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High school dances are supposed to be fun and light. They are where you go to try to make out a little under the bleachers and dance the night away with your girlfriends to the Grease remix.
They are not nights to be gang-raped by 5 men (if you are old enough to be so inhumane as to GANG RAPE a 16 year old woman then hell YES you will be tried as an adult) in the parking lot behind the school.
While the idea of gang rape is enough to turn my stomach fully inside out and make me want to throw up (a lot) in my mouth THAT ISN’T THE WORST PART OF THIS STORY. The worst part is the dozen or more people that stood by and WATCHED IT HAPPEN. Were they laughing? Were they taking photos? Were they awkwardly shifting their weight from one foot to the other knowing that this was wrong on so many hundreds of thousands of levels but scared to do anything about it?
It’s easy for us to pass judgment on this act. We, as impartial uninvolved third party observers, know that it is wrong. But we weren’t there, scared of what would happen if we were the ones who tried to slink away to make a 911 call from the shadows. We weren’t the ones desperately hoping someone else ANYONE ELSE would be the ones to stop it. We weren’t the ones ignorant to the horror unfolding before our eyes.
As a resident of Maine I saw fear and ignorance take a firm grasp of voters last week. I say fear and ignorance, because I believe VERY FEW people voted out of hate. Unfortunately it didn’t stop on Tuesday.
We can react by lashing out and condemning the 53% of people who voted. We can ignore the voices that were NEARLY as strong at 47%. We can completely discount the hard work, dedication and unabashed belief of the volunteers and campaign workers who pushed for Marriage Equality. We can let our own prides and prejudices fuel the fire of dissension and pain.
I, however, believe that we CANNOT continue to let fear and ignorance become the cornerstones for the foundation of our future.
Instead, we must find ways to intelligently and passionately revolutionize. We must reach out and match jab for jab with blind love and compassion. We must not let our personal opinions (no matter how real and beautiful and poignant they might be) become a backdrop for anger and judgment.
We must continue to stand up against the continued inequalities that have caused our society to become dependent on everyone else instead of thinking for ourselves.
I have faith in the good of humanity. I have hope that one by one people will come to realize and see past the smoke and mirrors. I believe that in the end, LOVE will be the power that conquers fear and ignorance.
For my Bible-quoting friends, I leave you with this little ditty (see, I fight with scripture too…and this one is frequently used AT marriage ceremonies)
1 Corinthians 13:13 – And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
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Comments
11.09.09
You should write more on your blog! I enjoy it so much. I can't wait for Tuesday's Blog Crush :) This post has me pondering. You're awesome!
11.09.09
Oh, and congrats on being featured! :)
11.12.09
Haha, I'm working on it. As soon as I fully adjust to my newer crazier schedule I'll have more content I promise! :)
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