Equality, You'll be Seeing This a Lot!

Today I saw a very encouraging video on Yahoo. President Obama was addressing a crowd and a man, in the middle of his speech, yelled "repeal 'don't ask, don't tell'!". This statement is obviously referring to the 1993 military policy that bans gays and lesbians from openly serving. Obama responded, "We are going to do that; hey, hold on a second, hold on a second." The rest of the crowd then began chanting Obama's signature campaign chant: "Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!". After the crowd's chants died down, Obama further pleased the protesters by responding, "Guys, guys, I agree! I agree, I agree! Now; no, no, no, no listen what the young man was talking about was we need to repeal0 'don't ask don't tell', which I agree with. And which we have begun to do."

Now, I realize Barack Obama has stated he would repeal this stupid act throughout his campaign, and has reiterated this point throughout his presidency, and yes, the progress has been slow. But seeing as this is a recent video, and the President seemed passionate, and didn't disregard the outburst, I have renewed hope. If you've read my other post about gay marriage in the U.S. you know I am all for it. I believe a tolerant society is best. To each his own. If you'd like to see the video, (I made an unsuccessful attempt to post it!) go to http://www.yahoo.com/ and flip through 'Today' section on the homepage. Hopefully, we'll achieve this well needed
change in the future.


I also came across a good quote today as I was doing some searches on Wikipedia
(what else?!). The quote,

One God - Many Forms
One River - Many Streams
One People - Many Faces
One Mother - Many Children

are the words of Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati. He painted them across the door that enters to the Guthrie Center at the Old Holy Trinity in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. I started thinking about how stupid it is that we treat each other as inferiors. I get we were born with the instincts to just stay alive, but why can everyone just make the realization that we're all the same despite our ethnic or religious differences?- and stick with it. I stopped thinking so much about who I was talking to, or who I was been seen with, and suddenly the world seems a lot better. Well, despite the fact that as I show more kindness, the world just thrusts evils in my way. You see, today this girl came up to me outside the school as I was waiting for my aunt to drop of something. I went to elementary school with her, and I know how she gets mocked and ridiculed daily. Normally as she approached me for the brief time she did today, I would've rolled my eyes and brushed her off. But I stood there for a minute, and talked to her, and listened to what see had to say. It turns out, it was her birthday. I was a little surprised because she had no balloons or cards with her. I mean, I thought almost everyone got a balloon on their birthday! I didn't this year, but I got cards throughout the day so people we able to tell. We talked for a bit, she told me about how it stunk 'cause her birthday was also Hitler's birthday, and she's a third Russian, half Jewish, and half Italian, which made her think of Mussolini. As I stood their, I noticed a few eyes glaring at me. But that made me talk to her some more, and for once I don't think I brushed her off, or stifled a laugh at her odd ways. She left me as I wished her a happy birthday, and went to approach two boys nearby. I watched them turned their backs and mock her. A monitor stopped the boys as the girl walked away, but still she was faced with bullies. And these weren't the obvious bullies that adults might pick up like that monitor did with the boys. This was the bullying only a kid who knew the bullies would know. A group of girls ran up to the girl and gave her a hug, started talking to her, and jumped up and down waving as she got into her taxi and left. Then started laughing because she was taking a taxi home. From a bystander a girl being greeted with open arms by this group of girls looked like a normal occurrence after school. But I knew their comments were laced with giggles and their hugs were fake and over-done. She might not realize it, but I do. And that's the worst. To be bullied and not even know it. So, next time just another 'loser' trys to make a conversation, talk. And look around at the widened eyes and smile to yourself.

I know I haven't written in a while, but I will now! The past weekend was without a lot of substance, and busy. So I didn't have any time to post, and there was nothing really to say! But tomorrow, I'll do my second Glee review. *GLEE IS TONIGHT, NOT TOMORROW! THE COMMERCIAL MISLEAD ME, BE SURE TO WATCH TONIGHT, AND READ TOMORROW!* Then, on Thursday hopefully you'll have a nice Earth Day post, I'm going green! (:(Be T. Dubbs: Splits are hard, but going as good as they can for now I guess!)

Song stuck in my head today: "Madison" by Chris Merritt (!! (: )

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison