From where the sun now stands, I will fight.

Chief Joseph actually said, "I will fight no more forever," but he'd done his share of fighting, seen horrors enough already.

I see the same kinds of injustice in my world today. Today, I woke up in a world full of the same kinds of hate and injustice Chief Joseph saw - the good of the many obliterated to placate the will of the few in power. He said:

"There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”

And how right he was! Why is this such a difficult concept to hammer into the heads of those who insist that their warped understanding of a religious text, or some ill-conceived directive from someone they find to be charismatic tells them that it is not only right, but just to deny basic rights to our brothers?

Why is an innocent man going to die because the "justice" system is failing him? Why is his life not worth the trouble and cost to take what's broken and fix it? How dare anybody put a monetary price on human life and happiness? Who are these people who would rather take a life than take extra time and do extra work or - dare I say - admit they were wrong? A life, people, a human life.


Why am I allowed to get married to the right guy if such a man and I ever chose to do so, while my friends who have been together for over a decade and raised children together may not, simply because they're both women? I patently refuse to accept that legal recognition of the family unit which already exists in their household can have anything to do with what goes on in the home of the judgmental, bigoted married couples who say that gay marriage is a blight upon the institution.

Guess what! I've been married. Guess what else! I have gay friends who would get married if they could. Guess another thing! If the marriage they've been living since before I ever met my ex-husband had ever been legally recognized, it would have had absolutely no effect on my decision to get married, how long I stayed married, the problems that cropped up in said marriage, or the resulting end of it. How could it?

I want to just grab each and every one of those people who talk about the "sanctity of marriage," shake them, and scream EVERYTHING IS NOT ABOUT YOU! How self-centered do you have to be to honestly believe that you personally are threatened by someone else getting married, whomever they may be? I am sick and tired of seeing relationships freely entered into by consenting, healthy, non-related adults who love each other, lumped in with child abuse, pornography, and incest.

Honestly, can we just stop pretending that Fred Phelps's First Amendment right to free speech, which allows him spew hate and filth via every medium he comes across is more important, more sacrosanct than his victims' right to be treated with respect and dignity at the very least?

My heart is sick and sad, but I will fight. Forever. News days like this remind me why.