{"id":380,"date":"2019-11-19T18:47:13","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T18:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/?p=380"},"modified":"2019-11-19T18:47:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T18:47:13","slug":"equality-or-superiority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/11\/19\/equality-or-superiority\/","title":{"rendered":"Equality or Superiority?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Imagine if it was taboo to eat banana pudding. Then one day, it becomes widely accepted and quite normal to enjoy banana pudding. So much that if you are caught saying you don\u2019t like the taste of banana pudding, you\u2019re inciting violence and using hate speech. It\u2019s not enough that everyone is now allowed to eat banana pudding. You have to be chastised, sued and prosecuted if you DON\u2019T like banana pudding because that goes against my personal preference and I’ve been a banana pudding fan for many years and didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. That sounds ridiculous, but that\u2019s exactly where we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve seen\ngroups of people in our country through the years, treated very poorly. Native\nAmericans, Irish Americans, Women\u2026 and so on. This country certainly has a dark\nhistory of spotlighting groups of people and oppressing them. I don\u2019t take\nlightly, for a moment, the barbaric fabric of the civil atrocities that took\nplace in our nation\u2019s history. I believe it hurt many people. I believe the\ncuts are still healing. For women, for Irish-Americans, homosexuals, and so on.\nIt isn\u2019t as easy to just say, \u201cWe\u2019re good. Move on!\u201d It\u2019s just not that easy.\nBut this country also has a long history of righting those mistakes and moving\nforward. We have native American women that occupy public office positions in\ngovernment now. We are moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone\nwho didn\u2019t have to endure any of that, I tread lightly on this subject. But it\nneeds to be addressed nonetheless. These various groups of people had different\nresponses to their oppression. The emotional toll it takes on its victims is staggering.\nThe anger, feeling of rejection, bitterness, depression that comes with being\ntreated so poorly is very real. The problem comes when the wrong has been\ncorrected, but the anger and resentment are still there. Then what do we do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where\nthis conversation gets difficult. When a group of people are being done wrong,\nthe ones that overcame that, did so by mob rule. I don\u2019t mean that bad, at all.\nI mean that as a necessity because no one would listen until an entire group of\npeople just rose up and said they\u2019d had enough! It took that level of fight to\nget everyone\u2019s attention to the civil atrocities taking place in our country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually,\nthose wrongs were fixed. They were corrected. There is statistical evidence to\nshow that those civil atrocities no longer exist on a wide-scale, or\ninstitutional basis. We are now, statistically, more equal and more fair than\never before in the history of our country. But what happens when we\u2019ve reached\nthis level of equality, but it doesn\u2019t FEEL like it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is precisely at this moment when we leave the arena of legislation and enter the realm of personal responsibility. If we have been given equal access to civility, but we still feel disenfranchised, angry, resentful, bitter, frustrated, then we sometimes go with our feelings instead of the facts. We leave the feelings unchecked. And if the feeling is still there, then surely, we are NOT EQUAL, right?! Again, you can\u2019t legislate overcoming emotional damage. The damage is real. And as I\u2019ve said before, it\u2019s okay to not be okay. But it\u2019s not okay to willingly stay there. Personal responsibility leads us to a place where we understand that, yes, we were done wrong. But that has been rectified. I\u2019m still angry about what happened but I want to heal and move in a forward direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem\nis, not everyone can do that. And when they don\u2019t, society pays the price. When\nequality has been reached, but you don\u2019t feel like it has, you are forced to continue\nto press on to what you believe is actual equality- which is, in reality,\nsuperiority. You begin to buy in to the notion that everyone owes you because\nyou were done wrong for so long. Those that you believe did you wrong should\npay and pay and continue to pay\u2026 then pay some more. They should lose rights\nwhile you gain more. Which is a tangible example of inequality through\nsuperiority. \u201cI get to have my own type of business that\u2019s only for my people.\nYou can\u2019t have one!\u201d That, in itself, is NOT equal, but superior. \u201cI get to be\nover you. I get to partake in certain things in life that you can\u2019t.\u201d Again,\nsuperior, not equal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nAmerican society has reached a place where the feelings are taking total\nprecedent over the facts and statistical data. And we have entirely lost our\nability to engage in civil discourse. If you don\u2019t agree with me, then you are\nspewing hate speech, some would lead you to believe.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why did\nChik-fil-A make the proclamation that they did? I have no idea. They are\nallowed to distribute their donation funds wherever they want. But,\nunfortunately, it appears that the purpose is to avoid having to stand up for\npersonal and religious rights, which include the right to free speech and right\nto religious expression.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear me clearly: to be pro-God DOES NOT mean you are anti-LGBT. God is pro everyone. That includes LGBT. Every human being. The only disagreement is whether or not it is acceptable or wrong to be homosexual in the eyes of God. But this has nothing to do with how I\u2019m going to treat you, or anyone else for that matter. I can disagree with you and not hate you. I\u2019ve been instructed by my God to love my neighbor as myself. He didn\u2019t say, love him as long as he is just like you. He simply said to love him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where does\nthis leave us? Back to the conversation of personal responsibility. We should\nbe tired of being the victim and begin to live victoriously. We should never\nwait for the government to determine our destiny or direction in life. We\nshould never rely on government for anything. We should decide that although\nthere are times when we are done wrong, the entire group of people that person\nrepresents isn\u2019t responsible. Just that person. We should get to a place where\nwe stop blaming groups for the immoral and unethical acts of individuals. If we\ncan get there, we stop looking for superiority and can rest in the equality of\nour nation. Great\u2026 now I\u2019m hungry for waffle fries and banana pudding!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay Classy GP! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grainger <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine if it was taboo to eat banana pudding. Then one day, it becomes widely accepted and quite normal to enjoy banana pudding. So much that if you are caught saying you don\u2019t like the taste of banana pudding, you\u2019re inciting violence and using hate speech. It\u2019s not enough that everyone is now allowed to … <\/p>\n

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