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      Sunday, June 28, 2015


otherstuff
01:40 PM - 06/28/2015

The topic: I was going to make a little movie

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Of one of the cats, but as I was transferring the video and photos to my hard drive from my camera, it dawned on me I'd be really sad if I lost all of my videos and photos if the drive went bad, so I decided to back them up right now this very second.

The backup is 57% done. Then I'll make my little movie and share this adorable kitty with you all.

I could probably do it all at the same time, but things go more quickly if I do one CPU intensive project at a time. And rendering movies takes a lot of CPU.

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otherstuff
10:49 AM - 06/28/2015

The topic: Empathy

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I think a lot of people don't have it.

The recent ruling from the Supreme Court, the one on gay marriage, has a lot of panties in a lot of wads. I can't understand this.

But then, homosexuality has never been a big thing to me. I really don't care if someone is gay, trangendered, bisexual, lesbian, assexual or heterosexual. It doesn't affect my day to day life. I just don't care. To me, sexual orientation isn't a priority in my dealings with those around me. Being an asshole about the trees, now there's something that is sure to get my panties in a wad. People speeding up and down the street gets me riled up. Tossing lit cigarettes out a car window, that makes my mop flop. Mosquitoes. I don't care for flies, but they have a purpose. Mosquitoes do not. Potholes. I do not like potholes.The people who leave the house with the gate wide open.

There are lots of things that bother me. Someone's sexual orientation isn't one of them. It never has been. It never will be.

I'm pretty sure there's no handbasket that will be taking us Americans to hell because gay marriage is now legal in all fifty states. God isn't going to send plagues of locusts or turning anyone into a pillar of salt because people in love can get married. Because if this really mattered to God, don't you think He'd do something about it? Seriously? Aren't there so many worse things going on in this world?

And to get all up in arms because it's God's law? It's in the Bible? Yeah, okay, don't you think God can handle this? His law, His judgement, His punishment? Where does it say anyone has the right to judge someone else? I don't remember much from parochial school, but I remember a little. Like "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone" (John 8:7). Or "judge not lest ye be judged" (Matthew 7:1). (I had to look those up since I'm not a bible scholar.)

I was raised Catholic. I'm lapsed. I believe in God. I do not believe in organized religion. I don't believe the bible is God's word. I've researched the bible through the years and there are too many contradictions, too many translations, too many humans reporting "the Word" (reminds me of that game we've played, where you have a circle of people, there's something written on a piece of paper and the first one whispers to the next person and that person whispers what he heard to the next person and so on; the last person says out loud what he was told, and it's usually not what was on that piece of paper, because we all have this way of spinning what we've read or been told). But these are my personal feelings and I don't expect others to live their lives by MY feelings....I think it's a wonderful thing, having faith and I respect those who do. It must be a comforting feeling. That said, you won't see me trying to change their belief system. No derision on my part. Not for their beliefs. (It's how they use these beliefs to hurt others is what I don't like.)

And I would hope they afford me that same consideration.

Back to empathy. You know that old "walk a mile in my shoes" saying?  I learned empathy early. I bit a kid at a birthday party when I was just a little girl. Now, what happened next would get a parent arrested for child abuse, but back then, it was an okay thing to do (hey, waddya know, a "times sure change" example). My dad promptly took me home. And he bit me. I don't think he bit me hard, but he got my attention. And he said "did that hurt?" Yes. "Did you like it?" No. "Will you do that again?" No. For a few minutes, I was in someone else's shoes.

Another empathy example. You know I love cats. I hate to see them hurt. I hadn't been on the internet for long, but someone on an old forum complained that feral cats were hitting their poultry, their living and killing them. There were many suggestions about how to stop this from happening, but this woman's husband was so full of hate for the cats for affecting his living, that he implemented none of the suggestions. No, he killed a cat that was going after his chickens. And when he picked up the dead body, he found he'd killed a lactating mother. There were kittens out there. Without a mom. Without a way to eat.

He and his wife went in search of the litter. They found the kittens and hand raised them. He bottle fed these kittens.

He fixed the fencing around his chickens so the feral cats could no longer get to them. They bought food that they left out for the feral cats.

He found empathy the hard way. And he was a better man for it.

Gay marriage won't affect traditional marriage.You can still have your traditional marriages, nothing is undermined. Gay marriage will not prevent you from being traditional married. If it goes against clergy's beliefs, they won't have to perform the ceremony. It happens now. I understand a rabbi can refuse to marry a Jew and a non-Jew. I know of some Catholic churches where you need pre-marital counseling. If you don't get it, you don't get married. By them, anyway. If you work for the govenment, well, that's different. But I'm sure this will all take time to sort out.

Allowing the gay community the same marriage rights as the heterosexual community hurts no one. If God doesn't like it, that's God's problem, not ours. Don't blindly believe what you've been told all of your lives, by your pastor, your friends, your community. Take the time to sit down and really think about it. Think about how two people who really love each other wanting that piece of paper to show their commitment for one another. Find understanding and empathy for them. Put yourself in their shoes. If you feel it will help, pray. I'm sure God won't advise you to smite anyone. That's His job. But I'm sure a week from today, a month, a year from today, you'll find that your life hasn't been affected much by this recent Supreme Court decision.

Unless you're in the business of weddings.....

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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