SOLDIER OF LOVE

What is a soldier of love?  When we think of soldiers we think of men and women going off to fight for freedom, democracy and to stand up and liberate those who can’t stand up for themselves.  Mostly, we think of soldiers in an almost negative way – death, dying, fighting, conflict and blood.  That is not the soldier I want to talk about.

The soldier that I want to talk about is one that is passionate and committed to creating positive change into our world.  An advocate for love, for compassion – someone who acts with kindness and without judgment.  This type of soldier will do anything for their significant other, they love life, the environment and fight for a cause that does not create conflict but rather diffuse it.  A soldier who will resolve to protect the living  – whether that is man or animal, without raising a gun.

I believe that most countries engage in conflicts that are in the best interests of corporations who are bought and paid for by our governments.  I don’t want to see more soldiers dying for wars that have no positive resolution for the country they are trying to liberate or for our world.  Maybe it is time to let countries fight their own battles?  Needless to say – I do have the out most respect for those men and women who offer their lives to insure we have the freedoms we do today but I am in no way and advocate for violence and war.

I am a soldier of love – and I want to recruit more soldiers.  Soldiers who will not engage in violence and only promote wellness, peace, love and positivity throughout the world.  I want a REVOLUTION OF LOVE – a revolution that will not think in the mindset of yesterday and deal with issues that matter for today’s generation and the generations to come.  We need a new world community that will not wait for governments to act to create positive change but will evoke that change themselves.  We will peacefully demonstrate and advocate for policies and change that will make our world a better place – for the people and not for greedy corporations.  This revolution will fight for the protection of our planet – clean water, clean air, natural and nutritional foods that are not genetically modified or coated with pesticides.  We will fight to free animals in distress that only know a life of cruelty and violence.  We will protect environmentally fragile spaces – the Amazon, the Arctic, the Great Barrier Reef and so many other places around the world that are almost at the point of no return.

The REVOLUTION OF LOVE will not raise a gun but we shall raise our voices for the only thing that matters – THE PLANET because without it, there is nothing else.

How can you become a soldier of love and join this revolution?  Here are several suggestions:

• Join or donate to Greenpeace – defenders of our planet against corporate and government greed.  www.greenpeace.org
• Join or donate to the protectors of our environment such as the World Wildlife Fund or the David Suzuki Foundation.  www.wwf.ca (Canada) or www.wwf.org (international) www.davidsuzuki.org
• Ask companies, churches, financial institutions to divest from ‘dirty oil’ – Get more information at:  www.350.org
• Contact your member of parliament and ask them how they have advocated and instilled policies to protect our environment.  How are they promoting renewable and sustainable energy?  Are they on the side of companies that continue to deplete the earth’s natural resources or are they promoting solar, wind and other cleaner resources?  If not – DON’T GIVE THEM YOUR VOTE!
• Educate yourself on climate change – get the facts from reliable sources not corporate media (Greenpeace, WWF, 350.org, PETA and the David Suzuki foundation)
• Get real news and not the corporate sponsored (and censored) news from Fox, NBC, CBC, ABC and CNN – check out www.projectcensored.org or www.jessieventura.com or check out the YouTube channel – Breaking The Set.
• Understand how raising cattle and eating meat impacts global change by getting the facts via www.peta.org
• Educate, educate, education yourself about climate change:  http://know.climateofconcern.org/index.php

Are you ready to become a soldier of love? 

Together we can make the world a more positive one!

YOU ARE FAT, UGLY……

FAT, UGLY, BITCH, SLUT, WHORE, FAGGOT, STUPID, DUMBASS, DYKE, LOSER, NIGGER, PAKI, CHINK, etc….. – I’m sure many of us remember what it feels like to be called one or more of these names.  Many people used these names to degrade us and to make us feel like we don’t belong.  Many of these words are used today to make so many people feel like they don’t belong.  If you are one of those people who are being called any of these names and you don’t feel like confronting the person/people who are calling you these names – know that it will stop.  Don’t let the word deflate the beautiful person you really are – allow the word to empower you to act with love and compassion to others who may be in the same situation.  Don’t let someone’s ignorance define you by how and what they call you.  Don’t let someone else’s negative energy get the better of you.  Like I said, if you don’t feel like confronting the person/people who are calling you these names – you don’t have to.  Instead, create a support group with other people who are in the same situation as you.  Create something positive from those who are instilling their ignorance, hate and negativity onto you.

For those of you who witness this type of bullying and ignorance – STAND UP and put an end to it.  Stopping ignorance, bigotry and hate doesn’t have to be surrounded in conflict or violence.  We all have the right to ask someone not to be mean or to stop treating others with disrespect – it is our duty!  We are responsible for lifting people up and making them feel worthy not destroy their confidence.

Just over a year ago – my partner shared a story about a young lady who was being harassed on YouTube.  People made horrible and hateful comments on a video she posted and went as far as saying that she should be killed.  This extraordinary women is Lizzie Velasquez.  Instead of becoming overwhelmed with the hateful comments – Lizzie fought back and became a worldwide inspiration for many.  Today, Lizzie motivates people around the world with her inspirational speeches.  You can read her story in the book, Lizzie Beautiful:  The Lizzie Velasquez Story written by Lizzie and her mother, Rita.  You can also be inspired by reading her first book entitled, Be Beautiful Be You.  Both books are available via www.amazon.com

For more information about Lizzie – you can visit her website via www.aboutlizzie.com

Lizzie’s story motivated my partner and I to create a Facebook page and a Care2 petition.  You can join/like the Facebook page and send Lizzie comments, the page is called:  WE LOVE LIZZIE VELASQUEZ.  The petition was created to have Lizzie share her story on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, which was a dream for Lizzie.  (I don’t watch television too often so I don’t know if this happened or not).  To sign and share the petition – please visit the following site:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/773/181/761/we-love-lizzie-velasquez-and-would-love-to-see-her-on-the-ellen-degeneres-show/

Here is Lizzie speaking at the TEDx Women of Austin event.

These are the stories we should be sharing with our friends and our families.  Someone you may know is potentially being bullied right now – your son, daughter, brother, sister, mother, father or friend.  I am sure you wouldn’t want them to feel so bad about themselves.  We have seen or heard the stories of so many teens taking their own lives because of how others made them feel.  Let’s make sure we don’t allow this to continue.

We have all made mistakes and have used some of the words above in order to describe someone.  Maybe out of anger, resentment, ignorance or fear – whatever the reason, there is no excuse.   The best thing to do is to apologize and ask for forgiveness from the person we hurt with those words.  We can also think before we speak – words hurt and ultimately they words you speak are saying something not only of the person you are speaking about, they also say so much about yourself.

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!

LOVE IS GAY and LOVE IS EVERYONE.

How do you define love?  What does love mean to you?  Here is one definition of love according to the The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition:  The foremost authority on current English:

love (n)  – an intense feeling of deep affection of fondness for a person or thing

We all have felt intense feelings of deep affection for many people or things but there are varying degrees of love.  You can love a family member as affectionately and with the same fondness as a good friend.  You can have a deep intense love for the planet, a hobby, an animal or even an object.  But no love is the same as the love you share with that ‘special someone’.  What makes this type of love different is the emotional, physical and sexual intimacy you share which heightens the intense of deep affection to a whole different level.  This is the kind of love I share with my husband – Jason.  We have been together for 19 years and have legally been married for 6.  We had mixed emotions about getting married – were we doing it because it was legal in Ontario, Canada, were we doing it for the sake of being married, or were we doing it for no reason at all.  Jason and I got married for all of those reasons and so that we could be viewed equally under the law as our heterosexual counterparts.  That brings me to the story of Shane Bitney Coney and Thomas Lee Bridegroom.

The first time I heard of these two young men was when I came across a YouTube video entitled:  It Could Happen To You.  There are no words to describe the video – the only thing I can say about it was that Shane allowed me to feel his pain, his anguish, his suffering and his hurt.  I want to reach out and hug him, comfort him, do anything to help with the pain he was feeling.  Watch for yourself:

I watched this several times and imagined how I would feel if I was told that I would not be able to see my husband if he was ever hospitalized – I would be devastated.  Again, my thoughts went to Shane and I cried thinking about the despair he felt.  But, that despair was only the beginning.  Imagine not being able to properly say goodbye to the person you loved more than anything in the world – How would that make you feel?  My feelings of sadness for Shane turned to anger towards Tom’s family for not allowing Shane to attend his partner’s funeral.  How could Tom’s family turn their backs on a loving partnership of 6 years?  How could they cut 6 years out of a young man’s life and misrepresent their son in a different light?  I kept Shane’s video images in my head for a long time – especially since Shane and Tom’s story could have been mine and Jason’s story or the stories of so many other same-sex couples who are in loving, committed relationships.  I would say ‘prayers’ for Shane and lovingly send them out into the universe in hopes that they would reach him and give him the strength to carry on.

I was happy to know that a full-length feature documentary was being made about Tom and Shane’s relationship and the love they shared for one-another.  The documentary ‘BRIDEGROOM’ became a reality after much support from the likes of Brad and George Takei and Neil Patrick Harris and so many other influential people.  Over 6,500 people funded the film on Kickstarter.com and it became the most funded documentary in the history of crowd funding.  The film was written, directed and produced by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason creator of the critically acclaimed television series Designing Women.  The film was released in the fall of 2013.  For more about the movie, bios about the people behind the documentary, the official trailer – please visit the movies official website:  http://bridegroommovie.com

I hope that the hurt and pain that was left in Shane’s heart has decreased and I hope that Shane’s current devotion to removing the barriers of marriage inequality has somewhat filled that emptiness.  I know that nothing Shane does will ever bring Tom back – but, I do know that wherever Tom is he is smiling, knowing that Shane is standing strong and fighting for something they already had – A deep sense of love.  I tap 3 times on the desk my computer sits on in the memory of the love these 2 young men shared and for all the work Shane has/is doing for marriage equality.

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!