Becoming more active.

[Leigh]

I put no disclaimer on who was good or bad.

Are you saying, Leigh, that by saying "unconditional", you mean you would sleep with any woman?

They have to be breathing    Thats the prob with unconditional.  Every decision (mine) that is made has conditions.

Or that someone you wouldn't sleep with is not a woman? I'm not sure I get it.

I would not, have not, will not consider a relationship with men other than friends at arms length. 

[Terri-Gene]

  "it is truly not up to me (or as i feel, anyone else for that matter) to judge the validity of their reasons or driving feelings or motivations to do so in that moment - ESPECIALLY if i do not know them personally up until that point in time - if, given time, they PROVE themselves to be negtive towards others, disingenous, dishonest, unstable, or otherwise destructive toward myself or others in any way that can be percieved after the fact, then i would judge and act accordingly,"

Now that statement I will agree with as most would, given a  proper understandable presentation  at the time of meeting . As to events afterward, Total agreement.  You cant be friends with, or accept a person you know to have been dishonest or harmful, unless they can somehow prove it could never happen again,(HOW?) and then only on a kind of upfront probationary measure until one was convinced it could never happen again, but there would always be a measure of doubt, thus a trust issue which stands in the way of unconditional anything.

I'm a little sensitive toward that one as it is a truth I thought I lived by and totally understood, yet I was once false with a friend and then ethically had to tell that friend about my falsehood and have forever since been barred from any kind of personal relationship with that friend because I could no longer be trusted.  No gain in life was worth that loss, but I accept the dishonor in that relationship because I know I was wrong and any reasons for it are nothing but excuses for something I could simply not have done and should not have done, for any reason or need, that is a condition of trust and can not be breached, not even once.  To make matters worse, it occured to me after the falsehood was in progress that it all could have been avoided had I simply upfront explained what was going on at the time in the beginning of it and it would have been understood and all the consiquences avoided other then an a** chewing over even considering a falsehood in the first place for any reason at all.  To late now for hindsight.

Terri

[ChefAnnagirl]

Please see my response, #35, dated today 7/18/05, for additional edits and further explanation..

Thanks,

Lovingly always,


Annagirl

[Cassandra]

WOW!

For the past few days we've been getting an artists solo show ready and I've only been able to pop in every now and then, so I'm not up to date on everyones posts. It's going to take me a while to catch up but from what I've read so far there has been a lot of very good discourse going on in my absense. I take it back, posts do not come here to die.

Thank you all for your fantastic participation in this discussion.


ooo xxx

Cassie

[beth]

(and I question the authority of whether the USA has the lawful authority to legislate based on gender or gender identity).

they no doubt have the legal authority, remember the founding fathers wrote "All men are created equal" not all people or all persons, in fact it meant all "white men of some means" at the time it was written.

it is the moral authority that is lacking...............




beth

[Jessica]

I think something else comes into play personally.

We are adapt at hiding who we are.
I can't speak for anyone else of course but I have learned from really early not to draw attention to myself.  I learned to hide who I am and adapt myself to my surroundings.

Activism involves adapting your surroundings to you / those like you / you're social group.

I think it is in our very nature, because of how we feel, we automatically try and hide, it's easier, it's something we understand, and it's something we are good at.

It all goes back to the 1st grade playground and trying to avoid being different, for me at least.

I am not saying this is the way it *should* be, and I am not saying that this is a good way to be.  I am just saying that it's probably why many of us, in our situation, are not very politically active.

Jessica