Speak, Veritas!

 #Allies are of critical importance to the ultimate goal of equality for all.

They have the ability to utilize their privilege to reach far beyond  the audience that the oppressed can reach. When used wisely, it can destroy barriers, but this requires being vocal – in whatever way you choose – and informed.

No one should be tolerant of intolerance. There is no law that requires this to be so. If Freedom of Speech is cited, let them know how foolish they are for invoking a rule against government interference within a critical analysis of their world view. We should be making prejudice taboo. It’s an outdated traditionalist ideology constructed by individuals that manipulate others for their own personal gain.

Prejudice is a curable disease. Do your part.
Via Gender Plural (http://on.fb.me/1JgbWla)

Carpe Noctem

I just watched Dead Poets Society for about the fifth time in my life. Each time, its message still stands out. Carpe Diem. Seize the Day. Even if life stretched out in all directions unendingly, a surface of uncountably infinity magnitude, it would still be too short to live for someone else. It would be too short to allow them to control your thoughts and actions. You must look out for your own well-being first (or manage your affairs until you can) – and it does happen. It took me until I was 24 to stand up for what I felt was correct. To stand upon my desk and say, “O Captain, My Captain.” I was unhappy with life and was unattached to any name I had been given. Then I took action. I carved my name from my identity – who I am deep down. It only matters that it happened. That validation was intense. For you, it may come in another way. Every journey has its constants and its variables. There is always a lighthouse. It does not matter when it happens, only that it does. It is never too late to affirm yourself. It is never too late to share your heart, mind, and soul. It is never too late to stand up and be counted.

It takes an immense amount of courage to do such a thing, too. In a world that shuns empathy, even when it is becoming a more valuable asset by the day, it takes a lot to be authentic. We’re constantly told to CONFORM OR DIE. We fail to recognize our uniqueness – we’re told to shun the special snowflake! Yet, the failure to recognize almost unending complexity should not reduce us to tearing others down. We should be letting our experience inform ourselves of how not listening to the needs of a group can be detrimental to all outgroups.

The future has rapidly advanced upon us, and we are now at a stage in our history where most jobs can be performed by automatons whose only want is energy. We are entering an era where any organ may be printed with one’s own stem cells, a process that would eliminate rejection entirely. We are adding three months to the human lifespan annually. The cost of all of these procedures is decreasing as we understand more about them, and as we exponentially increase our ability to solve problems. If there was ever a glimmer of hope at any point in human history for anyone that has ever felt “different,” like myself, this would be it. Stare boldly into the new dawn and stand on the shoulders of giants. Keep your dreams alive, even as everyone spits in your path and claims it’s futile. Prove them wrong.

Carpe Diem! Unless you’re like me, then “Seize the Night.”

Via: Mommies and Daddies With Chronic Pain (http://on.fb.me/1Lgnc6P)

Importance of Homosexuality

So, is it any wonder why we have so many children without a stable and loving family? This adoption occurs naturally in nature, and the amount of species that this has been observed in has grown from 500 to over 1,500 known species. Animals display a wide variety of sexual habits, including exclusive homosexuality, and shows just how diverse the spectrum of LGBTQIA individuals is. It’s time to recognize what’s normal, and the easiest way to do that is through the use of language that we have cultivated over thousands of years. What one has to say about themselves, their experience, and their place in the world matters far more than what any single person could interpret from an old dusty text that failed to predict any modern problems, let alone provide solutions to them. Treat everyone with respect. Listen to them without considering what you will say in return until after they have spoken their piece. Let people exist as they are, and be happy with how you experience life. After all, the only purpose to this existence is to die gracefully (and perhaps perpetuate the existence of the universe through observation, but that’s a quirk of QM that has yet to be solved).

Illustrated by: Jenny Jinya (http://bit.ly/1LVgosT)