A Strange Land

It seemed appropriate to pay attention. A full moon lights this New Year’s Eve, by necessity, a blue moon. At fifty-two, I have the time and relative lack of commitments to pause a moment, or two, or more than several and pay attention. They happen, or so I am told, about every nineteen years or so, or perhaps it is exactly and I wasn’t paying sufficient attention. Nineteen years would mean that I had missed two previous New Year’s Eve Blue Moon events. One at about thirty-three when I was distracted by the demands of a young family and the other at fourteen, when I was just distracted or conversely far too self absorbed to notice much outside my own evolving turbulent self. One cannot say really if another nineteen years down the road I will be here, or sufficiently aware to notice. So, I wandered outside, into the cold, well, this is Southern California and cold is a relative issue, and stared for awhile. A lovely moon set in a clear cold cloudless sky. Assuredly bonus points are allocated in some karmic register for noticing the turning of these cosmic cycles and I wandered back inside.

So, it has been an odd year. A year sufficiently odd than I hesitate in contemplation of what to wish for. Wishes get twisted. So, here’s to the New Year, whatever it might come to be, and the opportunity to see it through.

I have to admit, I don’t quite understand the people who want to pass Proposition 8.  Do they not value marriage?  Are they selfish?  It would seem to me, that if you value marriage as an institution, if you think that it contributes to the stability of couples, families and society in general, you would want all couples to be married.  There are serious decisions that are made when considering a marriage.  Do I want to bind myself to this person legally?  How will we manage our finances?  Do we love each other enough to be together “forever”?  Do we want to raise a family together?  These and other questions like them get asked when considering a long term, serious decision like marriage, but not when simply living together.  If you believe that this creation of a strong familial unit helps create a stable society and is so effective in doing that that we offer tax breaks to support it, then you should support marriage as an opportunity for all couples.

Another possibility, I suppose, is that the people supporting Proposition 8 are just selfish.  They enjoy the benefits and responsibilities of a marriage and just don’t want to share the joy.  Well, that would be rather sad and despicable of them personally, but is certainly no reason to deprive other people of the joys, sorrows,and responsibilities of marriage.

Finally, I have heard that some people support Proposition 8 for religious reasons.  Well, it is perfectly acceptable to believe whatever you like religiously.  It is even encouraged.  However, one of the great things about this country is that just because you believe something to be true, you don’t then get to impose your beliefs on other people.  We all have the same rights and the rights are protected.  They include the freedom from having someone else’s religious beliefs imposed on us.  We, well, most of us, wouldn’t want it any other way.

So, let us all marry whomever we would choose and then let the divorce lawyers enjoy a windfall.

No on 8