Naples Archaeology Museum: Mosaics

 Most of these mosaics were removed from Pompeii for preservation, although a few probably came from Herculaneum also.  Unfortunately I either did not photograph the writeups that went with the mosaics, or they did not exist.  In any case, I don't know much about any specific mosaic.

Naples Archaeology Museum: Miscellaneous

Knocking On Freedom's Door

I have a firm, unshakeable belief in equality for all human beings and I can behave in no other way. It is not an option for me.

This is the primary reason I love the United States. From the inception, the concept of "all men are created equal" has been a premise for all we believe in, dating back to the Declaration of Independence. There is no thought more powerful than what is portrayed in those five simple words.

Unfortunately, this country has a history of implementing laws that contradict that thought. It has taken us hundreds of years to bring our laws in line with our founding principles, but we have made huge strides. Each of these strides has not come easily. They have been hard fought and painful. Blood has been shed and lives have been lost.

But we can stand proudly today and say that minorities and females have the exact same legal rights that white males have always had. It makes me beam with pride that this is true.

Lest we get carried away patting ourselves on the back, however, we should note that even today Americans love to pass laws limiting the rights of others. The rights of smokers have been severely curtailed because over the last few decades, smokers have went from being the majority to the minority.

What is the key difference between the rights of minority races and women, and the rights of smokers? The nuance, and unwritten premise, in "all men are created equal" is that it applies to groups whose characteristics were present at birth. It does not apply to characteristics that are chosen by the individual via a conscious choice during their lifetime. As Americans, apparently it is our protected right to discriminate against people for the choices they make.

Which brings me to the last group of people whose rights are still being deprived due to a characteristic that was present at birth: gays and lesbians.

How can I be so sure that being gay is not a choice? There are a few questions I normally ask to prove my point, but I'll save those for when we are face-to-face. Usually, pondering those questions is enough to convince, or at least silence, skeptics. But I'll give you the clincher - the moment when I knew for sure that being gay was not a choice the individual made.

I knew a family with three boys. As young as 3, one of the boys exhibited traits that seems gay. This could probably be traced back even earlier, but I had definitely noticed it by the age of 3. By the age of 4 it was clearly evident that this boy was going to be homosexual. And now, some 20 years later, this has turned out to be true. Both of his brothers, however, are heterosexual even though they grew up in the same household and, therefore, grew up in the same environment. This was not a choice this young boy made - this was something that was inherently in him. It came naturally to him.

We are in the midst of a civil rights movement that, as near as I can tell, will be the last one necessary in the United States. This is the last group of people for which it is currently acceptable to have discriminatory laws enforced.

It flabberghasts me that people would spend so much time and energy denying others equality. What does it matter to them? No one is forcing them into a gay marriage. There can be no other explanation for voting Yes on 8 than out-and-out homophobia. Pure and simple. I personally don't necessarily like see two males hold hands, but I will protect their right to do so - and to marry - with everything I have.

If you voted Yes on 8, then this post has probably not changed your mind, but it really doesn't matter. I spent two days the weekend before the election standing out on corners with a lot of other heterosexuals waving No on 8 signs. You would not believe the positive reactions we were getting. And a large part of that was from people 30 and younger. After that weekend, I am absolutely convinced that those with gay prejudices will slowly but surely dwindle in number as the years roll by. If they just looked back at movements over the last two hundred years, they could save us all a lot of time by realizing they are standing on the wrong side of history.

Grateful

A fireman rescued a dog from a burning house in Lincoln, Nebraska this week. Imagine the scenes and fears this dog had just faced - you can see the worry and gratefulness on his face.

Happy Thanksgiving, loyal family member. And a very happy Thanksgiving to the fireman who braved the fire to retrieve him.

The Day the World Cheered

Sorry I have been away from blogging for so long - life got busy and I became very enamored with an election for the first time ever. I became very emotionally attached to two ballot items, one of which was the Presidential race.

For my entire adult life, there has never been a Presidential candidate that I could really, really identify with. I'm an Independent but have always leaned Democratic due to the Republican stance on social issues. But even the Democratic candidates have never quite hit the spot. In fact, I left the Presidential checkbox blank in 2000 and 2004.

But this time, this time was different. Barack's demeanor, thoughtfulness, and position on a vast majority of issues is identical to mine. I understand exactly where he is coming from and I could not help but get excited each time I heard him speak - his thought process and way of framing issues matches my thinking quite often.

And to have him be non-lilly-white (I won't call him black because he is as much white as he is black), well that is just icing on the cake. I refuse to accept that only wavy haired rich old white men know how to lead the United States.

Going into this election, I actually thought quite highly of John McCain also. I had the impression that he did what he thought was right, whether it towed the party line or not. I have a great deal of respect for someone like that. But starting in August, McCain changed. He became very partisan and veered extremely far right to solidify his base. In the process, he alienated many Independents like myself. The clincher though was the selection of Sarah Palin for his VP candidate. As the weeks rolled by, it became more and more apparent that he had put his candidacy first, not the country as he claimed.

Apparently much of the country, and the world, thought like I did. I had anticipated support from abroad, but I was not prepared for the rousing cheer that arose around the world on Wednesday morning. It was thrilling to hear! I actually heard reports of French citizens saying "we all wish we were Americans today", and people elsewhere in the world saying things like "everyone in the world should be able to vote in the US election because it affects us, too", and "Obama isn't President of the US, he's President of the World now!". Yes indeed, Obamamania had caught fire around the globe.

And I'm glad. I'm extremely proud of Americans today for they most definitely picked the best candidate, irrespective of his race. Obama was head and shoulders above his opponent. And I can't wait to see him in the White House.

In my 20s, I studied Pearl Harbor, The Great Depression, and World War II a great deal out of curiosity. I was intrigued by the intensity of the situations that America found itself in, and the high stakes that were involved. I imagined the world crying and cheering at the appropriate times. But now I have had the opportunity to see the world cry (9/11/2001) and to see the world cheer (11/4/2008) with my own eyes. I don't think much about the 1930s and 40s any more.

There is much debate going on right now about whether this is clearly a date when the United States changed, when the US entered a new era. In some ways, it definitely has changed. And with the elections of 2006 and 2008, there is some evidence that we are entering a new era. But it will take time to determine exactly how big of a change we are undergoing. Time will tell. For sure.

(Soon, I will create a post on the other issue that held my attention this election then I will return this blog to being a politics-free zone.)