Today is one of those historic days in American history. We have had many lately. Most recently was last week when a black church in South Carolina saw 9 members of their congregation gunned down by a white supremacist with his heart set on performing some kind of evil. The worst part about this was that he sat in on the prayer meeting being held with the church members before he exacted his evildoing.
It is my belief that if there is a place called hell, these kind of people will be condemned to the deepest, darkest corners of it and be subjected to eternal pain and suffering at the hands of Satan himself. It is very hard to understand how depraved a man or woman could be to perform such an evil deed and in such a way as he did. I do not care to understand these people. Attempting to understand them only gives credence to their existence, which they are clearly not worthy of, let alone existence at all. But, just like ISIS, there will always be evil in the hearts and minds of some men and women. We cannot change it, but we can do our best to make sure they remain on the opposite end of the majority.
Our country’s psyche and morale has been in a very low place over the last week or so. From the shootings to the sad, sad debate over whether the confederate flag should be removed entirely from all government institutions in the south. The fact that there were defenders of keeping the flags in place just goes to show that our country, as a whole, has a long way to go when it comes to changing our level of acceptance.
The idea of respect and acceptance is one that a lot of people share and one that I’d dare to say the majority of people possess, at least by a small percentile. A good family friend of mine who lives down in Arizona makes it a point to hire minorities to work for his towing service because he has a firm belief in the founding principles of our country.
That being said, there is still an element of hate and bigotry in our society that cannot be ignored. The shootings last week should reaffirm to us all that there is still a lot of racism in our society and that there is still a lot of work to be done. Though these people (or more accurately, scum) may be small in numbers, they have the ability to affect the larger body of consciousness when they decide to take out their hatred on innocent minorities.
It is sad and disheartening to see this happen and my heart is crushed for the victims and their families. BUT……!!!!
There is a better love filled story that makes me much happier to tell than this that happened today! The first thing I saw this morning on Facebook was a friend of mine on the Eastcoast, who is up 4 hours earlier than I am on the Westcoast (not fair!) who had posted an article highlighting the Supreme Court’s decision today to make gar marriage a Constitutional guarantee! It is, as of today, unlawful for any state in the U.S. to deny any gay couple from obtaining a marriage license!! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My heart was bursting with joy and happiness for my gay friends who have waited, in some cases, many years to have their rights recognized by their respective states.
I happen to live in a state that already recognizes gay couple’s right to marry, but this decision by the Supreme Court is being celebrated nationwide! Opening up Facebook today was like standing inside a rainbow! It is a glorious day to be gay and to be an American. I have witnessed such a wide spectrum of feelings about homosexuality in my lifetime in this country and to have it change from the hatred and disrespect that it used to be to this decision by the highest recognized court in our country is nothing short of incredible!
It gives me great joy and hope for our nation. After last week and to follow that up with this, it gives me a lot of optimism about where we are headed as a nation. It will still take a long time to address a lot of the issues prevalent in our society, and we will never achieve a perfect society, but we can at least strive for greatness once again. To be at the forefront of progress and evolution. It starts with our hearts and our minds.
How does all of this translate to good business? Well, I will use the example of the businessman in Michigan that publicly stated that he would not provide service to individuals he understood to be gay. Also the pizza shop in Indiana that came under so much criticism because they openly refused to cater for gay people.
I know what you’re thinking. How does any of this prove that this ruling is good for business? Because, every major shift in our societies consciousness has dealt with some degree of push back, but in the end, it eventually dissipates and what you are left with is businesses and people that have evolved to the point that they realize a very important fact: Gay people are people too. They have money AND they have needs, not to mention the fact that they represent a large segment of our population.
Why would anyone refuse service to such a large group of people simply because they choose to love someone of the same sex? And what does that have to do with business?
Of course there will be the very few that have to make a point and will still try to refuse services to people whose lifestyle they don’t agree with. But eventually they will become obsolete and will more than likely suffer more because of their lack of acceptance and tolerance.
So, this is phenomenal news for not only our country’s future but for the future of businesses nationwide! Gays are people and should be treated, not as “gay people”, but simply as people. That is what we all are. The sooner we get to the point that we can accept that, the better for love, life, and business as a whole!
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