Communities in the Cross Hairs
by Raven Usher
I have a neighbor who is a Navy wife. Her husband is out on ship and she is at home with her young son. I have another neighbor who is a stay-at-home mom with two young kids. Another is a Grandfather who has taken in his divorced daughter and grand children. Then there is a pair of dincs (double income no children). A family of Bosnian immigrants are living the American dream on the corner. There is a retired couple across the street. Three doors over is the mother and stepfather of the teenager my daughter calls her best friend. And there is a mixed race couple who’s daughter I make sure gets home every day after school.
It is truly a neighborhood of diversity. All the kids play together. They make the neighborhood rounds. One day they are at my place climbing the huge poplar tree or playing on the swing set out back. Then they are at Sam’s place on the trampoline. Or at Luke’s house watching DVD’s. They ride their bikes together. They play at the neighborhood park together. They go to school together.
The adults watch all the kids. We hand out drinks and snacks when the stampede ends up at our corner of Sesame Street. Even the dincs hand out juice boxes. We are friendly and amicable with each other. We even trade plates full of home made cookies from time to time.
As editor, I am constantly bombarded with the worst news of the LGBT community. I am the first see or hear the stories of injustice against gays and lesbians. I shuffle through them deciding which ones to pass on to the readers and which ones to let go. It can be a lot to deal with. There are times when the burden of so much knowledge of hardship becomes overwhelming. My stress soars. My spirits fall. My outlook of the world threatens to become jaded and I my urge to strike out at faceless shadows of oppression boils. Sometimes I get angry. Sometimes I get depressed. Sometimes I want to quit.
Politicians rant daily about how gays and lesbians destroy American family values while they get arrested for misusing government resources and driving drunk. They pontificate about defending hypothetical institutions like marriage while they strip money away from real life institutions like schools. They totally ignore the moral codes of the religious doctrines they use to justify their hate-lined prejudice. They sacrifice the true goal of their jobs, securing equal human rights for everyone, so they can turn a government temp job into long lasting political career. Even when we vote for things like term limits, they ignore our collective voices and stick to their self-serving rhetoric.
When the fiction of real life politics gets to me I have an escape. I go out front, sit on the veranda with a cold glass of iced tea and look out on my little neighborhood. I wave to neighbors. I smile at playing children. I might even tease the neighborhood men by putting on a bikini top & washing my car. (I am not completely sure, but I think that may be teasing the Navy wife too.) It is my proof that the hate-mongers are wrong. It is the evidence that shows that they need to demonize a scapegoat and LGBT people are the easiest target at the moment.
The family values of my American neighborhood are in tact and as strong as ever. The average middle classers in this suburban community are friendly and accepting of a multitude of diverse people. The immigrants, the military family, the people of color, the retired seniors, the Goth teenagers, the career chasers, the home makers and the children of all ages live in peace and harmony together. Even the house with the two moms is accepted as one of the whole.
This is the true cross section of America. It is what we should be trying to achieve. One nation standing together united. Not chasing division and forcing barriers against people who have a degree of difference. It is what the politicians have lost sight of. It is what they ignore so they can earn the votes of hatred to stay in office. It is the truth that stands against the lie that they build their counterfeit careers upon.
We vote soon. It is time to take the bad people out of office. The new century deserves new attitudes and new leaders.
Blessed Be
by Raven Usher
I have a neighbor who is a Navy wife. Her husband is out on ship and she is at home with her young son. I have another neighbor who is a stay-at-home mom with two young kids. Another is a Grandfather who has taken in his divorced daughter and grand children. Then there is a pair of dincs (double income no children). A family of Bosnian immigrants are living the American dream on the corner. There is a retired couple across the street. Three doors over is the mother and stepfather of the teenager my daughter calls her best friend. And there is a mixed race couple who’s daughter I make sure gets home every day after school.
It is truly a neighborhood of diversity. All the kids play together. They make the neighborhood rounds. One day they are at my place climbing the huge poplar tree or playing on the swing set out back. Then they are at Sam’s place on the trampoline. Or at Luke’s house watching DVD’s. They ride their bikes together. They play at the neighborhood park together. They go to school together.
The adults watch all the kids. We hand out drinks and snacks when the stampede ends up at our corner of Sesame Street. Even the dincs hand out juice boxes. We are friendly and amicable with each other. We even trade plates full of home made cookies from time to time.
As editor, I am constantly bombarded with the worst news of the LGBT community. I am the first see or hear the stories of injustice against gays and lesbians. I shuffle through them deciding which ones to pass on to the readers and which ones to let go. It can be a lot to deal with. There are times when the burden of so much knowledge of hardship becomes overwhelming. My stress soars. My spirits fall. My outlook of the world threatens to become jaded and I my urge to strike out at faceless shadows of oppression boils. Sometimes I get angry. Sometimes I get depressed. Sometimes I want to quit.
Politicians rant daily about how gays and lesbians destroy American family values while they get arrested for misusing government resources and driving drunk. They pontificate about defending hypothetical institutions like marriage while they strip money away from real life institutions like schools. They totally ignore the moral codes of the religious doctrines they use to justify their hate-lined prejudice. They sacrifice the true goal of their jobs, securing equal human rights for everyone, so they can turn a government temp job into long lasting political career. Even when we vote for things like term limits, they ignore our collective voices and stick to their self-serving rhetoric.
When the fiction of real life politics gets to me I have an escape. I go out front, sit on the veranda with a cold glass of iced tea and look out on my little neighborhood. I wave to neighbors. I smile at playing children. I might even tease the neighborhood men by putting on a bikini top & washing my car. (I am not completely sure, but I think that may be teasing the Navy wife too.) It is my proof that the hate-mongers are wrong. It is the evidence that shows that they need to demonize a scapegoat and LGBT people are the easiest target at the moment.
The family values of my American neighborhood are in tact and as strong as ever. The average middle classers in this suburban community are friendly and accepting of a multitude of diverse people. The immigrants, the military family, the people of color, the retired seniors, the Goth teenagers, the career chasers, the home makers and the children of all ages live in peace and harmony together. Even the house with the two moms is accepted as one of the whole.
This is the true cross section of America. It is what we should be trying to achieve. One nation standing together united. Not chasing division and forcing barriers against people who have a degree of difference. It is what the politicians have lost sight of. It is what they ignore so they can earn the votes of hatred to stay in office. It is the truth that stands against the lie that they build their counterfeit careers upon.
We vote soon. It is time to take the bad people out of office. The new century deserves new attitudes and new leaders.
Blessed Be
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