Re: Beliefs
I would generally not think that there would be related thoughts on a poly blog and a writer's blog; however, such a thing did happen when I looked through my Google Reader this morning. The second post is very pertinent to the first.
I've never been a very religious man, and it has always bothered me when other people try to push that way of life on me. I lead my life in a very moral and ethical way: I pay my taxes, I don't steal from people, I love my family, and - more importantly - I love my ladies. I've never gone about trying to push my beliefs on other people, and yet it seems to abound that they do so on me. So Modesitt's post was very enlightening after having read the Polyamorous Percolations post.
I had never read thought of the term 'polyamorous' as being mine. But it is. Simply by the act of being part of the community, it is mine because it identifies who I am. Just as 'gay' is a defining term both of sexual preference and of community, 'poly' is the same way. And anyone that is in the community should stand up for that term because it defines them, too.
Yet there is that risk that speaking out will lead to persecution or some other sort of hardship from those people in the world that have it mind to make everyone else miserable. There are always sacrifices to be made, and I think that they should be made in the name of standing up for your beliefs - so long as it doesn't include harming someone else. Since I've been a part of the community, I've become increasingly more aware of the bias and prejudice that really underlies a lot of aspects of our culture. Everything from businesses to neighbors has that underlying way of thinking, and it seems to bounce from one unpopular idea to the next. The more that 'poly' becomes popular, the more it will get unwanted - and often unwarranted - attention.
Those of us in the community have to stand up for what we believe. Some people aren't fighters and we will fight for them, too. It's part of being a community.
