I hate a lot of things in life. I hate injustice. I hate bigotry. I hate war. I hate ignorance. And I hate the number 53%.
But I don't hate those 53-percenters. They voted their conscience, and that was their right. Regretably, sadly, their conscience is in the wrong place.
Bill in Portland Maine and Michael, I grieve for you. I grieve for my cousin Lee in Big Bear and my nephew Jeremy in New York. I grieve for the lesbian couple that lives just a few doors down from me, though I don't even know their names. I know them by face, and they know me the same way, and we always smile at each other when we pass by, which is often. Somehow, I know that they know I love them.
I grieve for this country, and for all the gays in our military who just took another round of "friendly fire" to their already damaged hearts. I grieve for my mother, who doesn't understand why this is so important, yet still thinks everyone should be equal under the law.
I apologize. Yesterday I worked instead of watching the poll results, and so now just this morning I learned Question 1 passed.
I can't figure it out. How can people be so stupid?
How can it be that no matter how hard we work for upholding the rights of good people, our work doesn't seem to be good enough? How can this be? How could we lose when it comes to upholding the law? How can good people, those 53% who voted WRONG, who voted to strike down a law that stood up for the rights of all people, not understand how wrong they are?
The world turns, and life goes on, and I will not give up the fight for the rights of everyone. I am resolved. I may be on my knees, but I am not yet defeated. We are not yet defeated.
I am resolved.
In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, as spoken by his character Thrain, son of Thror, upon hearing of Thror's death at the hands of the goblin Azog: "[When] he had wept and torn his beard he fell silent. Seven days he sat and said no word. Then he stood up and said 'This cannot be borne!'"