I do a fair amount of web surfing, and I have a meandering path of sites I read on a regular basis. I refer to them as My Dailies, even though I don’t catch them all every day. Of course all of you — my homies — get a few hits every day. I then have my news sites, comic sites, gaming & industry sites and my complete stranger sites.
The "complete stranger" sites are the ones I’ve stumbled across through one or more different avenues of links. I honestly couldn’t tell you how I found most of them. Internet journaling and blogging are not new concepts by any stretch of the imagination, but have been catching on more and more in recent months. It’s quite a phenomenon, and I’ll discuss this at a later time. These complete strangers most typically are bloggers. They’ve turned out to be fairly interesting people to read even, likely especially, never having met or even spoken to them. That, I think, is part of what makes them so interesting.
One of these strangers — Erika — is a young lady who is a very talented artist. She, along with a select and devoted crew of equally talented young folks, produce their own web comics. Not your mainstream knee-slapping sort of rag, but some well written, composed, drawn and inked independent comics. Good stuff, really. One day I noticed that she linked to her LiveJournal from the comic page and I decided to have a peek, being the natural voyeur that I am.
The first thing I discovered is a very close, tight-knit community of friends, amongst which was Erika. They are fiercely loyal and protective of each other, regardless of their respective geographic locations, color, race, creed or sexual orientation. Sounds a little familiar to me, considering who my audience is. They all share a love for producing art and comics for the sheer joy of doing it, and they genuinely support each other in this endeavor.
Recently, Erika announced to the world that she was gay, and madly in love. Really no surprise if you read her journal long enough. One problem. Really, the biggest problem as I understand it. Family. Her mom. Seems mommy dearest didn’t take too kindly to the news. Her mom instantly latched on to the idea that her only daughter was going through some college rebellion phase in her life.
In an effort to help her family understand and accept, and to help organize her own thoughts and feelings about her sexuality, Erica wrote a short essay. Incidentally, she’s turning the essay into a forty-page comic for the San Diego Comic-Con.
Please take a few minutes of your time and go read the essay HERE. I promise, you won’t miss the time.
Here on my blog, I may give the impression that I am a harsh, foul-mouthed angry kind o’ guy. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m just a regular person, subject to the slings and arrows that the world flings at everyone. I pride myself on trying to be the best person I can, judging those around me on their merit and worth, not on the color of their skin, and especially not on whom they choose to love and keep close.
The world is a rough place to live in, and friendship can make the road we travel a little easier to handle. Love can make that road smooth as glass. Love will make you float inches above that pothole-strewn path. If you are one of the fortunate ones in this world to find a companion to buoy you up, to make you laugh during the day, keep you warm at night and put up with your crap around the clock, I don’t care who it is. You can be a lovely he-she, he-he, she-she or it-it couple, it doesn’t matter. Bravo, I say. Congratulations! Mazel tov!
When I read Erika’s essay, I was extremely moved. Here was a person who was trying her damnedest to make her mother understand, to really see her for who she is, and rejoice in her happiness. She took great pains to illustrate the loving relationship, regardless of the mating, or rather the non-mating parts involved.
I won’t lie to you and say that I didn’t think of some of my good friends… how could I not. My path in this life has crossed, and will cross that of many interesting people. Incidentally, several of them are gay. Captain once paid me the greatest compliment. Upon observing my casual attitude around him, he asked me point blank "you really don’t have any problems around gay people, do you?" I was shocked. Should I have problems? I didn’t think it was anything so remarkable. Apparently it was, especially in the South.
He was my friend, how could I have a problem with him? He wasn’t hurting me, or anyone I cared for. Nope, he didn’t have any puppy torturing equipment. No apparent weapons of mass destruction and a trigger. He occasionally fed me… hell, if you feed me every now and again, you’ve got a friend for life. What was the big deal? That whole loving, kissing, fucking other men thing? And? He wasn’t trying to fuck me, so it never bothered me. We respected each other as human beings, and that’s all that mattered.
It’s a shame that most of this "civilized society" we live is way too wrapped up in externals. It’s all about what’s in your head and heart that matters. If the planet were fueled by a little more mutual respect and common courtesy, we’d be a hell of a lot better off. I might not even curse as much. Nah, not likely.
Surround yourself with good friends — good people — and love ’em all. Those good people are a treasure greater than gold or diamonds. If you can find someone you can really Love, with the capital "L" and all, more power to you. Sure, you may bicker and fight now and again, but you’ll always get under the skin of someone you’re that close to. Just think of the "make-up" sex you’ll have.
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