Someone recently commented to me that, “I have no problem with gay people as such. But, like all those who choose to flout convention, they are attention seekers and would probably change their tune quick enough if they didn’t get any.”
I couldn’t believe my ears, especially as it was clear the guy was sincere. I put to him that sexuality is in the genes and has nothing to do with deliberately choosing to flout convention or be a focus of attention.
He would have none of it. “Where would society be without its conventions,” he demanded. “Without golden rules to live by, you’d have anarchy.”
Funny, I had never thought of myself as an anarchist…until now! Yes, of course we need golden rules to live by. At the same time, thank goodness for some golden exceptions, among which sexuality is but one ...
'Conventional people are
roused to fury by departures from convention, largely because they regard such
departures as a criticism of themselves.' – Bertrand Russell
“Few people are capable of
expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their
social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions."
– Albert Einstein (Essay to Leo Baeck, 1953)
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin
MIND-BODY-SPIRIT, HUMANITY'S FLEXIBLE FRIEND
I know my place, would teach
others, though some refuse to learn,
take me for an enemy, refuse
to see I have their well-being at heart,
would prefer not to toss them
like flotsam and jetsam on such waves
as mother-god Society enjoys
making for those who dare question
if its integrity fit for purpose
I know my place, would teach
others to know theirs, better by far
to tread in footprints already
leading the way across snow and ice
than take another, untested path,
making out it will lead somewhere
when there’s no real guarantee
it will lead anywhere at all, followers
as like as not heading for a fall
I know my place, would plead
with others to know theirs, trusting
to be led by my moral compass
into the quiet waters of expediency,
leaving politics and religions
free to hoist colours flapping madly
in a breeze, rightly keen to please,
condemning certain rites of sexuality
likely to put humanity on the spot
My place, rejecting any re-invention
of society's old stand-by, convention
Copyright R. N. Taber, 2010; 2016
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