If it ain't broke...

This cartoon, by the brilliant Calvin Grondahl, was in the Standard Examiner yesterday and it inspired me to blog. If you haven't heard about the controversy happening here (if you live in Utah like I do, you must live in a hole so please dig yourself out and read a newspaper), just google Brokeback Mountain, Larry Miller, you'll get up to speed. Anyway, after laughing my ... head off, I started to really think.

If you don't want to read, here's the gist. Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz, several car dealerships and a movie theatre called Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons, contracted to show Brokeback Mountain at his Megaplex. Actually, his managers did that. Frankly I don't think he keeps too close an eye on what shows at his theatre, seeing as there are currently two movies with "homosexual themes" and one that sounds horrifying, called Hostel. Well, at the last minute, after advertising that they were showing Brokeback Mountain, Larry pulled it. Apparently he heard that it was a "homosexual themed movie," and that was enough. Needless to say, there is now uproar on both sides of the spectrum.

The whole thing just makes me sad. Sometimes I find myself living a very naive existence. In my world (yes, it's a world inside my head), you love someone for who they are, not who they love. You love them for the simple fact that they are your "fellow man." Or if you are a Mormon like me, it's like the Primary song says "Jesus said love everyone. Treat them kindly too. If your heart is filled with love, others will love you." It's something I truly believe. I was taught to live my life with a heart full of love (Sorry, Les Mis moment. Robert, if you are reading this that was for you.), I was taught to love with out regard for difference. I was just taught to love.

Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. It breaks my heart that we live in a world full of hate and fear and bigotry. I think sometimes we forget the struggles of those who came before us, specifically the Mormons. My great-great-great-grandparents were forced from their homes, driven from state to state because of what they believed. They were ridiculed, they were terrorized, they were ordered to be exterminated, and they fled. They came to the Salt Lake Valley where they could live free from fear. Yet, here we sit passing judgment against people who are different from us, people who believe differently than we do.

Yes, I have seen Brokeback Mountain, and yes, I thought it was a beautiful film. But I'm not here to tell you to go see it. All I'm asking is, please, don't judge someone just because they are different from you. Don't fear what you don't understand. It's like I've said before, there is too much suffering in this world, we’ve got to carry each other.

Wow, this post turned in to something different than it started out as. But I won't apologize for it. Again, it may be a post I get grief for, but I welcome it. Post your comments, I'll love you for them whatever your opinion may be.

P.S. A word about the title of this post. There's a search for a new slogan for the State of Utah. A friend of a friend ... and so on, thinks it should be "Utah! If the mountain ain't broke, don't fix it." :-)