Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?

A gay US soldier wrote a letter to the editor of THE ADVOCATE that says: "Soldiers who are not afraid of guns, bombs, capture, torture or death say they are afraid of homosexuals. Clearly we should not be used as soldiers; we should be used as weapons."

I do not have anything against straight guys or straight people, in fact, I love them. However, when they start bashing out people like me, I will take a stand just like any other human being.

What is straight anyway?

A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through the mountains.

There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at goats.

But seriously, what does it mean to be gay?

Being gay is having the capability to love a member of the same sex to a much greater depth than a member of the opposite sex.

Being gay is a matter of love, not a matter of sex.

Being gay is who you are, not what you do.

Being gay is part of you, not a separate entity.

Being gay is OK --- the sin is living a lie.

Being gay is not chosen, if it were, there would be no gays.

Being gay is to be ridiculed about something you can do nothing about.

Being gay is not changeable --- but it is liveable.

Being gay is accepting yourself when others are not accepting of you.

Being gay is being who you are --- even though you don't understand it.

Being gay is gentleness, warmth and sensitivity, when you are not at war with the outside world.
Being gay is different, and the definition of different is not "bad."

Being gay is reaching the autumn of your years and wondering why you have spent most of your life trying to get acceptance from people who don't know you and who don't understand you.

Being gay is YOU -- and nothing in this world is more important than that.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.

It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

In one of the episodes of Queer as Folk, Ted said to his best friend Emmet this line and I think we should stop for a while and clearly reflect on this particular thought…

Ted uttered, "I think God appreciates everyone… especially the people who openly accepts their true selves…. I think He appreciates them even more. Because He created all in his image… At least that's what I was always taught. And since God is love and God doesn't make mistakes, then all of us must be exactly the way he wants us to be… And that goes for every person, every planet, every mountain, every grain of sand, every song, every tear... and every faggot. We're all his... He loves us all… even QUEERS."

So I am living this very same message to everyone who might need it now or in the future, everyone was created in his image... we are all his children... we are all his...

Besides, the Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision.

Never let anyone define you. You define yourself.

God Bless.

Care Bears Care

What do you remember most from your childhood?

Whenever I look back to my younger years, which by the way isn’t too long ago =)… I always remember watching “Care Bears”. Hehehe. All of my playmates before knew this TV series and I can’t imagine anyone who didn’t get hook on the said animated show.

Until now, I still have my care bears coloring books, stickers and stuffed toys.

The Care Bears are a group of adorable, furry friends each with a special caring mission. They help teach people how to care. Every Care Bear wears a bright-colored tummy picture that tells the world who they are and what is their special area of caring.

In their cloud-land home, called Care-a-lot, the Care Bears help each other learn to care. Sometimes they magically bring a child with a special caring concern to Care-a-lot so that they can better teach them some of the finer points of being a caring person.

Sometimes, too, the Care Bears have to speed down to Earth to help with some crisis in caring.

Wherever the Care Bears go, and whatever the Care Bears do, in their soft, fuzzy, and funny way, they share their special gift of caring with everyone they meet.

The ten original Care Bears consisted of: Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Grumpy Bear, Love-A-Lot Bear, Tenderheart Bear and Wish Bear.

Later on, additional bears joined them, as well as the Cousins.

The Care Bears' ultimate "weapon" is the "Care Bear Stare," in which the collected Bears stand together and radiate light from their respective tummy symbols, combining to form a ray of love and good cheer which could bring care and joy into the target's heart.

The Care Bear Stare has several different looks. One has a beam coming from the tummy being made up of several replicated images of the symbol. Another variation forms a rainbow when multiple Bears and/or Cousins are involved. A yellow beam with red hearts is sometimes seen as well.

The Care Bears were successful in promoting friendship, love and concern to all the young children and to those young at heart.

The saddening part about all this is the fact that the Care Bear’s message about friendship and caring is something rarely heard of today.

In today’s greedy corporate and selfish lives, and the "every man for himself" mentality each one of us is guilty of, caring seems to be an forgotten virtue.

The animation for Care Bears is pretty good considering that it is only a tv series intended for kids. The animators did a pretty good job, doing a lot of things with the kiddy show --- adding up a lot of details and colors into it.

Care Bears is definitely a feel-good animation that seems like a fantasy born out of too many Me Generation warm fuzzies. It comes filled with lots of bright colors, and there is much talk about happy feelings (everybody wears a heart on their chest that lights up in pastel rainbows when they care) and the banishing of bad feelings.

I will never outgrow my love for “care bears”. They will always be close to my heart. They will remain to be one of my favorite TV series aside from EWOKS. Hehehe.

On Hamsters and on Wheels

Have you stopped to watch a hamster running on a wheel? Have you found yourself thinking what’s going on in that tiny head of his?

Where is he going? Why is he running? Why does he not just get off and stop… to see… his glass prison.

I think I answered my own question.

We all run on our "wheels" to have that sense of direction, of movement.

Maybe, just maybe, I could pick up my mask and wear it again. I could take out my rose-tinted glasses and pretend with all the other hamsters that I’m headed somewhere.

Headed to greener pastures?

Maybe.

It’s time to slow down, to stop thinking and just be. I have to let it all go. I need to let my life flow and unravel.

I need to just be.

Is life a big “choose your own adventure” book? Turn to page 65 to either meet your doom or stumble upon another dilemma.

I think so.

It’s all laid out.

Every word and every letter, all written in ink, printed for you to read. Everything is just waiting to be uncovered.

The book is just waiting for you to decide and to turn the page.

Who's in your front row?

Life is a theater, so invite your audience carefully --- not everyone is healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives.

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a DISTANCE.

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships or friendships. Observe the relationship around you.

Pay close attention.

Which ones live and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?

Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know or appreciate you?

The more you see quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you... the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

Remember that the people we hang with will have an impact on both our lives and our income. And so, we must be careful to choose the people we hang out with, as well as the information with which we feed our minds. We should not share our dreams with negative people, nor feed them with negative thoughts.

So, who's in your front row?

What will you remember of me?

I mean, when I’m gone, what will you remember of me?

Will it be the same as I remember of you? Will you remember my laugh or my tears? My joy or my anger?

Will you write a tribute to my love or a scandal of my failings?

What will someone remember of you?

Time can ease the painful parts, but nothing erases the empty spaces. Live NOW as you dream of... for there is no tomorrow that is worth losing today.

Don't wait until someone has to pack up your life to wish you had lived it differently. It was a lesson hard learned, but one I cannot forget as I box up the lifetime that was mine.

It is our daily task... to create a safe harbor for ourselves and our loved ones, where peace and warmth and love and caring are the treasures we shall bring with us into today. Whatever your memories are, however you have stashed them in your being, remember you can create new ones anytime you wish. You merely have to begin, and that journey begins with a simple HELLO.

Perhaps life does require a goodbye or two, but I like to think there are more hellos than goodbyes; and I think there are, if only we will look! The hellos are right here, in the bits and pieces that lie scattered on the bed and in the dresser drawers.

Goodbye?

Yes, it is goodbye to the way we love each other, but never to the love we share. I can no longer hug you or blow you a kiss across the room, but always, always, I can love you. Whether it is wearing your ring or singing your favorite song, I will remember. You are a part of my life, a moment of magic that still sings in the quiet spaces of my heart.

What will I choose, out of all these trinkets and gadgets and boxes of boxes of treasured trash?

I choose it all.

I claim it all as mine, the good, the sad, the difficult, the painful, the magical. I cannot choose a single piece, for it is the tapestry that it all weaves that is my life. You simply are and forever will be, a part of who I am. I choose which part and place you occupy, but always you are with me.

Thank you, God for giving me life. It hasn't always been the best gift I could dream of, but it has never been boring! You gave me life, and I cherish the part you walked with me. My footsteps are my own, but I know you are beside me.

Our arms may be empty, but the boxes are full and so is the heart. It began with a HELLO and so it shall begin again, with another HELLO.

Thanks for the life.

On the whole, it's not too bad... I love you.

One Angry Dwarf and two Hundred Solemn Faces

My friends kept telling me that it wouldn't last, that one day we would go our own separate ways. I didn't listen. They told me I would only get hurt and I shouldn't stay... I still didn't listen. But now, as our relationship is ending, I really wish that I had listened to my friends’ advice, because if I did, I wouldn't be hurting like I am now.

I wish I wouldn't have stopped one of my friends from having a box of dog shit anonymously delivered to your doorstep. Although I find delightful, demented humor in that, I know you would have only blamed me for sending it.

I wish I could cut your dick off without my name being nationally broadcasted throughout the media. I also don't want to be criminally prosecuted.

I wish I could push a red button that would strategically drop an atomic bomb on your fucking house leaving no collateral damage.

I wish I had dark magic powers that would prevent you from ever passing the nursing board exams.

Most of all, I wish I could rewind some of my life... I would have chosen not to have met you.

But on second thought, I PROBABLY WON'T. It is such a waste of time to even wish anything for you.

Sometimes I wonder if you just faked our whole relationship... if you ever really did care.... if I ever really did know the feeling of how it felt to be loved and to love... maybe I just made the whole thing out to be more than it was because you are with him now. You've been so into him for only God knows how long... and my dreams and hopes of love are suddenly shattered... because I know now that when I call out your name at night... you are calling out his... and there's nothing in the world that hurts more... than knowing the only man I've ever loved... is out there loving someone else.

I'm simply a boy who fell in love. Well, that's what I used to think. But now I know that I'm just a guy who was charmed by a boy then used and left behind.

You killed me. You killed every hope I have left. I can't even pretend to be happy anymore. It's not worth pretending.

Am I mad at you?

That's your main concern after shattering my whole world?

Mad For what?

For breaking my heart?

All the lies?

Maybe for letting me put all my trust in you only to be betray the decency to tell me to my face?? How about the fact that you didn't even care the way you think its crazy that I'm crying over it, because you think breaking up is no big deal?

Am I mad?

No.

More like crushed. Did I ever even really know you?

I've made it through a lot, but only because I've always had this love to count on to be there for me through it all.

Now that I've lost that, I'm lost and alone and I don't think I'll make it this time.

I hope that makes you happy.

How did you survive your childhood?

If you were a kid in the 50's, 60's, 70's or even early 80's... how did you survive your childhood?

1. When we were growing up we never wore seatbelts in the car, cars didn't have airbags...

2. Riding on the back of a pick up truck was an adventure that we still remember!

3.- Our cribs were painted with bright colors (paint which was full of lead)

4. We didn't have childproof medicine bottles, nor did our parents ever childproof our house

5. When we rode our bikes we never wore a helmet.

6. We would drink water from the faucet or from a hose in the backyard (not bottled water).

7. We didn't have cell phones , so our parents were never able to reach us (awesome).

8. We would get scrapes, bruises, break bones, lose teeth, but we would never sue for these accidents.

9. We would eat cake, bread and butter, drink sugary drinks, and we weren't overweight because we were always outside playing

10. Four of us would share a drink, we would all drink from the same bottle and that wasn't gross nor would anyone get sick.

11. We didn't have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X boxes, video games, cable TV with over 100 channels, VCR's, surround sound, cellular phones, computers, online chatrooms, instead we would have tons of FRIENDS.

12. Some of us weren't as bright as others but when one would get left back that was no big deal. They would not get taken to a psychologist, nor did they ever suffer from dyslexia, hyperactivity, ADHD, ADD, etc, they would simply repeat the grade until they passed.

13. We had freedom, mishaps, successes, responsibilities, and we would learn to deal with them.

The question is... How did we survive? and above all, to become the GREAT people that we are today?

Are you from one of these generations?

The new generation would probably say that we were very boring, but I believe that we were VERY HAPPY CHILDREN...