Ernest Gaines is an American author who grew up on an old slave quarters on a Louisiana plantation. His most famous work is probably A Lesson Before Daying. He has split most of his time between San Francisco and Louisiana since the mid-1980's. Two places that couldn't be more different in many ways.
"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?"
I promise I will stop posting only gay-themed comments after this. I just found so many good ones after the exciting news of lay weekend here in NYC.
This quote is SO scarily true. Even when it comes to the news and movies. R rated movies = nudity of any kind over violence. Violence can be PG-13. And violence on the news is completely ok, but sexual comments or nudity are completely forbidden. It just makes no sense! Sexuality and nudity are beautiful. And hopefully, something we all love and enjoy throughout our lives. Violence, well, let's hope that is NOT something we all experience in our lives.
A gun is something we make toy versions of for kids, for crying out loud . . . but I don't see us making a Barbie and Barbie or Ken and Ken. At least not yet.
I admit, I do still notice two men holding hands walking by me. But it doesn't bother me. I just notice it. To my credit, I absolutely notice guns as well - on soldiers, police, or security checkpoints. And I truly feel uncomfortable around them. So I guess it says something about me that two men walking down the street holding hands only causes me to glance, while the other makes me grimace.
Then again, these days, anybody holding hands and being in love has my envy and admiration!
I do think society is changing. Too slowly perhaps, but changing. And someday, hopefully we can at least be comfortable with people and things that might be "different" from us. Or at least appreciate that, guns should be listed on that "different" list too, no? Let's shift at least to that!
I'm for hand holding over gun holding. Any day of the week!
