2005-04-03

Okay. I am not usually one to spout off opinions on things that aren't TV, food, non-smoking establishments (those bastards) or psycho friends (those other bastards) or family... Okay, I do spout off. But there are a couple things I usually don't spout off on-- the news. Okay. That's just one thing- but it encompasses a billion things: politics, religion, death... sometimes all three.

The main reason I usually keep this semi-light and confined to the 300 yard bubble surrounding me is because I don't like the idea of offending anyone. I don't want people (not like there's a billion reading this, but anyway...) to think that I'm some blowhard that wants to force her political or religious views on the world. And I still don't plan to be that kind of blowhard. I'll keep my blowhardiness to TV, movies, which friends/family members are psycho, how cybersex is skeevy, and how much I hate lecherous old guys (the only ones who come on to me. Ew.).

Anyhow. I hate the idea that I don't state my position on things because it's actually a little cowardly. Whenever friends in college or at Second City were discussing anything newsworthy, I just kept my mouth shut and made jokes about how I'm too silly for this serious talk. And I'm not. I just end up getting brow-beaten for thinking differently by some and condescended to by others. I just feel like putting out there a couple things I feel strongly about, but never mention for fear of being disagreed with.

So. Here it is. Things April feels strongly about and other facts you might want to know:

...Before we begin, let me say that you don't have to agree with me for me to consider you a worthwhile human being. Many of my friends and family don't agree with me and I still love and respect them and never try to kill them... in the open.

I am heartbroken that the Pope is gone. I read his biography once and was amazed at what a life he lived. He also has written beautiful texts and speeches. I won't go into too much detail. You'll hear it all on the news, anyway. But there will never be another like him.

I'm kind of scared the next pope will be too progressive. I like the idea that the Catholic church never changes in the basics. I even agree with most of the core beliefs. More on that below.

I don't agree with the church's views on gay marriage. I believe that any monogamous relationship ahould be encouraged. I'm way pro-monogamy. People take relationships entirely too lightly. It's like throwing out your whole burger because there's no ketchup. Some of us don't have any burger at all, let alone ketchup.

I ate, slept and breathed Terri Schiavo after that tube came out. I could not sleep. I was afriad I'd miss some news. Before that, I was so sure there was no way they'd pull the tube on the basis of a hearsay "living will" that he only remembered seven years into her illness (after he'd met a new woman and knocked her up). I was positive it wouldn't happen. And it did. And it kept happening. And the will of one man and his attorney was forced upon a woman over the protests of a greater number of blood relations. On hearsay! Seven years after she was ill! And she was not a vegetable! Did anybody watch the videos? Email me and I'll give you a link because people should see this. She was brain damaged. Maybe she lacked most higher brain function. Eventually, low-functioning autistic children may be put down. It has actually been suggested to parents by doctors, according to CAN (Cure Autism Now). Those that have (essentially) no higher brain function. They obviously don't deserve to live, not even what life they can have. We now determine what life is valuable or desirable instead of treasuring all life. ARRRR! I get real mad about this stuff. Sorry.

I am emphatically pro-life. There should not be abortion, euthanasia (or any other forms of assisted suicide), or the death penalty. The fact that these things are legal make me sad daily.

As for abortion, this is only my feeling, of course. If you think they're oppressive (as most of my friends accuse), then remember that the law isn't with me so I am actually the person whose views are being repressed.
Also, the early suffragettes (including Alice Paul and Susan B, herself) were anti-abortion. Alice Paul actually lived to see it legal. She thought it was a distortion of what they worked for. I'm a member of Feminists For Life.

I'm Catholic (duh- you probably gathered that). I'm not that great at it. I go to mass on Sunday, confession about monthly (more if I've done something naughty). I'm far from a perfect Catholic. I'm just there. I say the Rosary when I remember and the Chaplet a bit more (it's shorter). I have never ever completed a Novena in my life. I think it's possible to be Catholic and still be irreverent and fun. My God laughs, even at himself. And he's totally okay with me playing a necrophiliac or an incestuous aunt in a sketch. I mean, he's not thrilled. But he'll indulge, as long as it's not every sketch.

He's also okay with my dirty novels. It's not like I'm doing the stuff in them. It's my characters that keep fornicating outside of wedlock, the nasty little rabbits.

I hate when people stare at special needs kids with disgust on their faces.

There. That's almost all of it. I understand if you disagree with me. You're coming from a different place, family, religion, up-bringing, paradigm... That's just the way it us. My views were formed by mine, you by yours. So... hate me?