Our dear friends (Tom and Emilio) made a posting on their blog Canadian Hope recently reacting to President-elect Obama's choice for an invocation speaker at his upcoming inauguration. I feel badly because what started as a regular, short comment erupted into an overwhelming tsunami of emotions that I feel compelled to share with you here.
When I first heard about the news of Mr. Obama's choice for inauguration invocation, Instinctively I began my defence of the President-elect saying I understand how he needs to reach out to a broad spectrum, but I quickly caught myself and the disappointment and anger began rising again.
Make a mental image of this man (Rick Warren) standing on the very same platform, at the very same microphone and is one of the very first to shake the hand of the 44th President of the United States of America.
If that's not enough to cause bile and acid to churn within your stomach, put that man in the outfit of a Nazi concentration camp guard, the Ku Klux Klan, a Taliban terrorist or any of the other representatives of a group of people that call for the in humane and discriminatory treatment of another group of humans.
I for one shudder at both thoughts and in my heart thought President-elect Obama would do the right thing. Unfortunately, he and thousands of politicians before him, prove that they are not leaders, but rather glorified followers and the Hope I yearned for in the years and days leading up to 4-November has been extinguished.
For those of you reading this right now and mentally running to Mr. Obama's defense saying "it's not that big a deal" or "give him a break" or "you can't compare being gay to the plight of Jews and blacks" I ask you to stop that knee-jerk reaction triggered by hope, political correctness and a promise of something better. Is what you're thinking acceptable if you found yourself the subject of any form of discrimination, less than humane treatment or worse: subject to violence or hatred of any kind? Ask yourself:
Are there levels of hate?
Is a little violence okay in your eyes?
Maybe we should keep everyone who doesn't identify as heterosexual Christians grouped as one and treat them all unequally as compared to the others.
In one target/form/method of discrimination worse than another or is it an absolute?
How sad that my friends and I need to utter the words "the lesser of two evils" when talking about using one of the most powerful acts we can perform: voting in the country of our birth.
I've said it until I'm blue in the face and now I'm shouting it from as high a mountain I can find based in a country that I am confident respects me and remembers that we are all one, together on this planet. The teams may change. One wins, the other loses. And then another one is played.
Until the money and accumulation of wealth-focused game called US politics changes, the United States of America will continue to slide into the abyss of greed and corruption.
Now ask us if we plan to move back or regret turning our backs and moving North to Canada.
If you don't know the answer to that by now, it's time YOU stopped playing the game.
[Mason]
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