But let us not forget that there are people on BOTH ends of the so-called
political spectrum who would restrict the freedoms of their neighbors.
We've always got to be vigilant about these people. So what I'm saying is
that not all of them would call themselves Liberals, in fact a hell of a
lot of them would call themselves Conservatives (no one in the Forward
Look group though, I feel sure). Left bigots or right bigots, they are all
just plain bigots. Into Animal Rights or into the KKK, they are really all
the same a**holes. Radical feminist or homophobe, they're all soulmates
under the skin. Your tire slasher is just a spoilt brat kid who used to
throw tantrums to get his own way with Mommy and Daddy and now he tries to
do it with his neighbors, but since he's a born coward he won't do anything
to your face. If he was living in a different neighborhood with different
people he'd secretly be an antisemite, a crossburner or someone who hated
to see underwear hanging out on washlines. I once had some jackass
neighbor leave me two anonymous notes about playing rock music on a Sunday
afternoon (one note said it'd be a pity if my dog got poisoned!). The
second time it happened I went around every house for a hundred yards in
all directions and had a face-to-face conversation with every
householder.... not ONE of those people had apparently sent those notes,
including the retired pastor two houses away from me that I'd seen glaring
at my house the previous Sunday afternoon, and who wouldn't look me in the
eye when I spoke to him. Unfortunately if we give in to our strong
temptations and kick the living s*** out of these people, they really win
because they have imposed their own intolerance on their environment. I
stopped my own problems (I am pretty sure) by explaining to the pastor what
I felt would certainly happen to an unnamed individual if my dog ever got
poisoned..... and in doing so I'm afraid that nastiness won the day, and I
lost some inner peace. We are living in intolerant times, but we should
try not to become part of it except as a last resort. In a little car
even half a cup of sugar works great.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2003 Calendar voting results and ordering information is online! Please visit:
http://www.forwardlook.net/calendar2003 for more information.
|
|
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network