Trying to PEACE things together.......

It was easier to summon a Christmas Spirit when the perimeters of my world were confined to a few neighborhoods in Queens and the occasional trip into Manhattan to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Macy's or a Broadway show. Manhattan, was my Rome, all the artistic wonders, all the exquisite things could be found there. Easy to dream when exposure is limited. It's easy to believe in all things magical when your parents are nothing short of magicians. It's easy to believe in Peace on Earth, and everyone living like you do, when everything on television is a song and dance, and your friends exchange similar demands on Santa's elves, and there are parties, and there is excitement. From Thanksgiving to Christmas the anticipation of the big day hung on my breath like candy canes on trees........

Once my world became bigger than my bus route, my Christmas spirit began to ween.....At this point what motivates me are my children....but today, as I go search for the lights and the ornaments for our beautifully shaped tree, I try to make sense of how instead of moving forward as a world community, we can move backwards.......

Yesterday CNN reported that there is a horrifying Anti Homosexuality Bill in Uganda that is up for passage. This Bil if passes it will become a tremendous violation of human rights. There are many Human Rights groups protesting, but sadly, on our local news channels we rarely hear anything this global and pressing until a massacre happens and a beloved celebrity brings a camera crew and appears before Congress seeking help.....Durfur, Mr Clooney, Rwanda....etc, etc.....

This bill has these stunning provisions....ready?.....

Any gay or lesbian convicted of having se will be sentenced at a minimum of life in prison. If a homosexual person is found having sex with a minor, or sex more than once, they may be recieve the death penalty....

Any person found with HIV may be executed

The bill forbids any promotion of homosexuality which means that any organization that works with HIV and AIDS prevention and awareness will be banned.

This information was gathered off of CNN's website.

In other words, on a continent with a severe Aids epidemic, the answer becomes genocide...again....genocide is a big answer isn't it????. How does that happen?

In our own way, we are not much different. Here we say we would never ever do such a horrid thing, it is so barbaric. But every day there is an acceptance to violence against gays. Gay bashing is real. State by State the basic right of marriage is denied, protection of family under a law is denied. Human rights are in many ways denied.

In the Congo, women are being viciously raped, children are being viciously raped, and now it's reported men are being viciously raped by guerilla warriors. Womens rights have been repeatedly violated across the globe and every time you strip things down to justify this behavior you find zeolots distorting religion. Violations of Human Rights like Global Warming effect us all, doesn't matter how much we deny what goes on, or how hard we work to reduce and confine our world to our back yard. It's a ripple that turns into a wave, and if it's not addressed, it's a tsunami......

We need to stop this nonsense and give our citizens a right to marry whomever they please as long as both parties are of age and consent. We need to set the right example instead of pretending to be horrified by the lengths Uganda is about to go to, yet denying our own thier right to a full equal life. How does it come to be that Democracy can be used against advancement?

And I guess if anything is to be done for our brothers and sisters in Uganda who will be persecuted for being homosexuals, hopefully our gay and non gay celebrities will book a flight, bring a camera crew, and start filming documentaries.....and while they are at it. please look into Child soldiers and womens rights again, because nothing much is changing.....and then turn the cameras on us, we still have a lot of work to do......anybody interested in a documentary on what happens to our special needs kids when they grow up??? How about the ones that are able and willing to work and just can't get a job because of the intense discrimantion?????????

Yes Virgnia there is a Santa Claus.....There are lights and decorations to put up......In the season of hope, rituals and routines, songs and dance, Christmas classics, the anticipation that exists in the tiny piece of the world my children play in remains in tact. The universal prayer however, that hangs on my breath now the way candy canes hang on the pine branches, becomes "let us figure this out for our kids, so that thier piece of the world can join the other pieces and coexist in PEACE.....Peace On Earth......Can it be??????