Many people outside society’s description of “norm,” have felt embarrassed because they were made fun of, guilty because they were “taught” that it is wrong, and continue to believe it because it is enforced in the collective social mindset.
So many of us suffer needlessly with feelings of low self-esteem, guilt, and embarrassment. That shouldn’t be a surprise when our society is rooted in a belief system with little room for anything or anybody outside the status quo. Most of us were raised in that belief system. It’s ingrained in the depths of our subconscious. To therefore express ourselves outside the norm contradicts what we were taught. Larger groups, and even countries many times deal with conflicting views by killing each other, so apparently, the mainstream doesn’t appear to have all the answers either. After all, killing defies the very God that Christians, Muslims, and Jews (to name just a few) say they worship. I was raised in a mixed religious household, both Jewish and Christian, which either makes me more confused, or less, I’m not sure which.
I was at a family reunion during the 4th of July weekend and — in my brother’s absence — confronted with questions, and fishing expeditions, as to how I felt about my brother and his partner raising an adopted 16-month-old baby. My Midwestern relatives love my brother, but don’t agree with his ‘lifestyle’. The idea of a gay couple raising a child — to them — is “against the laws of nature.” On the more practical side, according to them, a child needs a mother and a father. I would argue that a child needs love. I informed them that their approval wasn’t required and that my brother and his partner would make great parents – and by the way, it wasn’t so long ago in Salem that they burned witches too!
https://briannaaustin.com/and-they-burned-witches-too/
