Liberty

I'm not your ALLY. I'm not your ENEMY. I'm not for or against you, I don't feel like I have the right to decide for you and I honestly don't feel like I need to have an opinion about you. However, the fact that an elect group of rather old people are sitting in a room listening to arguments and deciding about you bothers me, and I didn't like that we all felt we had the right to vote on you. I actually think that's a pretty crass concept. My religion taught me that I fought for your ability to self determination before we were even born, and actually, you right there along side me. We fought against an opponent who wanted to force us all to do what he wanted, because, ironically enough, it would bring us back to God. The story was supposed to teach us that the most prized possession we have is our right to choose for ourselves. Now there are those who are telling me I'm a heretic for thinking you still have that. So be it, I've been called worse things by better people. I never really cared for people who try to manipulate others, either through name calling and bullying tactics, by making rules or laws that discriminate, or by claiming divine authority they don't have.

I'm your friend. I won't pretend to know what's best for you any more than I know what's best for myself. I never have and I am certainly not going to start now. I believe you have a right to live the life you want to live, love who you want to love, and create your own path. Just like I do. I don't think what you decide will undermine me,harm me, or damage my life or society any more than anyone else's. Really, that to me is the most extreme hyperbole.

But as your friend I have to tell you, I also believe that, like most of us, once you get married you will discover it's not the grand institution that it's cracked up to be. It's really just more work, sacrifice and compromise, more about caring about others and less about getting what you want. BUT I FULLY BELIEVE YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND THAT OUT !

Rights are a funny thing, I've always said half jokingly, the only right you really have is the you one can stop people from taking. i.e. the one you have to fight for. I support your right to that fight. I really hope you win. But I still don't fully grasp why this is a fight. Over two hundred years ago a man universally respected said stuff like this was self evident.

I don't dislike you and I don't fear you, I'm not for or against you and I'm not even sure how it got to the point that it matters, . Maybe it always did and I just was too naive to notice. Maybe I just thought "Liberty and Justice for all" weren't just words on paper but actually a motif we believed in.