Yesterday I found two things. The first thing I found was a job. A full time one which has irrevocably changed the future of my life here in australia. It's a very well paid job compared to what i am used to back home. ...the second thing I found today was myself.
I would like to open this letter to my grandparents who have stopped at nothing to try and make my life as normal as possible even though sometimes to my detriment: their hearts have always been in the right place.
Last morning, I thought I had lost my laptop forever and everything including my passport and cellphones. I woke up and it was gone from the common room where I had fallen asleep. I asked at reception, rang all of the clubs I was at last night and spent two hours wandering aimlessly down the Sydney center streets at the end of my tether. I was crying, and wondering what next was going to happen to me. Clearly, karma hated me and I deserved to have my whole life ripped apart even in this new country...
I was ready to get on a plane and move back home without a clue how i would pick up the peices. My laptop you see, is my lifeline to the world and (at that time) my only source of income. Not to mention how many novels and essays I had written and not backed up anywhere. ...this morning I was desperate. So i called home.
My grandparents are not rich in fact they are far from it. They heard immediately the alarm in my voicea and bank transferred me enough money so as to buy a new MacBook, and a plane ticket for next week.
I made an agreement with my grandfather that if i didn't find a job by today (friday), i would come home and live with him again. He wants me to come home being lonely and i can totally understand that. However... something amazing happened and the gods spun their roulette wheel in my direction for once in my life.
My bag was found and given back to reception at 10am, and i had to quickly surpress my devastated but relived emotions because i had an interview at 11am. I got that job on the spot; $26 NZD per hour. Twelve hours after that, someone handed in my laptop charger that i had separately left behind and then this morning I got a phone call from my manager at this hostel I do free online marketing for in exchange for rent. She wants me to work on reception at night. Not one full time job, Morgan. Nope, the universe is now telling me I am worth it, I am desirous and appreciated and wanted. I just didn't look hard enough in the beginning. It had to be at the final moments of my first journey and on the day where things could have gone horribly south.
I could have lost everything on Thursday. My MacBook, my passport, my livelihood and my creative works. I could have been broke, and on my way home failed at 'starting my life over' yet again. But then.... someone or something intervened and decided that at the eleventh hour it would grant me reprieve so that i could breathe finally and begin to unwind all of my negativity and hurt. Karma gave me back my bag but only after reminding me in very stressful terms that I need to be irrevocably careful with not only my belongings but my feelings: maturity.
The universe forced me to call back home (a place i had been avoiding) to remind me that while I want to be away from my grandparents that I do still have childish tendencies. Reliance, support, and monetary backup. I can no longer ignore the fact that despite the strangely locked up childhood I had that I did in fact have a good one at the end of the day. I can't look past the idea that without my grandparents I would not be the creatively worded person I am today. Not many parents spend an hour a night reading to their child anymore. I had that throughout grade school and it set me up for eloquence and greatness. Not many people whom grew up with grandparents were just "given" their own computer at age thirteen. It wasn't theirs, I didn't have to share it. It was mine. I used to wisely, sometimes, stupidly... but at the end of the day I am excellent with technology in some part thanks to my forward-thinking grandfather who forked out three thousand dollars over eight years ago to get me into the loop of I.T.
I feel complete.
I feel happy.
I feel like, I don't have any more regrets.
I feel like, I know how to make good decisions.
I feel like, I won't be getting an overdraft, credit card or personal loan ever, while i'm in this country.
I feel like, I don't have to be angry anymore.
I feel like, my mother has been watching over me as a guardian making sure I am always okay.
I feel like, even though some people in my family don't really want to know me that is their bad. The onus will fall on them one day when I am successful.
I feel like, I have motivation to succee.
Ideally I see myself in five years exactly where I am right now. Subject to determination and full of hope.
The ideal is happiness, which is the object of our real wish and the goal of all of our efforts...
Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts
Aug 19, 2010
Jul 18, 2010
same sex marriage, almost.
Good evening Julia. I would like to quickly preface this by saying I appreciate you have no time to sift through enquiries of this nature right now. I merely hope that this someday gets to your attention and that on a human level you are able to read with an open mind. It would affirm my original respect for you as a person and a prime minister, while also galvanizing my support for politics in general.
I support you, almost. Your speech carried me today, almost. You say you want to move australia forward... but it's 'almost' at best. Why? Because people in same-sex relationships in this country ...have similar rights to their heterosexual counterparts... almost. I am articulating this point as myself: a twenty two year old male who is a free thinking conservative that cares about personal human rights struggles. Please listen because this is not just a same-sex seeking struggle, I believe it is a fundamental human rights issue that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.
I must impart in the most passionate way I can over text, that I feel each and every single day we discriminate there is irrevocable damage being done. Damage that is direct.
1) Damage to children who have same-sex parents, they grow up in a household that is fundamentally disabled from accessing basic human rights protections as their friends, and neighbors.
2) Damage to teenagers and younger adults who are gay or lesbian and are struggling to deal with the sheer fact that who they are puts them at odds with societies most fundamental ideals and expectations for normalcy, responsibility and family. I have had two friends commit suicide for this very reason and hence my incredibly staunch opinions on this highly sensitive topic.
3) Damage to the safety of any citizen who is perceived as a homosexual by a bigoted other. Hate crimes due to sexuality are common and only fueled by the very basic illegality of the relationships. Banning same-sex marriage on a legal level while the church brands gay people as intrinsically evil and the most dangerous and insidious threat to society does nothing to make more heterosexual couples live stably and have more children. It only serves to harm and disable an entire section of society for the vague end goal of "preserving tradition," much like when Mildred Loving fought against reasons for banning inter-racial marriage in Loving V Virginia 1967 (united states supreme court ruling banning inter-racial marriage bans countrywide).
As of 17th July 2010, Argentina became the tenth country in the world since 2001 to legalize same-sex marriage. So far, that means one country has been allowing for their GLBT citizens the same liberties and freedoms each eleven months. Five years ago, only two countries had allowed same-sex marriage which only points to one thing: an avalanche of countries affirming liberty across the entire sexual orientation paradigm, which leads me to my next point. The negative consequences of banning full marriage rights to all people.
1) Australia will be seen as a country going backwards, living in the past, and stuck in a rut of permanence to elderly ideals (which used to force gender and race into submission until world perceptions against persecution for these were smashed to pieces) in recent history.
2) Your entire speech about moving 'forward' as a nation 'together' will become yet another mouthpiece with no intended real meaning for so many people who are GLBT, who know people who are GLBT or who like me, know people who are GLBT and have strong opinions about currently global human rights endeavors.
3) The economy will suffer. Analysts have long predicted that once allowing same-sex marriage, some tens of thousands of gay and lesbian people will boost the economy through weddings, parties, cakes, clothes, you name it. There are some gay couples who have been together up to seventy years, hoping that one day they would be exacted the privilege of being allowed to spend their money and love on each other in a way that affirms the dignity, permanence, honor, community and responsibility of their commitment to eachother as two human people.
Finally, i'd just like to retrospectively argue some of the reasons you may or may not be opposed to same sex marriage.
Q the tradition family unit is precious and should not be altered drastically, yet (or ever)
A denying two people who inherently and passionately love the same sex will not inspire two people who are inherently and passionately in love with the opposite sex, to live more stable and happy lives.
Q civil unions and domestic partnerships are the right way forward for everybody
A having separate schools and water fountains for black and white people were seen as a 'right way forward' in the fifties when lawyers argued that separate-but-equal clauses were okay. If a gay man enters a marriage registry with some random female off the street and also his male partner of twenty five years, he is only allowed the option of marrying one of those two people based on gender. This is not only sexual orientation abuse but also sex discrimination in its purest form. In 1967 lawyers against the loving v virginia case argued that because black people could marry black people and white people could marry white people that there was simply no real harm done because looking at it plainly neither group were disadvantaged by virtue of their color. It was by virtue of the color of the other person and it's that stance which was defeated with a resounding roar by the supreme court, over fifty years ago now. If i were to want to marry another man, but only had the choice to pick any woman of my liking, that would infringe on a persons right to select the sex they were born to love.
Q churches and religions will be weakened
A there are deliberate and specific ways of being able to legislate for same sex rights while also protecting the church from being forced to change their views and beliefs, practices and traditions within their own walls. Australia is not a one-religion-fits-all country and the reasonable man/woman would agree legislation should not be only based on the transitory moral disapproval of one particular faithful set of the entire population. To do so would be to enforce morals on people who have opted out of living within those confines, and is also a breach on the fundamental human right of religion (as in, being able to choose not to live under it too).
Q it could confuse or upset children
A many children are being and have been raised in homosexual relationships. It's been happening and cannot be ignored. Unless a worldwide mandate to remove all kids from same-sex households passes, then we are actually confusing and upsetting those very children who deserve the basic liberty of being able to know and understand that their parents are in the same relationships as their neighbors and friends. But if that was not enough: it is also imperative those kids parents have the same legal protections for when if worst comes to worst, or emergencies form. To limit marriage rights to the "special" children who have heterosexuals as parents is to unreasonably harm those children who lives in households that the government has decided to keep "less than" only because there is a word called tradition and, tradition is seen as "good".
Of course there are so many more arguments for or against but I will for now end this letter and say I am quite outspoken yes, but I have been thinking hard about the invidious discrimination which permeates our world. It makes me sad. It makes me mad. It makes me wonder how much human people really can empathize and sympathize with each other when a politician like you promises change on one hand, but the 'more of the same thing' on the other.
I would really implore you to reconsider why your government is so adamant that civil unions and partnerships are the only way to move forward. I really would like to see something soon. It would inspire so much hope in so many lives, and touch those who until not long ago society shunned as mental, and worthy of lynching and death purely because they were born in a fashion which led to them becoming homosexual.
Thank you for listening. You are welcome to respond to me at any moment in time. I can be contacted on 0415 xxxxxx. I am also on twitter, http://twitter.com/morganjterrill(i follow you there), and of course my address details have been attached.
Good luck in the election.
Yours faithfully,
Morgan Terrill
I support you, almost. Your speech carried me today, almost. You say you want to move australia forward... but it's 'almost' at best. Why? Because people in same-sex relationships in this country ...have similar rights to their heterosexual counterparts... almost. I am articulating this point as myself: a twenty two year old male who is a free thinking conservative that cares about personal human rights struggles. Please listen because this is not just a same-sex seeking struggle, I believe it is a fundamental human rights issue that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.
I must impart in the most passionate way I can over text, that I feel each and every single day we discriminate there is irrevocable damage being done. Damage that is direct.
1) Damage to children who have same-sex parents, they grow up in a household that is fundamentally disabled from accessing basic human rights protections as their friends, and neighbors.
2) Damage to teenagers and younger adults who are gay or lesbian and are struggling to deal with the sheer fact that who they are puts them at odds with societies most fundamental ideals and expectations for normalcy, responsibility and family. I have had two friends commit suicide for this very reason and hence my incredibly staunch opinions on this highly sensitive topic.
3) Damage to the safety of any citizen who is perceived as a homosexual by a bigoted other. Hate crimes due to sexuality are common and only fueled by the very basic illegality of the relationships. Banning same-sex marriage on a legal level while the church brands gay people as intrinsically evil and the most dangerous and insidious threat to society does nothing to make more heterosexual couples live stably and have more children. It only serves to harm and disable an entire section of society for the vague end goal of "preserving tradition," much like when Mildred Loving fought against reasons for banning inter-racial marriage in Loving V Virginia 1967 (united states supreme court ruling banning inter-racial marriage bans countrywide).
As of 17th July 2010, Argentina became the tenth country in the world since 2001 to legalize same-sex marriage. So far, that means one country has been allowing for their GLBT citizens the same liberties and freedoms each eleven months. Five years ago, only two countries had allowed same-sex marriage which only points to one thing: an avalanche of countries affirming liberty across the entire sexual orientation paradigm, which leads me to my next point. The negative consequences of banning full marriage rights to all people.
1) Australia will be seen as a country going backwards, living in the past, and stuck in a rut of permanence to elderly ideals (which used to force gender and race into submission until world perceptions against persecution for these were smashed to pieces) in recent history.
2) Your entire speech about moving 'forward' as a nation 'together' will become yet another mouthpiece with no intended real meaning for so many people who are GLBT, who know people who are GLBT or who like me, know people who are GLBT and have strong opinions about currently global human rights endeavors.
3) The economy will suffer. Analysts have long predicted that once allowing same-sex marriage, some tens of thousands of gay and lesbian people will boost the economy through weddings, parties, cakes, clothes, you name it. There are some gay couples who have been together up to seventy years, hoping that one day they would be exacted the privilege of being allowed to spend their money and love on each other in a way that affirms the dignity, permanence, honor, community and responsibility of their commitment to eachother as two human people.
Finally, i'd just like to retrospectively argue some of the reasons you may or may not be opposed to same sex marriage.
Q the tradition family unit is precious and should not be altered drastically, yet (or ever)
A denying two people who inherently and passionately love the same sex will not inspire two people who are inherently and passionately in love with the opposite sex, to live more stable and happy lives.
Q civil unions and domestic partnerships are the right way forward for everybody
A having separate schools and water fountains for black and white people were seen as a 'right way forward' in the fifties when lawyers argued that separate-but-equal clauses were okay. If a gay man enters a marriage registry with some random female off the street and also his male partner of twenty five years, he is only allowed the option of marrying one of those two people based on gender. This is not only sexual orientation abuse but also sex discrimination in its purest form. In 1967 lawyers against the loving v virginia case argued that because black people could marry black people and white people could marry white people that there was simply no real harm done because looking at it plainly neither group were disadvantaged by virtue of their color. It was by virtue of the color of the other person and it's that stance which was defeated with a resounding roar by the supreme court, over fifty years ago now. If i were to want to marry another man, but only had the choice to pick any woman of my liking, that would infringe on a persons right to select the sex they were born to love.
Q churches and religions will be weakened
A there are deliberate and specific ways of being able to legislate for same sex rights while also protecting the church from being forced to change their views and beliefs, practices and traditions within their own walls. Australia is not a one-religion-fits-all country and the reasonable man/woman would agree legislation should not be only based on the transitory moral disapproval of one particular faithful set of the entire population. To do so would be to enforce morals on people who have opted out of living within those confines, and is also a breach on the fundamental human right of religion (as in, being able to choose not to live under it too).
Q it could confuse or upset children
A many children are being and have been raised in homosexual relationships. It's been happening and cannot be ignored. Unless a worldwide mandate to remove all kids from same-sex households passes, then we are actually confusing and upsetting those very children who deserve the basic liberty of being able to know and understand that their parents are in the same relationships as their neighbors and friends. But if that was not enough: it is also imperative those kids parents have the same legal protections for when if worst comes to worst, or emergencies form. To limit marriage rights to the "special" children who have heterosexuals as parents is to unreasonably harm those children who lives in households that the government has decided to keep "less than" only because there is a word called tradition and, tradition is seen as "good".
Of course there are so many more arguments for or against but I will for now end this letter and say I am quite outspoken yes, but I have been thinking hard about the invidious discrimination which permeates our world. It makes me sad. It makes me mad. It makes me wonder how much human people really can empathize and sympathize with each other when a politician like you promises change on one hand, but the 'more of the same thing' on the other.
I would really implore you to reconsider why your government is so adamant that civil unions and partnerships are the only way to move forward. I really would like to see something soon. It would inspire so much hope in so many lives, and touch those who until not long ago society shunned as mental, and worthy of lynching and death purely because they were born in a fashion which led to them becoming homosexual.
Thank you for listening. You are welcome to respond to me at any moment in time. I can be contacted on 0415 xxxxxx. I am also on twitter, http://twitter.com/morganjterrill(i follow you there), and of course my address details have been attached.
Good luck in the election.
Yours faithfully,
Morgan Terrill
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