I agree with you, Truman, about the positive engagement. One of your posts hadn't been deleted on youtube last night, and I tried to reply to it, but they never sent my activation email. I'll try again today. People have the capacity to change and grow. And I think one of the best ways to make a lot of these people think twice about their homophobic beliefs is to introduce them to someone they think they hate. It's a lot harder to hate when you put a human face to an idea - and a lot harder to be afraid too - when they discover 'Hey, he's a pretty good guy.' Baby steps...
I see myself writing this and I am such a hypocrite. I owe cousin Danny a phone call, don't I??
"What Made America Famous"
You remember that song?
it is about a group of poor people living in a little rat trap house that caught fire one night. The only one that came to help was one volunteer firefighter that saved a few of them:
He rolled on up in the fire truck
And raised the ladder to the ledge
Where me and my girl and a couple of kids
Were clinging like bats to the edge.
We staggered to salvation,
Collapsed on the street.
And I never thought that a fat man's face
Would ever look so sweet.
I shook his hand in the scene that made America famous
And a smile from the heart that made America great
You see we spent the rest of that night in the home of a man I'd never known
before.
It's funny when you get that close it's kind of hard to hate.I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous.
I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school.
Of the America that made America famous...and
Of the people who just might understand
That how together yes we can
Create a country better than
The one we have made of this land,
We have a choice to make each man
who dares to dream, reaching out his hand
A prophet or just a crazy God damn
Dreamer of a fool - yes a crazy fool
There's something burning somewhere.
Does anybody care?
Is anybody there?