After a long week of meetings, elections, and stress I'll be off to Portland to attend some MEA meetings. I know that sounds like more of the same, but I'll get a chance to see a keynote speaker (I forget who), learn some new negotiations skills, and relax with some friends in the hotel lounge. I'll be home Saturday evening and will be looking forward to going for another hike on Sunday. Have a great beginning to the weekend, all.
...but we're not. I'm disappointed but not shocked. I have spent decades studying civil rights, so I realize how it has worked in America. Its slow...and painful...for those who are waiting for the equality that they deserve as citizens. It would have been great for the people of Maine to lead the way, but I know history was not on our side. Unfortunately changes in civil rights policy has never been something the electorate has embraced. Can you imagine what the vote would have been in Alabama in 1954 had segregation been on the ballot? I wonder what the vote would be today! I guess it will ultimately be left up to the courts and the provisions in the 14th Amendment to decide this issue. I feel badly for my current and past students who are gay and wondering why people don't want them to have the same rights. I feel badly for our democracy because a two-tiered society is not yet a true democracy. I feel badly for my children who are caring and accepting young adults who see no reason to deny basic rights to all Americans, and may now for the first time be looking at their country and state in a different way. And, of course, I feel badly for my brother who is very simply one of the best human beings on Earth. I don't even know if he wants to get married, but I know it must sting that Mainers have told him that he doesn't deserve the right to decide. This is not over. It will happen one day. I have faith in the Constitution, faith in the young people in this country who are more accepting than their parents, and faith in what is simply right.
I'm very glad that tomorrow will be here soon. I have been seriously depressed for several days as I talk to people about the different questions on the ballot. As a student of the Constitution and especially the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment I have to admit that listening to the rhetoric surrounding Question One has been more than difficult. Discovering that people who have been close to me are in fact less than accepting - less than understanding - in favor of restricting rights - and proponents of taking away something that we all should enjoy - has been perhaps one of the most difficult things I have ever had to think about. Hearing things that sound so much like what people heard in the 50's and 60's during the Civil Rights Era like, "Its not that I don't like gay people, some of my closest friends are gay...", just sucks. Seeing a friend in a different light because it has become obvious that he or she would choose to treat someone differently because of a PRIVATE religious conviction is incredibly frustrating. Telling someone he or she should have fewer rights because of YOUR PRIVATE religious beliefs is PREJUDICE - no matter how you and your "church" spin it. Its has been very hard to learn that people who you have held in high regard are, in fact, intolerant. To learn that they are hiding behind a religious conviction that acts as nothing more than an excuse for bigotry. Your religious beliefs are protected by the 1st Amendment and I respect them. Stop trying to push them onto someone else. A "yes" vote is simply that - you trying to force your religion onto the rest of us. I don't want to be a part of your religion if it preaches intolerance. I don't want to be part of a religion that would create different levels of human beings. And I certainly don't want to be part of a faith that would look at my loved ones squarely in the face and tell them that they are inferior. Shame on you. Equality will happen. Perhaps not tomorrow, but someday soon. The Supreme Court will have to act, the tide will continue to turn toward what is right, and ALL Americans will someday enjoy the rights that I have always enjoyed. Get on the right side of history.
I'm going to work today. Its Sunday. Every ten years we go through an accreditation process, and the visiting team is arriving today. We have a panel discussion, teacher interviews, and a reception. I'm looking forward to it only because I want them to see what a great school we have. I truly believe that Winslow High School is the very best high school in central Maine. We have a fantastic faculty, state of the art technology, and offer what other schools only wish that they could. The team evaluating us will be here until Wednesday, and I hope they see what a special place WHS is to its students. Go Raiders!
Its been a long time since I've been in the mood for a hike, but today I couldn't wait to load up the backpack. I went to Mt. Battie and it could not have been a better day for a Halloween scene. The peak was in a cloud and very windy and misty, and with the castle-like tower at the top:
It was quite spooky. Its really a shame that I wasn't dismembered by a serial killer. There were no views - in fact in the first picture a great view of the ocean should be right behind me. However, the woods were beautiful on the way up:
Coming down I ran into a hiker with these two perfect Halloween pugs:
Tell me this isn't the face of pure evil:
It was a fun morning out in the Maine woods.I haven't been impressed by our governor a lot during the last 8 years...but watch this interview. In this case he is a brave politician. If for this discussion only - I am glad I voted for him twice.
~MET
...and watch this great father, Vietnam vet, and Catholic from Maine. He was testifying at the open hearings when the marriage equality law was being debated in committee. He makes me proud to be from Maine. Get out the vote! Bring your friends and neighbors! NO on One!
~MET
