Gay Marriage

On October 28th, gay marriage will be legalized in Connecticut. This legalization, will make Connecticut the third state in the country to not have a ban on gay marriage. I am hoping that the passage of this law will encourage other states to lift the ban.

Gay marriage has always been an extremely sensitive topic throughout our nation. But why? Why do people against gay marriage, get so passionate about the legalization? Every time I sit in class or am at a social gathering and the topic of gay marriage arises, there are always people who oppose it. It makes me angry that people think they can decide what is best for other people. Being gay is not always an option for people. It has been shown that people can be born gay, bisexual, or straight. I think it's insane that people can decide that you are "wrong" about something that was may have been decided for you. Even if someone decides to be gay, it's a free country and they should be able to choose whatever they want to do and whoever they want to be with without any questions asked.

What has always been hard for me to understand is how our country can call itself a "free country" if we have laws against who people can and can't legally be with. Without the option for gays/lesbians to marry legally, living like a married couple can be quite complicated. Without the legal title of being married, financial decisions and payments become much more complicated, visiting loved ones in the hospital can become a challenge, registering for any type of joint group can be restricted, and worst of all, raising children and making decisions for them can be really troublesome.

If it isn't clear to you already, I am ready for all states to legalize gay marriage. Everyone should have to right to decide who they want to be with without any questions asked and without judgment.

(if you have more interest in the legalization in Connecticut go to this website: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/nyregion/11marriage.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin)

"No one is promised tomorrow"

When diagnosed with multiple cancers, most people don’t say that the cancer saved their life. Kathy Brinkman, a victim of breast, liver, lymph, and lung cancer, proclaimed to the world that her cancer saved her life. Pre-diagnosis, Kathy “sweat the small stuff” and worried about little things in life. After she was told that she had very little time to live, she began to approach life in a new way. She pushed her prejudices aside and lived life to the fullest.

All too often it takes tragedies to make many people live life to the fullest. Brinkman was one of these many people. She became more outgoing and got to meet many more cancer patients who shared her same outlook on life once a tragedy befell her. If everyone in the world were able to have this same outlook on life without tragedy occurring, our lives would become extremely more peaceful. If we had a positive outlook on life we would be kind to everyone, not sweat the small stuff, not be greedy, and do all the good we possibly could do.

I’m going to make a personal goal to live my life day by day. For as long as I can remember, I have found myself constantly doing little things that will help my future. I haven’t lived in the moment. I studied hard to get all A’s and good SSAT scores in middle school in order to get into a good boarding school which would then prepare me for college. I pushed myself to go out of my comfort zone to live away from home at the early age of fourteen to prepare myself for the challenging task ahead of me. I pressured myself in high school to get great grades so I could go to the best college possible so I could get a good job later in life in order to be happy. As you can see, this chain is still continuing. I have been working towards the future constantly and looking forward to what will come and anxiously waiting for each day to be over so I can get to the next class, weekend, break, or graduation. Living like this has prevented me from seeing the little joys in life like Brinkman began to see. The little things in day to day life can sometimes make you the happiest. I challenge you, my reader, to do the same because not everyone is promised a tomorrow.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27101467/