It's been in the news, all over the place. It's been on my G+ wall, on my Facebook wall. I've had the conversations with people. I experienced it firsthand, in leaving the country. But, it's the most denied truth on the planet, I believe. I'm talking about America being a nation of fearmongers, cowards, homebodies. Why is it that the country that proclaims itself to be the greatest in the world, and certainly has the potential to be the greatest in the world, is so far behind in the grand scheme of things. Could it be that our history has just wrapped up recently, at least in comparison to those of our European and Asian counterparts? Or is it just that we've been too full of ourselves, after taking on some of the strongest militaries in the world, and defeating them, becoming the strongest, most influential nation along the way? I want to look at a few places where the United States of America pales in comparison to other countries. My intent in this narrative is not to degrade the United States, but to question why we are fearful of things we needn't be.
Let me start by stating that I have a big problem with the way our country caters to minorities. I'm not saying that I dislike, or disapprove, of those in the minorities. I don't. On the contrary, I simply wish we'd stop referring to them as such. I loathe the term. Yes, there are more straight, Caucasian, males who associate themselves with the Christian faith than any other demographic in the States, but who cares? We pride ourselves on being the greatest, the melting pot, the hope for all. Why then, do we care what race, ethnicity, gender, or orientation a person is? If they are being a benefit to society, we should embrace them.
I was raised in a Baptist church, believing what I read in the Bible, and what was preached to me in church. Not to say that I disbelieve what I was taught, but I think that some of what the church teaches is outdated. I believe that what should be emphasized is God's will that we accept each person as they are, love them for the beings that they are, and allow them to be judged in the end. We are not to cast stones, so whatever ideals we hold should be dismissed when considering other people.
Let's start with the LGBT community. Again, I'm not fond of this term, "community", but it seems to be the most accepted term to use, so I'll play along. In my opinion, this can be broken down into a few categories, the lesbian/gay, the bisexual, and the transgrender. I don't think that these are all the same, and they each rub the population differently. I think that the general population has had more time to come to terms with their individual opinions of homosexuals, and they either approve, or they don't. Not that it's an individual's right to approve or disapprove. I'm 6'4". Does it matter if you approve of my height? It's not going to change anything if you wish me to be a more "normal" 5'10". Same here. I recently heard a researcher on the radio explaining what they've discovered in DNA testing, and it really struck home to me. It didn't sway my opinion on how people differ, but it solidified my current stance. Basically, what he was explaining was that the human DNA is so complex, and has so many moving parts that it's really miraculous that we come together the way we do (my words, not his). He mentioned that the parts of our DNA that determine gender are not connected, directly, to the parts of our DNA which determine sexual preference. That's really what the bottom line is all about, isn't it? And, to top it off, neither of those strains are directly connected to the parts of our DNA which develop out genitalia. Guess what this means. It's pretty simple, actually. Male DNA means that you're going to identify as a male. If you get the atoms, chromosomes, genes that make you attracted to males, and you happen to have the male DNA, you're going to be labeled as gay. But, what happens if you end up with the strains that give you female body parts instead of the stuff that makes you attracted to males? Now, you're essentially a homosexual male, trapped in a female's body. It's kind of confusing, and I'm not a scientist, so I won't try. My point is this, since society feels the need to label people, this person, who is naturally attracted to guys, is still going to be confused. Something isn't going to feel right, when they're growing up, being told that he's a little girl, and it's normal for her to like boys.
The big news recently is that the President has declared that all public schools are required to allow children who identify as transgender to use whichever restroom they feel more comfortable in. Parents are up in arms about this. I'm a parent, and I'm not sure what I feel about this. On the one hand, it's only fair to the children to be able to be who they are. On the other hand, because of how our society is, this is going to be strange for the other children who have to use a certain restroom. What I mean by this is exactly what the public outcry suggests. My daughter is not used to seeing boys in her bathroom. Not at school, not in public. When she sees a person who is genetically a boy come into her bathroom at school, because she's on a boy by the body parts she was born with, my daughter will feel strange. I feel for her in that case. But, I know that if she's open minded, and understanding about this person, especially if she decides to sit down and befriend this person, and have conversations about what's going on, she'll totally get it. She'll learn the tolerance that we all wish we all had. This isn't the worst outcome. Where does our fear come into play here? I've seen a few videos where people, fathers namely, go into a school, and try to explain that boy means boy, and girl means girl. I understand this point of view, that's how society has operated for three centuries on this continent. But, consider this. These "boys" that you see going into the girls restrooms at school, or changing in the girls' locker room, don't think of themselves as boys. They believe that they are girls, because that's what their DNA tells them they are. Guess what, parents, these transgender kids that will be sharing restrooms with your children were more likely to sexually abuse the children in their original bathroom than they are in the bathrooms that they identify with. These "boys" in the girls restrooms aren't there to chase girls. They're there for their own safety and protection. Get off your high horses, and accept people for who they are, what they bring to society, and leave your personal judgments out of it.
I recently traveled overseas, and my eyes were open to some stuff I've never considered before. There are all sorts of people cohabiting. You can look at the people on any given street, and you can't tell if someone is straight, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Agnostic, or whatever. And you know what? Nobody seems to care. They smoke in public. That's the one thing that I applaud the United States for, that we've figured out ahead of these other countries. In my time in Europe, I visited a public swimming pool, or Bathhouse, as they called it. We checked in, and proceeded to the locker room. Yes, locker room, singular. It was different for me. There were changing stalls that locked from the inside, but when you emerged from the other side, it was a crapshoot as to who you could run into first - man, woman, child... We all used the same facility. The bathrooms were separate, but there was a family restroom as well. The bathrooms had doors to the general area, where the showers were. Guess what else. The showers weren't gender specific. You grabbed the first open shower, and did your business. In my time there, I witnessed no discomfort among the locals, nobody was worried about someone else coming in contact with them, nobody was worried about being abused, molested, or harassed, and there was no body shaming. People just were. It was an eye-opening experience.
I think the bottom line is that here in America, despite our bravado and unity, we fear evil. We've seen it, but we provide outs for it. We see everything in black and white, but in the same vein, we've decided that most things aren't, so we preach tolerance, but we don't teach the understanding of any of it. In other words, accept your fellow American, but don't offend them - and, we're not going to educate you as to why you see them differently, we're just going to tell you that they are. By telling us that there's a disparity between men and women, between Caucasians, African Americans, Latinos, and Asians, between heterosexuals, homosexuals, and transsexuals, we're being bred to spot the differences, and to keep lines of divisions up between the demographics. It's pathetic. I'm all for equal rights, but people play the minority card, and we're to respect that. Why don't we just respect our fellow man, and call it good?
