Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Sigh

There are days I wake up and am forced to come face to face with the reality of stability. Some mornings every part of my body and mind seem to be screaming at me that I'm a middle-aged, overweight, gray-haired but balding, father of 5 that spends his free time at church. Just this weekend the coolest thought that crossed my mind was that I could bring my little boy with me to my buddy's house to watch football. Damn it all but I would kill for a taste of 25 again. I long for the days when my best attribute wasn't stability. My 20th high school reunion is coming up; I keep in touch with people from back then and am always amazed that they don't seem to be getting older the way I am. The realization hits me - I'm not aging well. In the back of your mind, you always think you'll be sitting at the table with your wife and snickering because so-and-so looks ten years older than everyone else. Terror sinks in as you realized one morning that it's going to be you. Shit. I have noticed in the past month that I have moles coming up on my arms and legs. They're jagged, lumpy messes of fear and I realize that it's all downhill from here.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Sandra Fluke and Rush Limbaugh

I've been thinking a lot today about Rush Limbaugh's recent comments regarding Sandra Fluke on his radio show. I've been trying to understand why it upsets me so much, trying to understand why I'm so angry about THIS particular bit of foulness from Mr. Limbaugh.

Here's the deal: I have four daughters. They don't deserve to grow up in a world where a self-righteous misogynist like Rush Limbaugh can get away with calling them a slut on the public airwaves. Sandra Fluke is, by all accounts, exactly the kind of young woman I hope and pray that my daughters grow up to become. An assault on this woman is an assault on all women.

My anger isn't only on behalf of my daughters. I'm also enraged about the assault this represents on my brilliant and talented younger sister, a woman who has a future of limitless potential in front of her. When and if she becomes a parent it will be on her own terms; no man has the right to make that decision for her.

I dream that one day each one of my daughters will have the opportunity to stand up and speak with passion and conviction about something she believes in with all her heart. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the ability to control conception is one of the most important advancements we have made towards equality between men and women in this world. Rush Limbaugh, don't you dare call a bold, brilliant young woman like my daughter a slut. Don't you dare let me hear you say that she is a prostitute or a "round-heeled woman" because she won't let her body and her sexuality belong to you.

 
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