Two items of sad news in my inbox today from friends in Colorado.

1)The shooting in Aurora.

2)A bakery in Littleton refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

How are they connected?

In both instances, one tragic and one trivial a single party takes an action, based on their own personal thoughts and emotions without regard for who gets hurt.

In both instances the perpetrator puts their own thoughts, values, feelings and actions in a position of supremacy over others.

In both cases, they lash-out with a sense of justice, heart-felt belief, and a sure knowledge that their world view can be forced onto others. One does this with guns and violence, one with a sneering discrimination.

How long must we continue as humans to face our fellows with censure, scorn, violence and hatred.

How long must we let the rage and fear control us.

I know that a cake is nothing in comparison to a shooting, but every drop of water contributes to the ocean of hatred.

People who go mad and shoot innocents are such a big thing – a problem I can’t even begin to unpack or find solution for.

People who refuse to provide a cake for a celebration of love when they don’t agree with the source of that love? That is a small thing that I believe we can find a solution for.

If we can change our behaviors towards each other one drop at a time, maybe we can beat this thing and become the loving, giving, sheltering and caring humanity we are capable of imagining.

 Maybe we can stop talking about cake and bullets and start celebrating weddings and film openings.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2012 at 1:24 pm and is filed under opinion, ruminations, Tragedy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.