Aaron's Soapbox

Jay said it best... definitely some uncomfortable air in the classroom last time we met. My apologies, I will not be discussing the readings... I think that last Thursday was all the material that I need for this Blog. Although the amount of class participation was at (what seemed to me) to be an all-time high which was awesome, it pains me to see the amount of misunderstanding that exists just beneath the veneer of a class that felt so welcoming as it is based on learning acceptance. It may be naive or at least negligently optimistic of me, but I think that the younger generations are coming a lot further than their predecessors. I look at Adam... a middle aged military/family man with great and obvious Republican ties and I see the epitome of the baby boomer. I see the similarities between he and my father, a "died in the wool Republican" that embody the frontmen of their generation. I can't help but notice the hateful and unaccepting nature that goes along with it. Republicans, as we all know, don't support gay rights--something I place on a par with support of slavery 150 years previously. I felt like a modern die abolitionist when I grasped my ballot in '04; proud as hell to know that I understood and fought for the culture of homosexuals. A year later, after I graduated from my high school, two girls were voted for prom queen and queen. For those that don't know... thats a majority of votes from the entire school that got them there. And I looked back to the previous November and realized whose votes my votes were fighting against: an ancient, and with any luck, a soon to be dead race of unaccepting and blind humans. People that have never met a gay person, voted straight down the ballot, and didn't even think about any type of person outside of themselves and their closest, were my counter-voters. I sat in class on Thursday, fuming, not just for the words that some people were saying, but the thousands of people just like them who voted for the same thing, who had the same reservations (if not blatant and explicit hate) towards minorities. "Some have come to call me a racist" I call you a thing of the past. Because as we can see, even in your precious Republican state grows a torrent of something more formidable than one racist; a one day accepting majority. I don't know if this diversity class is going to teach a racist to not be a racist, but I know that if didn't help anyone see the light of acceptance or at least the knowledge of difference, I hope it reaffirms the beliefs in those who truly understand the importance of diversity. After all, diversity isn't something that exists because people accept it, it's not something that can be required to be taught... it's already here. It is just the embrace of those different cultures that is still to come... and may it come swiftly as it is far overdue.