Thursday, September 08, 2005

Let GAYS also be Gay!!

World is a maze, people try to meander through the turns and potholes, wade through troubles. As we embark on our journey called life, we accrue some priceless ideas, we learn some enlightening thoughts, we meet refreshing people, we realise.. we change and update ourselves as the world churns and as we expose ourselves more to this maze.

The journey and the accruement of knowledge never ceases, the ones who realise this are forever humble and enlightened. For some though, the learning does cease, seemingly having gained enough information and ideas about life, they are set for their journey.

Among the plethora of information we gain in this journey lies the dynamic called human relation. The love, the hate, the friendshp, the kindness, the cunning, the revenge -- sum it up .. the emotion, these are all bundled and gift-wrapped in a wonder called relationship among humans.

The beauty of these relations is the love that we are able to show and long for from our close friends and family. Family, a fascinating idea, that bonds small groups of people into a unit, a unit that fights for each other and a unit that fears for and feels for one another. The man, the woman, the family. The institution called family was defined, units were formed and they were there for one another. The "family" always operated under the premise that "unlike" poles attract, so it defined captains of the ship, the man and the woman. They steered the family through thick and thin and took care of the passengers, the children.

The premise, is and never was as rigid as the magnetism that it is based on. Only that the realization took long. The institution "family" was always assumed to have a man and a woman, the fact that both are needed for their passengers(children) made it a passable premise. The fact that something was never questioned may not always mean that it is always right. No one questioned the premise, everyone merely followed the template and life went on.

Only that, the one constant in this world -- change -- sprung up. The premise was questioned, life changed, life was magnetism .. no more. The premise was moderated, the family was changed to reflect the revolutionary thinking -- a pair is a family, and that pair can be like ilks.

Men and women, young and old, were seething.. the institution afterall is the foundation.. is the fabric.. of civilization. Questioning, the building block on which years of faith were invested was not just insulting, it was atrocious.

Ofcourse, any new idea will have to go through the test of time, the test of resistance, the test of anger and the effort of thwart. Couples, gays as they were termed, were made to wade through all these waters.

To those resisting it was a matter of angst that drove from their conscience, the feeling of breach.. a feeling of disobedience. Disobedience.. to God claim some. It is the obedience to this holy God, they claim, is the reason for resisting.... the resisting of altering the "premise" of family.

This process of redefining can be prevented no more, too much water after all have gone under the bridge. The prudent ones know, the redefining is done.. and whether the "old premise" people like it or not, the "new premise" is there to stay. Some, still resist.. argue that, a unit can only be "a man and a woman", to them "new premise" is an affront. Whether we want to acknowledge it as a new premise or not, atleast we have to relaize there co-exists a premise, where a unit, can infact be a man and a man or a woman and a woman.

The sooner we appreciate it, the better off we all are. In this effort, the resistance to thwart will go by the wayside, sooner if not later. For, we the "old premisers" have to realize, they are fellow humans with a different take in and about life.

That if we allow ourselves to realize, is fascinating. What makes the world go on and on, without boring us is the one constant -- change. The lack of it, would spell doom.. everyday we wake up to not only repeat what we know, but if possible learn and appreciate something we do not know.

Resistance will come and go, the women were never supposed to vote or never supposed to leave the house or never supposed to be leaders. Then that fascinating thing... change .. happened. We now see, those points and those "premises" as weird.

Like that, the new premise for family, will have to be accepted, for the good of so many souls that believe in it.

A good stepping stone, in this inevitable and welcome change is the effort by California Assemblyman Mark Leno to legalize the validity of "same sex" marriage, is commendable. Like any other path breaking effort, ones that require an altering of our fabric, this faces all sorts of criticisms and oppositions.

But, my dear fellow "old premisers", we are well past the time where a provision needs to be added to our premise. Let us appreciate the basic truth, that they are human beings. Let us hope that the California Governor Mr Schwarzenegger appreciates that fact and approves the bill.

Let us treat our fellow humans as just that, give them their recognition and their rights.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

The Blame Game

Unbelievable -- does that sum up what is unfolding in New Orleans? We have children crying, women exhausted with no strength left for expressing their thoughts, so many good young men -- now carrying the tag of looters. Hunger, can drive men insane-- any surprise that they became scavangers preying for water and food.

No single body is solely responsible for this catastrophe, it is a cumulative colossal failure of historical proportions, that has left a scar that is undelible. How this beautiful city unfolded into an anarchy state is totally depressing, shocking and choking.

The most distressing thing is, this was not out of the blue. The good folks at the "Weather center" had predicted a disaster of never before heard scale well in advance. Even as the nation was captivated by the "camp Casey" circa in Crawford, websites and News agencies cranked up their dual-dopler radars and showed harrowing clouds and howling winds waiting to grace New Orleans (and that they did).

As word got out that this was more than a mid-summer shower, the Mayor Ray Nagin cranked up his men and pleaded the folks of New Orleans to move out of harms way. Detention center and the Superdome were made available for the poor, needy and incapable. All prudent and enough moves, so it seemed 2 days before Katrina showed up for her date with Lousiana.

Will it be any shock if Webster adds a synonym for "bureaucracy" as "hurricane katrina". Starting from FEMA, which acted like this was anything but that. FEMA's current leaders have dubious credentials as more politicians than disaster managers. The people who have to own up to this are many in number, starting from top to bottom.

The questions, easy to come, have started coming. Why was FEMA ever under the Homeland security? Why was natural disaster management undermined in the budget? Why did it take FEMA 2 days to start the process of sending resources? Why was forced evacuation not ordered prior that would have saved more lives? Why was the US Coast guard asked to wait for orders, before flying into New Orleans? Why did no one see the reports (well before Katrina) that some levees are weakening? The answers are going to be hard to swallow.

No matter whether more questions are asked or even if they are answered, the notion that the Federal government let the poor and sick suffer on their own is depressing and distressing.

Let there now be some consensus to atleast, remove an important body like FEMA from Homeland Department, and give them sweeping powers to act when the hour calls. Not after all the bodies rot.