There Are No Sides, Only Choices.

Side is an interesting word. One is thought to take a side when they align themselves in a disagreement. On the other hand, we consider someone, being next to each other, close together, if they are side by side. Do you want to side with someone or would you rather be by someone’s side? The best choice seems obvious to me. Unfortunately, this isn’t the 50’s anymore, and more and more people are opting to take sides. In addition, there used to be some sense of ethics involved in choosing sides, some level of soul searching. That is no longer the norm in our society. What changed things?

“Happy days are here again” is a song that seldom gets sung anymore. Unlocked doors, talking to neighbors over the fence, families together at the dinner table, all gone. Feeling secure in your own home, I Love Lucy, homemade root beer, are all memories. We live in a different world now, a world ruled by money and power, and it’s changed who we are. It’s made us greedy, apathetic, and lazy. Dip that in a thick coating of fear and confusion and the results are disastrous. Did we do that to ourselves?

In many ways, the answer is yes, because we allowed it to happen. If you think only our children suffer from peer pressure, think again. As destructive as peer pressure can be to our children, it wanes in comparison to adults succumbing to it. You see it almost daily now.

The major television networks gave into the conservative Christians and the presidency by not airing a church advertisement. Their response:

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples...and the fact that the executive branch has recently proposed a Constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast," the church quoted CBS as saying.

The conservative were warned that their prejudice against homosexual people was sinful behavior for Christians. The Archbishop of Canterbury has written to conservatives in the Anglican Communion, asking them to refrain from using hostile words about homosexuals. He wrote that violence and prejudice against homosexual people was sinful behaviors for Christians, and he went on to warn of serious consequences if the Anglican Church did not heal its differences. Nevertheless, they failed to heed the warning and networks tampered with our right to free speech out of fear of conservative Christian backlash. You know in your heart there are no sides to this event. When it goes this far everyone must step in and stop it.

In Alabama, a state representative, Gerald Allen, introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.” Did he forget the Bill of Rights? Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Of course he didn’t. It was a blatant act of hate and discrimination by an elected official. You know in your heart there are no sides to this event. When it goes this far everyone must step in and stop it.

Sometimes there just are no sides to choose, and you know that immediately. Yet, you let it pass, let it grow, and next thing you know you’re wondering what happened to your freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Go ahead and divide yourselves into red and blue, liberal and conservative, republicans and democrats, but please leave me out of it. I’m standing on the red white and blue, mom’s apple pie, and one nation undivided. For me it’s not about sides, never has been, never will be. It’s about right and wrong, a concept often overlooked by those that pick sides. It’s time everyone stood up and did what’s right.