If you would just be like me the world would be better.

I'm sure I'll be able to move on soon. For now my whining is helping me process the state of things. The 'Moral Values' agenda is scaring me.

I also realized why I have seizures whenever someone says something like, "This country would be better off if more people prayed and believed in God."

The reason this makes me want to wash my hands of humanity forever, even though I'm sure the person that says it means no harm by spouting this kind of pat answer.

I'm sure the person who says this actually has found peace and a certain level of happiness by praying and believing in God.

What sends me into moral convulsions when someone says, "This world would be a better place if everyone prayed and believed in God." Is the fact that what they are really saying is:

"If everyone were more like me this world would be a better place."

It's a simple minded way of looking on the world and the fact that so much of Middle 'Merka believes this and would like to make sure everyone subscribes to the administration's 'Moral Values'.....well, it makes me a whiney bitch sipping on my Starbucks bile.

I will move on. It's just the third day since I realized how bad things are going to get over the next 4 years, forgive me for needing to rage about it for a moment.

The rage may find solace in getting my computer back. But it's still 'In Transit'. Steve Jobs must be traveling by car to hand deliver my brand new 14" Powerbook right to my door. I'm waiting for him.

Still waiting....

Comments

[pinky]

Funny, I've had that thought too - if they were more like ME then things really would be better :-)

But, I'm a heathen, not a Christian (which when people say "God" I swear what they really mean is "Jesus") and I worry about silly little things like privacy and free speech. And I don't think anyone else's marriage damages mine in the least. Silly me.

[Arwen/Elizabeth]

Melissa, I really do not want to piss you off. And I certainly respect your right to say what you want on your own blog. But I want to ask (imagine me asking in a little, hesistant, sort of whimpery voice): when you write about your opinions of gay marriage and Prop. 2, aren't you kind of saying, "If you would just be like me the world would be better"? I mean, I think that most people who are strongly convicted of their opinions believe deep down that the world would be better if everyone else agreed with them. I certainly believe that. Please don't get mad at me, I'm just curious about whether it's crossed your mind.

[Kitten]

I don't necessarily think that by posting her opinions in this way, she is saying "be like me". I think she is saying why can't people be more open minded about differences. Thus, not agreeing to make laws to narrow people's rights. Just my guess though.

[melissa]

Except that I'm not asking you to change who you are. I'm not asking you to give up your equal rights.

I'm not asking you (by you I mean a generic you, not you in particular) to just 'be happy' we let you hold hands and walk down the street together.

I'm asking you to let others make their own choices and their own decisions and live their own lives. I'm asking you not to impose your religious and moral values on someone else's life. I don't ask you to stop praying and living your 'morally superior life'. You should go ahead and do whatever you'd like.

I am asking that people live and let live. Which I suppose is wishing everyone would be like me, since that is what I'm doing. But, it doesn't infringe upon your freedom to hate gays or whomever else you like. It doesn't ask you to change your religious principles.

I simply beg you to believe what you will and allow others to do the same with the exact same freedoms you are given under the law and the constitution.

[Terri]

I think all you just need to pray more.

Ah, crap, stop throwing stuff at me! Really, I was just joking! Eeek!

[Lisa]

She's talking about me. I'm the one who said it. I sure don't agree w/ the if everyone were like me the world would be better comment though. I say if more people believed in a higher power & had better morals I do believe this place would be better. How could it NOT be better??

Yes you can teach your children right from wrong w/o going to or belonging to a church. But just because you are doing it that way, doesn't mean your neighbor is. Now who would you rather live next to? Someone that does take their children to church (not every week either) & tries to teach them & show them right from wrong & how you should behave? Or live next to someone that doesn't give a flying leap & curses & abuses in front of their children. The bible says not to take the name of the Lord your God in Vain & if more people obeyed that & his other rules, we'd all be better off. Again, how could we NOT be better off?

Can you imagine what this place would be like if there were NO murders, stealing, adultury committed??? I think it would be heaven ;-)

Lisa

[Melissa]

Religious people murder, commit adultery and steal. Some religious people even *gasp* swear and abuse right in front of other people. So being religious doesn't free you of immorality.

People can show their children right from wrong and they can teach their children to treat others with respect and equality and they can do it without reading from the bible.

They can even do it while they swear through their teeth and even *gasp* take the Lords name in vain.

Being religious is a pat answer that makes people feel there are simple solutions to big problems. There isn't.

That's unfortunate and that's reality.

[Weeze]

Being intolerant of intolerance doesn't make one intolerant. Gay rights (that's what we're talking about, right?) are civil rights.

And of course I would rather live next to ethical and kind people, but I don't give a damn how they got that way.

[Kitten]

Just found an interesting article at: http://rense.com/general59/shockln.htm

How can you be pro-life but okay with Bush starting a war? I hate to break it to you, but we aren't just killing the bad guys in this thing.

[sarah]

I'll admit that I didn't pay that much attention in American History class, but I did get the distinct impression that your country was founded on the principle that people could be free to live and love and worship as they believed without being persecuted by the religious majority. I guess I must have missed something.

I will also admit that I think the world would be a better place if more people thought like me - about this one thing. I think that unless you are going to have sex with me or marry me, it is absolutely none of my business who you go home with.

Okay, I also think the world would be a better place if more people were permitted to find love and happiness and partnership with whomever they choose.

[Jen_Jake'smom]

Lisa, the Bible also says that you can't eat shell fish, if someone kills your family member (even accidentally) it is your duty to kill that person unless they first get to a city of safe refuge, and it endorses slavery. Bigamy, too (read those first few books of the Old Testament lately?) The Bible says a LOT of things, many in a HISTORICAL and CULTURAL context.

Taking your children to church does not automatically mean you are a good person, or that your children will be well-behaved little darlings. You don't have to be a Christian to believe firmly in morals and what is right or wrong. I am a Christian and very active in my church and I do believe deeply in God, but I seriously agree with almost everything Republicans and the Religious Right says. They are warping Christianity into something that suits their own bigotry and agendas, and people like you are just helping them along. You do NOT have all the answers.

Jen

[Jen_Jake's mom]

AAUGH! I mean I seriously DIS-agree with Republicans!!! Darn my fast typing!!!

Jen

[sarah]

PS. When Steve Jobs gets there, could you ask him, please, vey nicely, to bring me a silver ipod mini?

[proud liberal (different )Lisa]

You know people of faith do not have the sole knowledge of values and morality. I actually think there is something admirable about those of us who do the right thing, because its right. Not because the Bible or Book of Mormon or Koran(probably spelled wrong, sorry) told us to, but because its right. I do not act in an ethical manner because I am scared I won't go to heaven, or hoping I will. I do it because I have compassion for my fellow man, because I believe in honesty, integrity and social justice. I teach my children that their own conscience is a far more important barometer than living with rules imposed by others. And you know what? We don't murder or steal and we try to have respect for the people we share the planet with.

[kim]

The bible says not to take the name of the Lord your God in Vain & if more people obeyed that & his other rules, we'd all be better off. Again, how could we NOT be better off?

I guess all those Catholic priests who molest young boys missed this class in Seminary school.

It's very ironic, at this time of year, where we remember people who came here to escape religious persecution, that one type of religious viewpoint is being forced upon us....

[I'm starting to go bald]

I love 'Merka. We've got a great country. I love our values. I am in love with the Constitution. The Constitution is simply the heart and soul of our great society and the great values of our country.

Furthermore, the First Amendment of the constitution forbids the legislation of religious morals. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...bla...bla...bla... To debate politics and religion in the same conversation, doubts, discounts and undermines 'Merikan society. Commies!

If you want to protect the sanctity of marriage, then legislate adultery as a crime. There are a lot more adulterers than there are same sex couples.

[AmyinMotown]

Stand outside any church, even mine, after services on a Sunday and see exactly how moral and upright people are when they behind the wheel of a car, for example, FIVE MINUTES after being at church.

I love my church community and have met many people I am looking forward to have as friends and role models while we are raising kids. But going to a church is FAR from the only way to be a moral person. Synagogues and mosques, for example, hold many fine upstanding humans. Lots of people can live moral lives without ever setting foot inside a church. As for me, I need the help and the weekly reminders of how I am supposed to be living and the weekly dose of my friends and role models. It works FOR.ME. And Iwould never presume to impose that on another person, or dare to suggest I (or any of my church friends) are somehow better than another person just because of where we're at at 10:30 on a Sunday morning. Going to church makes me better than the non-churchgoing version of me, not better than you.

oh and Lisa, I pray daily and am at church pretty much every Sunday. Going to an event there tonight too. And guess what? Voted against Bush and Prop 2.

[melissaS]

I keep thinking about how the world would be a better place if nobody took the lord's name in vain. And I think about how the war in Iraq would just...go away if only those soldiers over there would stop saying.....'Holy Fucking Christ' all the time.

For shame.

I hate simplified answers to seriously complex issues. But simplified answers to complex issues is why Bush won the election. He appealed to people grasping at straws in fear. Though Bush and his presidency are an entirely seperate issue really.

[Robert]

I was blowing the whole "Moral Values" agenda off as empty rhetoric until I got a pair of spam e-mails from a friend from years ago. I nearly had one of your seizures and it set me off on a rant I had no intention of writing. I'm still pissed!

[elisabeth]

Melissa, I don't understand why people want us to just accept and move on without grieving. This is what happened in MN after the death of our beloved Senator Wellstone 2 yrs ago. We mourned loudly and publicly and we were chided for the strength of our emotions. We were blamed for the outcome of elections acrosss the country because we cheered for our heros, for Bill Clinton, Walter Mondale and others who stood along side of Paul Wellstone when he was alive. And we booed the hypocrits who called him a good man in death when in life they had called him "chicken shit" for not wanting to go to war. We should not ignore our feelings, we should not feel shame for not rolling over and accepting the statud quo, and because this is America we should freely speak our minds, goddamnit.

there, I feel slightly better now.

[Marissa]

Right on. History has shown us that being religious does not necessarily lead to good action. But being a thoughtful, loving person who examines issues (with or without prayer) seems to lead us in the right direction. Making a bigoted vote against homosexuals is likely the result of religious adherence minus the love and the thinking.

[Jen]

I think that we all should just get along! LOL

[Texas T-bone]

Differences are awesome and diversity is great. However, that doesn't mean we have to accept everything that everyone does, nor do we have to wear cloaks of political correctness. Compassion is caring enough to tell someone when they are being stupid, to tell them there are other ways. It's their choice whether to accept that help or not.

I don't want everyone to be like me, but speaking my mind and sharing my opinion – even when it's not popular – is the two-way street we call America.