A friend once chatted me out of the blue with an accusation like, “Stop making me look like an asshole!”  This is a friend with whom I had no recent interactions, so my mind naturally raced to find the offending reference to him; I found none.  However, I didn’t deny that I did it, I don’t remember doing it.  My disposition leaned towards the apologetic while I continued to chat to determine the source of the offense.

As it happens, the post that offended my friend did not refer to him directly.  It didn’t even refer to a particular political party or even group.  It simply referred to a behavior.  I posted a link to this article, with the following comment:

This is the definition of homophobia:
“dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.”
Here’s an idea, if you don’t like being labeled homophobic, maybe you shouldn’t pass laws that are prejudiced against homosexual people.
It’s quite literally what it means. Either own the fact that you are homophobic or repeal the law; I’d prefer the latter.

Continue reading “The Ambiguity of Mind Reading”

On a lazy Sunday evening, I channel surfed and came upon an episode of This is Life with Lisa Ling.  I’ve watched several episodes before, and I found them to be deeply interesting.  Lisa Ling does an amazing job of covering the topics objectively, without judgement.  Somehow her compassion and humanity permeate each episode, independent of topic.  She presents the topics in a way that we see and empathize with the people, not merely flatten them and bucket them into a particular category.

This particular episode, “Interracial Love” (Season 9, Episode 2) talks about the stigma and challenges of couples of different races.  I, a Chinese man, coupled with a Caucasian woman, found this episode especially interesting.  Naturally, one story covered how a father broke ties with his son, because he married and had children with a Black woman.  It showed this relationship open up over the course of years.  I found this story both deeply distressing and quietly optimistic.

Continue reading “Freedom to practice your faith”