"...And You Will Show Me Some Compassion, Understanding And Respect...Or I Will Kick Your Intolerant Ass..."

Old saying.

Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.

Doing a quick scroll through Facebook this morning, I came across a posting by a young homosexual fellow who worked for me in Maryland a few years ago.

The only reason I mention the distinction about his sexuality is to provide context for what he had to "say" in his picture/comment posting.

Here's the picture.

And the caption...?

"This is how I Tebow".

Now, I'm a pretty good judge of wit and humor and I can't honestly tell, from this presentation, whether the whole thing was an attempted witty that fell short or whether he was/is venting some kind of anger at some issue bone he has stuck in this throat.

Either way, I think this posting is offensive.

But not, I'm pretty sure, for any reason you might immediately think.

First, this young guy is a good guy, not someone who generated feeling of relief on my part when our life paths came to a parting of the ways.

Second, it's, at the heart, not for me to judge him for his life choices. "Judge not, lest ye..." and all that.

But, here's two things that seem to, too often, elude so many folks when it comes to them "sticking up" for their particular lifestyle and/or the aforementioned life choices.

The two commons.

Sense.

And courtesy.

Because I believe that its, in the largest measure, no one's perogative to usurp God when it comes to judging our earthly behavior, I neither condemn, nor condone, my friend's sexual choices.

Glass house, yada, yada.

Nor do I expect that he would feel it his perogative to condemn, or condone, mine.

Here, though, is why his presentation offends me.

I am, as I have satrically mentioned on more than one occasion, a raging, flaming heterosexual.

And, as peers, friends and family will certify, I am no prude, having a capacity for ribald, blue and/or even inappropriate humor at any given time.

All of that said, you won't find me posting pictures and/or comments of my sexual experiences, et al pretty much anywhere, let alone a social networking site that is, let's face it, kids, arguably primarily family oriented.

Dear young friend from days gone by....

If your intention was to vent anger, I hope your problem finds some resolution but, seriously, dude, you picked the wrong place to spew.

If your intention was to editorialize on behalf of homosexuality, all you did was further inflame the already flaming and further alienate those who believe the lifestyle to be an abberation.

Either way, you blew it.

So to speak.

And, maybe even worse than that, you're guilty of something that my own recollection of you tells me is very much out of character for you in your dealing with both the world and the people around you.

Rudeness.

You're gay.

I'm straight.

You say potato.

But I really don't need, or appreciate, having it shoved in my face.

So to speak.