For Once - Ya Done Good

From the Boston Globe: "The Massachusetts Senate today passed a bill that would repeal a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts. The law originated when lawmakers in many states were trying to prevent interracial couples from crossing state lines to marry. "

"The bill now heads to the House, where it is expected to pass and be signed by Governor Deval Patrick by the end of the month. "If that bill comes to me, I will sign it and sign it proudly," Patrick said Monday."

Commentary: I hate labels: Tall man, old man, gay man, handicapped man, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, fat, white, black, chink, gook... the list is endless. One of our most common tendencies is to out-group - define who we are by saying who the "other" is. It is a function of our ego's need to differentiate self from other. But that is dead opposite from every sacred principle in nearly every practice I am familiar with. In all of the great faiths, the mandate is not simply to accept the "other" but to reach out and bring in, welcome, and embrace. I remember reading a National Geographic photographer describing what it was like to come across a tribe of Bedouin. He said something like, while I was still far off I saw them coming out to welcome me, with bread and oil and wine in their hands. And wasn't that the reaction of the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, wasn't that what Abram did for the strangers, and so too wasn't that the welcome Muhammad got when fleeing from his city.

So my take on the issue is that if I (we) believe that god or a bit of god is in each of us then when "two or more are gathered" or come together, there is more of god's presence present. And if our goal is to have a conscious connection with god, then that is good. Contrarily, anything that separates us from god is wrong/sinful. Thus keeping others out, rejecting others, other-ing and labeling "them" is also a sin. I don't care who you are. I don't care where you have been. I don't care how you see things - even my brother-in-law who is a radical republican right winger - is welcome at my door. And, no, I (we - that is me and my family) will not try to make you the same as me/us. I will welcome your differentness as part of our greater humanity, and rejoice in your differences as part of the godly whole.

And today, I am proud that the state that I live in and the politicians with whom I have so many differences of opinion, today my state moved a little closer to being whole, and human and embracing. There is a god!