Friday, April 23, 2010

Music, Homosexuality, and Christians

Warning: Very Charged Post

*Disclaimer: If you can't read politically charged,very opinionated, or very controversial posts of very sarcastic nature, without getting upset, then please don't read on.

*Disclaimer #2: I see homosexuality as influenced by environmental and childhood factors in addition to a certain degree of choice. Whether or not you or I believe in a gay "gene," though, is irrelevant in this post.

*******

I have many friends who are either gay, in the closet, or dealing with the idea of being gay. In fact, I am surrounded by them. By a rudimentary estimate, one-third of the guys in my music school are gay. The more I get to know each one, the more I see a pattern.

For example:

Friend #1: Dad was deported as a kid. Grew up on his own. Brother is gay.
Friend #2: Mom divorced and remarried for the third time. Sexually abused as a kid. Childhood dad living far away, little contact. Second dad, mistreated family.
Friend #3: Father passed away from cancer. Mother developed cancer. Now living on his own.
Friend #4: Father always working, not one to show much affection. No help from his church, though very involved with it.
Friend #5: Insecure, lack of male figures or close male friends in his life. Grew up being laughed at for the things he did, because they were "girly."

And it goes on and on and on and on and on....


You look at all the cases, and yes- each one is different, but look at the trend. It has to do with the male role model. How many of in this sad society can say they have a great relationship with their dad? A few I'm sure, but not many..

For those of you guys who are reading this and may someday become fathers-- I BEG you to please love your children!! How one is raised determines much later in his life. Be good father figures; Be healthy role models-- This is regardless of your views on homosexuality.


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What I am upset about is how Christians treat this topic and people involved with it.

Yeah I personally believe it's inherently a choice. But,

JUST HOW MUCH OF A CHOICE DO YOU THINK IT IS? Christians as a majority, all over the place, shoot down homosexuality right away without thinking about it. Do you really think it's a choice when the male figures in your life sexually abused you? Do you really think it's a choice when your father was not there for you? Didn't show you love? Do you really think it's a choice that echoes of a taunting childhood memory resound "haha... you don't play sports... you must be gay?"?

BULLSHIT.


Thanks Dad- for having a personal philosophy in ministry, where you condemn first before you consider. For choosing to minster to some but not others because "that is what I feel comfortable with at the moment..."

Thanks Pastors- for shying away from this topic in your churches. From assuming that everything can be swept under the rug. For condemning without helping.

Thanks Church- for being so ineffective at helping people, that they have to go to outside places for help- even help of non-homosexual issues- because they feel like they aren't accepted. For condemning certain people to the point where they shut themselves down to any mention of certain trigger words or stereotypes.

Thanks homophobic, ultra-conservative, right-wing Christians- for being so adamant about "righteousness" that the second the prefix "homo-" is mentioned, an automatic wall of condemnation rises up. Or for being so freaked out by homosexuals that it is thought they are a different "animal" than human.

Thanks for the rest of you Christians, who aren't ultra-conservatives- for assuming that this can be dealt by, as just "another sin-" and stopping at that. And for being shocked or uncomfortable to hear about the whole topic anyway.

Thanks society- for portraying an image of social taboo and lines that ought not to be crossed by one "type of people" by another "type of people."

Thanks culture- for establishing stereotypical gender roles that portray men as "macho" and "super buff." I guess those that don't fit the stereotype should be considered effeminate and gay?

Thanks America- for being so liberal, that you can even argue your way out of reality and absolutes. You're falling off a thousand foot cliff into your own doom.




To all my homosexual friends out there: I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this. I'm sorry that I have to deal with this. I'm sorry that the world just sucks and that life is confusing. I'm sorry that the puzzle just can't be complete. I'm sorry that there just can't be an easy answer to life's problems. I'm sorry that some of you are still struggling. Why do you even have to deal with this issue at all?


Some things in life just don't have answers. And that's exactly where this post ends. Without one.

A bitter, sorry, depressing end.

Monday, April 5, 2010

White Sheet of Paper, Streaked

A line.

Divides.
Defines.
Distinguishes.
Marks.
Separates.

A bi-tonal water color in it's earliest stages of creation.

Raw.
Separated.
Two distinct sections.

An artist's brush.

Bristled and dispersing.
Blending.
Lines together.
Tones together.

My life. A line. Now blended.