"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Morality: An Ongoing Commentary

Those of you who may have followed this blog through its several incarnations will know that "morality" as a concept, and the varying definitions of it, is something that has occupied me for quite a while. I ran across this comment, which echoes my own feelings very strongly, from Leonard Pitts, Jr. in the Miami Herald:

Morality, it has always seemed to me, has less to do with commonalities of existence than with how you treat other people. Do you lie to or about them? Do you steal from them? Do you cheat them? Do you walk by their suffering, oblivious? Do you, except in self-defense, harm them physically or mentally? The answers to those questions, I think, define morality more exactly than whether you're sharing a bed with someone who has the same sexual equipment you do.

Pitts is taking Gen. Peter Pace to task for his outrageous remarks on gays in the military, and quite effectively -- read the whole piece.

I've had an interesting exchange with GayPatriotWest about morality as it relates to gay men. We may be coming from the same place. With any luck, it will turn into a real conversation.

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