Equality: Heaven and Hell, Yin and Yang...

Equality.

What is it?  Is it real?  Is it attainable?  Why should we care?

Equality is right up there with world peace, in my opinion.  It is something that the majority of the world wants, yet resists.  As a judgmental society, true equality may never be accepted, but if we do not give it a chance we will never know for sure.

Equality is like a poorly cared for double edged sword.  One side is razor sharp and ready to cut through the BS of life's ignorance.  The other is Dull and chipped, not very useful at all and seems to only cause more damage than accomplish the task at hand, in a sense splashing the bullshit onto others rather than neatly slicing through.

Equality is essential for progress, peace, love, and our continued existence.  It doesn't matter what your beliefs, and how you show your acceptance of equality, as long as you treat others as human beings.  Too often we confuse equality for compassion.  I believe they are two different things.  We show compassion when an event occurs that brings another down.  For example, a stranger's house catches fire.  We show compassion because we feel bad for the situation, and want to help.  However, if that person is poor, and we are wealthy, we might not treat that person as an equal due to their social status.

Galatians 3:28 says: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Now, I must admit that I am not a religious man, nor do I read the bible regularly, but that passage seems pretty clear to me.  In the eyes of Jesus, we are all equal regardless of religion, social status, or sexuality. To me, it is clear from that single passage in the bible that Equality is real.

So, why is it that so many religious zealots refuse to accept those that are so different form themselves?



I don't know really.  My guess is that they are lost and confused, so they rely on the Bible's texts to guide them, rather than think for themselves.  Unfortunately, too many times we see that they pick and choose their versus to match the special of the day.  Hell, I pulled the Galatians verse off of the internet, because it said what I felt.  Anyone could pull another verse that says the exact opposite, and use it to prove me wrong.  The scary part about is that although we use the same book, we come to different conclusions.

Today, the supreme court is listening to arguments regarding the legality of gay marriage.  Many people want to see the legalization of gay marriage, I would argue that just as many do not.  Personally, I want to see it become a reality.  I think that love is love, regardless of the partners.  In fact, I am tired of seeing posts, on sites such as Facebook, from hypocritical religious zealots and bigoted hateful people.  I like to think that I taught my children to be better than those people, and taught them to treat everyone as equals.  Yet those spreading hateful messages seem to want to imprint their messages of inequality onto my children and friends.  What I find most interesting is  that those same people, when a social issue such as gay marriage is not on the forefront, tend to spread the words of love and equality across their choice of social media. I guess I would urge those people to re-read Galatians 3:28.

With so many hypocritical people out there, is Equality really attainable?  We will never know if we don't try.   All I can say is that we need to teach our children what Equality really is, and how faking Equality can hurt a person.  The road will not be smooth.  In fact, I would say the road to equality is similar to the Rainbow Road in Mario Cart.  It seems so beautiful and calm, but once you start, you find that you are constantly falling off the edge.  But when you finally master the course, and cross that finish line, there is no better feeling.

We will not achieve true equality anytime soon, but if we do not start now it will never happen.  Since the beginning of America, we have come a long way towards equality.  We have ended slavery, allowed women's rights, provided freedom to our citizens, and will (hopefully)soon allow those who love the same sex a chance to legally proclaim their love and share in the same benefits that my Wife and I do.

So what is so special about Equality, and why should we care?  The answer is simple, to rid the world of bigoted, hypocritical  hate.  As long as there is a reason to hold someone back, whether it is choice in religion, life partner, social status, etc... there will always be hate, and an overabundance of hate creates regression, not progression.  Equality is special because the things that separate us as a race are thrown aside so we can work as one to better ourselves and our people...something that our government could learn a thing or two from.  We should care because our Equality is essential to our preservation.  If we continue to be two faced, hate, fight, and kill each other, we will be no more.  Regardless of the level of hate, it only breeds more hate.

I only ask that those who claim to love one and all, and believe that their God loves them and all that follow (regardless of the God-or nothingness that you follow), learn to accept others for their faults and differences. I am not asking you to experience or become like the people that you secretly have a disdain for, but accept them for who they are.  A smile is contagious, and can quickly cause a pandemic of positive vibes.  Let's start there, and see where it goes.  I think you will find that you feel better about yourself, and the hypocritical hate that we all bury inside ourselves will slowly dissolve.