Empathy. It's an Important Thing

I had another post but it turned into a big rant about idiots who have idiot ideas and shouldn't be allowed tax exemptions if they are going to not meet the standards for which said exemptions are given.  Or something like that. I just get really tired of people spewing their hate.  I also find it ironic that it is usually the oldest, most bloated, pastiest, ugliest bastard saying that the idea of kissing another man disgusts him.

DUDE. No other man is ever going to want to kiss you. You look like your breath smells like mothballs and old chicken buckets. Hell, for that matter, very, very few women will ever want to kiss you. I don't want to kiss you. The thought disgusts the fuck out of me. But I'm not going to try and kill you over it or anything.

I think it's a good rule in life to always consider how it would feel for you if someone else wanted to oppress you the way you want to oppress them.  This is pretty easy for me, because I'm fat.  People want to oppress me all the time.   In fact, it's easier to oppress we Fats because it's not like we're gonna march in protest about it or anything. But I digress . . .

Seriously.  Think about the stuff that you want passed or that you say about others and put yourself into the sentence. Think about how it would feel.

Examples.

If you think gay marriage should be illegal . . . consider how you would feel if it was illegal for YOU to get married. What if there was someone out there saying, "Oh, I think it should be illegal for Christians to get married" or "It should be illegal for redheads to get married" or "It should be illegal for people over 40 to get married" or, in my case, "It should be illegal for fat people to get married."

Before you think this is just crazy, realize that people could make justifications for all it. People could even use the Bible or other holy texts to justify it.  Just pick and choose some verses.

For instance, if you are divorced and wish to marry again, there are lots of people who believe you shouldn't. After all, Luke 16:18 says, "Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery."  Last time I checked, adultery was one of the big no-nos. If people decided to focus on the divorced among us and not the gays, a lot of you would be in trouble.

Here's the thing . . . there are probably thousands of people who divorced and got married who had craptastic marriages the second time around . . . or third . . . or forth . . . you get the idea. If people just looked at those marriages, they would probably make a really good case for why we should make it illegal for people to marry after divorce. However, there are also thousands of examples of other second or third or whatever marriages that were lovely and just what both people needed to make their lives great. Should we deny them their happiness?

And that is really the key to this marriage debate.  When you are against people marrying the person  they love, you are actively denying someone else happiness. Is that the person you want to be? The Happiness  Denier? If you find yourself okay with that, again, like I suggested, put yourself in their position.

What would it be like if others had the power to take happiness away from you?