June 1, 2003
Agree to disagree...
My touchstone and cousin K and I are very similar in nature. Because we are related, we look a bit alike, and because we were raised along side of each other, we have many of the same values and we share the same whack sense of humor. It's our family gene I suppose.
But there are many things that we tend to disagree on - conservative politics being the main issue. One that we specifically spar about is homosexuality. Even more specifically than that is how it is portrayed on television.
Take the show "Six Feet Under" on HBO. K refuses to watch it because she turned it on once and saw a very explicit homosexual sex scene. That one scene turned her off the show forever. She won't give it another chance.
This essay isn't a soapbox for me to stand on and scream that she's wrong, wrong, wrong!! This isn't to try and make her change her mind and listen only to my opinion. This isn't even going to be about how outstanding the writing is or the fact that the characters are some of the most clever invented of all time.
It's about how normal, well-adjusted people can agree to disagree on a subject and still be friends.
K and I can argue passionately about how we feel on a subject. Our voices can be raised. Because we are part of the L Clan, our hands chop about the air in a pretend symphonic direction helping to make our points for us. We each try and sway each other, knowing deep down inside that all they are are words, and we're not about to budge - in either direction.
Yet when we're finished we're finished.
We hug goodbye. We say we love each other. We plan our next outing.
We're adults that can simply agree to disagree.
Often in life, people can do that. But far too often, they just can't. They can't look past their own opinions and see that others share opposing views and have a right to do that. They get angry, stop speaking and sometimes battle lines are drawn.
The worst example is when people go to such crazy extremes.
I believe that one such group are the people that oppose abortions. They, in order to prove their point, have been known to blow up clinics, shoot and kill doctors that perform the procedure and harass and try to physically detain women from going in. I've seen protests where they hold bloody dolls that are supposed to represent the aborted fetus. Of course, instead of showing it as the size of a large peanut, which it typically is, they show a doll the size of the newborn. Uhmmm, I'd say that was extreme.
I am pro-choice. I don't believe I could ever have an abortion myself, however, I could NEVER suggest to another person that they don't have the right to make that choice themselves.
Another example are some of the peace protesters of late. People that set bombs to oppose the war on Iraq. Those people should be shot. Peace my ass. And I won't waiver on that at all.
So everyone needs to get to a point where they can be like K & me. Where we respect the others opinion and move on.
Of course' Six Feet' is an awesome show and she really should give it another chance. Maybe I'll even promise to watch Rush Limbaugh if she watches Six Feet. Hey it's not like I'm asking her to watch 'Queer as Folk'!
We are a giving bunch of cousins.
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