INTOLERANCE

I've had lots of things I've been going to write about but somehow never got around to it. The latest fabric art piece I'm working on has consumed me. I just love it.

I've been thinking about writing about Urbanhennery's Dark Days Challenge, which I signed up for, and the new way I fixed chard the other night. I'll still get around to those but first I have to comment on the vote in Maine to not allow gay marriage.

I am dumbfounded by the world's intolerance to anyone who is not like the family in the first grade reading book, "Dick and Jane." For those of you too young to remember them, the family was written version of Ozzie and Harriet or Leave it to Beaver. The cat was named Puff; the dog Spot. Dick and Jane were the children whose adventures helped us learned to read.

Intolerance shows up in church, voting booths, schools and just about everywhere else. I don't understand what is wrong with letting people live their lives in whatever way they want. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone, who cares who they sleep with or have sex with.

My son Mark was raised without any specific religion. I simply told him to treat people well. The short version of the Golden Rule. It worked; when he thought his boy scout leader was a bigot for statements made about the Vietnamese, Mark called him on it and asked for an apology to the troop. He never got it so quit the troop. I was so proud of him for that. He never got to be an Eagle Scout, but he did stand up to an intolerant person. Big life lesson there.

I have many gay and lesbian friends. Many of them have been in committed relationships much longer than any of my straight friends. That includes me; I married and divorced my first husband twice. That, perhaps, was carrying "tolerance" a bit too far.

Many of my gay and lesbian friends have children. I don't really care how they got them, but I do know that they are wonderful parents struggling with the same issues that heterosexual parents struggle with.

One lesbian couple I know were asked to leave the Catholic church they attended when the pastor found out that one of the couple was pregnant. Now that takes intolerance to a whole new level. The Catholic church is very good at legislating morality. I should know because I used to be a Catholic.

The fact that California passed Prop 8 to outlaw gay marriage somehow has emboldened the rest of the intolerant people in this country. It's sad that homosexuals who love each other cannot enjoy the rights that we heterosexuals enjoy.

If you are offended by what I've written, then I ask you to think about why you are offended. Perhaps you are intolerant. Please tell me what you think even if you are anonymous. Dialogue is always good.

I oven roasted the chard. Tear the leaves from the stems, lay on a cookie sheet, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, bake at 450 degrees for five minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle balsamic vinegar on the chard. It's delicious.