What's the saying... five friends could compliment you (on your sense of humour, mad style, whatever) and one person could say something critical, and it's the critical thing that sticks in your mind? Or something like that. I know there's a similar statistic about it.
So I know it's also really easy to get down in the dumps about this world. This world with its hate, intolerance, wars, feeling devoid of warmth, general meanness to one another, SUVs killing the planet, and it goes on and on until you just want to sit in the corner of a dark room and brood (by the way, whenever I hear the word 'brood', I always picture Angel from Buffy. King of the brooders).
But this makes it all too easy to forget that this world --- and specifically, at this particular time in history in this world --- there are all kinds-of-good happening.
Something my partner and I have talked recently about (and often) in this regard is LGBT rights. The quote "we've come a long way, baby" comes to mind...
When I was in high school, I was one of the only kids in my classes that fought vehemently for same sex and same gender marriage, that gay men/gay women could raise children just as damned well as any other family out there. For my psychology class, I wrote a paper about research confirming biological origins on the side of "being gay is not a choice".
But I was one of few who (openly at least) thought this way. There were a few out gay and lesbian kids, but not many. And most of the ones who were out lacked social support.
This is so different now, in the span of only (8? 9?) years. There is Camp Aurora, for LGBT teens. Gay-Straight Alliances in schools.
Ohhh, and the media! I'm not a Glee fan personally, but I know of one episode where all the high schoolers lost their virginity. One couple consisted of two gay men. And their first times were treated with just as much respect as the straight couples' were. And this is on a national, primetime, basic cable network.
I actually remember when Roseanne kissed another woman on her show (the other woman was a lesbian, Roseanne was not, and it was just a friendly kiss) and their was So. Much. Outrage. And I remember when my favourite show ever got flack in the year 2000 for wanting to show a lesbian kiss between two important female characters in a committed and loving relationship.
Now there's The New Normal, Modern Family, and I'm sure others I'm forgetting. The part that I love the most is that in many cases (although not all) it is treated as exactly what it is--- normal.
I had a discussion with someone a couple years ago about whether we would care if our kids turned out to be gay. The other person had said that even though they are fully supportive of LGBT rights, they would not wish their child was gay simply to save them the hurt that would accompany that status. I understood that position, but I disagreed, and now I feel more adamant about it.
The times they are a-changing. There's still a long way to go, but there's so much that has improved over the past few years and it is still improving- more rapidly than ever before. I have high hopes that by the time all of my children do identify with a sexual and/or gender orientation and make that identity known, that not only will they be met with acceptance, but it will just be perfectly normal.
Like how the teen boy came out to his Dad on United States of Tara, and the Dad just basically said "cool. So, do you want to go get a burger?" (or something to that effect).
We're almost at that point! The world isn't ALL bad after all...
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