigarettes, give her food from my cabinets and she would still take money from me. She always denied it though but I remember once I had my last five dollars out and I was going to stop by the store to get a pack of cigarettes for myself. Only I and she were in the car. I never got out of the car but somehow the money disappeared. I looked all over the car for that money once we stopped at my house; under seats on the ground everywhere while she sat there looking guilty but saying nothing.

I went totally off on her because I knew in the very essence on my soul that she had stolen it. I told her to get out of my car and get home the best way she could because in that moment, I was so sick of her and her manipulative act of playing crazy. The same act she had manipulated my mother with for so long. She use to act real nervous and start scratching her arms like she was losing it, however once I told her she could not play that game with me she suddenly stopped having the itch.

All of this leads me to why I am even writing this. The one betrayal that hurts the most is the betrayal of my kids and granddaughter. I raised my children to be responsible adults. I may have been hard on them at times but mostly I was there for them. It was difficult because they both have a mean streak in them. My daughter to this day believes she is Ms. Queen B**** and she refuses to talk to me even though she is still sleeping on my bedroom set working at a good job I helped her get.

When she was knocked up in Dallas, feeling alone and deserted by the “sperm donor” as she calls him, who went up there to bring her home? When she was ready to move to California to take the test for her job, who arranged for her to get here? When she was working during her final year in school, who used their lunch hour to go pick her up to take her to work and picked her up at the end of the day? Who babysat for her daughter when she worked nights? Who allowed her to grow and experience life from active participation? Who took her out to lunch when she was feeling down?

My son was no different. Who attended his basketball games? Who took him to the college that was offering a scholarship of sorts? Who taught him how to drive? Who let him use their car even when he could not respect me enough to come and pick me up from work in a timely manner even after we had words about being on time? Who came and got him from his father’s once he realized he did not want to be there any longer.

Yet they have both betrayed me with the hate that is in their hearts; the hate that has them disrespecting me, refusing to talk to me, as well as refusing to articulate just why the hate towards me is so strong but instead denies the fact that they hate me. In a previous post I shared the attitude my granddaughter showed towards me when I took her in after she ran away from home. It did not change, in fact it got worse and I had to send her back because I did not raise her to this point and I refused to allow her to attempt to bully me and curse at me. She is no longer speaking to me so she is the final family betrayal.

I have come to realize that everybody in my life is seasonal; that my destiny is not tied to those who walked away. They went from me because they were not a part of me; possibly that betrayal is my personal cross to bear and though this is a heavy cross to bear, I survive and for the most part I thrive. I am employed, I can laugh, I can take care of myself and through it all, God is in my heart; God who has kept me strong in the face of all the betrayals I have experienced.

Keep God in your heart as you go through life’s ups and downs and my hope for you is that life gives you more ups than downs although with the economy the way it is, for a while the downs may be many, but God will not leave or betray you and with God is peace. Stay strong in the power of God!!

And that’s the way I see it!!