"B" for Bias

The White-Haired

Harbinger of Gratitude

Tim Hare

Copyright HARE 2009

All Rights Reserved

"Shining the Rainbow Light of Gratitude

from the historic West Ward neighborhood

of Easton, Pennsylvania"

"B" for Bias

I’m grateful for the unique qualities of life I find in abundance in the West Ward,

where I live each Today. In this Blog, I shine the light of gratitude

on some specific reasons, per letter of the alphabet,

why the West Ward is an ideal place for me and my husband Earl

to live, love, and thrive.

I planned to post my gratitude about the "Birds" that alight in my garden in the West Ward. They bring much Joy to my Today's.

Mockingbirds with their exotic bijou sounds in early spring

Robins so hopeful

Bluejays so blue

Doves so lovey

Hummingbirds so unexpected

Hawks so circling my head thinking I'm a chicken or bunny dinner

Crows sounding so Alfred Hitchcock

Cardinals visiting like angels appearing always at the perfect time

Jailbirds so aplenty across the street

Speaking of Jailbirds - thanks to their rapidly growing flock, my property values (and taxes, alas) over time actually go way way way up, like an ascending Money bird!

Solely because of this ever-expanding 'gated' community of lavishly expensive 'luxury' housing - probably costing more than $5,000/per month/per resident, including health care, gym membership, abundant leisure time, etc. - located directly across from my front door - Earl and I could probably sell our house on its quarter-acre for big bucks to Northampton County for their next big prison-expansion project #-infinity!

Hey, soon we'll become too old to maintain this gigantic house, so are you listening Mr. County Executive? Honestly, we won't think it biased if you think we're old, OK?

Not to belabor the point, but as long as the buyer promises to demolish our home for a hi-rise garage or prison, it's sold!

We could take those big bucks and ride the SoleTrain Express to Solebury, Bucks County - right back to where Northampton County started from in 1752!! Hope there's no bias in Bucks County against us newly-rich!

While this might sound funny, as in non-gay, we're not exactly laughing! Isn't it strange, as in non-queer, what old age can do to a person.

But I digress. For this week's post, a different, as in non-queer, "B" word came to mind, smack dab in the West Ward!

That word is "bias."

I've had some gratitude-making occasions in the last few days to learn anew that bias could be alive and sick, and kicking, right here in the West Ward.

I was baffled to notice in some communications this week that people created like me and my loving husband are casually associated with, and I quote: commies, pinkos, faggoty-peaceniks, Nazis, snake persons, and even aliens! These other also-disparaged groups were referenced in a negatively biased context, can you believe it?

I couldn't help wondering whether, by lumping people created like me into that gaggle of other allegedly-nasty groups, a negative connotation couldn't also be implied with little effort? I know something of that accent called bias. I certainly hope so, since I've been called much much worse in my 62 years since being created just fine as a non-heterosexual!

Of course, I could be quite incorrect about the negative connotation - these associations might have been meant purely in "fun," as in non-gay. Silly faggoty me forgetting people still do that - oh, I just did it too, ROTF(not)L.

But really, Aliens? Is that otherworldly association meant to suggest that people like me invaded from Planet Queer, instead of arriving the most popular way - via unprotected heterosexual behaviours occurring within or without the sanctity of heterosexual marriage!

On the other hand, if I did actually land one distant June day from Planet Queer, could that mean there's also a Planet Heterosexual out there somewhere, just waiting to invade?

Gosh, to think that all these decades I've been brainwashed into believing that Planet Earth was already Planet Heterosexual. I suppose it goes to show what we faggoty-types know about anything! (There I go again - sorry, it's that pesky internalized self-rejection that surfaces once in awhile, especially when I'm hungry or tired).

Perhaps it might seem odd, as in non-queer, that "bias" is something I'd be truly grateful for? This notion of being grateful for prejudice and discrimination would have, at one time, seemed queer, as in normal, even to me - and here's why.

First, I choose to not take bias personally, regardless of how it's meant. I'm grateful for the simple basic truth that bias always says more about the biased person that it says about me.

An opinion of me is really none of my business. Besides, when someone points a biased finger at me, they've got three of their fingers pointing back at themselves - they just don't know that they're projecting - like some kind of sad, as in un-gay, unenlightened Mr. Hector Projector.

Second, a pearl of great value is created by being exposed to a constant irritant. So I'm grateful that my self-acceptance and Spiritual growth have been a treasured gem created these past 62 years of being surrounded daily by the irritant of bias against people created like me and my loving husband Earl.

By the way, did I mention my husband Earl? We were married in Canada in 2003. Did I mention this already, like a thousand times, as in, flaunting? We do that, you know, unlike heterosexuals who don't flaunt their lifestyle - except every minute, everywhere and everyway - those kind just can't keep a secret, look at Monica! Am I being biased when I say so? My point exactly.

Did I also mention that after 33 years together in Love, my beloved husband Earl and I are legal strangers in the West Ward and across our homeland America. Can we say it's because of bias?

Third, as a grateful citizen of America, I'm filled with gratitude that bias actually created the United States in the first place. I'm grateful that bias helps America thrive by providing continual motivation to make things better than before.

Without bias against somebody's faith-choice, class status, sexual orientation, ethnic status, nonconformity, or freedom-seeking, America would never have been created. It took many centuries of irritants overseas to motivate people to risk seeking, finding, and creating a better place to live, love, and thrive.

Fourth, bias is a potentially crazy-making (if we let it) human shortcoming that can result in much pain, suffering, and death, but can also lead to great recovery and Spiritual awakening and reawakening. This happens when the biased person and those they target finally hit bottom with that danged bias thing that can ruin it for everybody.

Finally, I'm grateful bias is a learned human failing that is so widely taught and so easily and eagerly learned, because that means bias can also be unlearned and forgotten - with just a little bit of effort by those willing to become unbiased.