What's missing

The Scene takes on Tennessee's proposed gay marriage amendment in this week's issue. It's fair to say that the Scene has a pretty progressive, if not liberal, point of view much of the time, so if you're on the "yes" side when it comes to the amendment, you may not find much to agree with in the article.

The article makes an interesting contrast between Focus on the Family leader James Dobson, who led a local rally recently, and protester Christina Wing, who expressed her opinion outside the venue. The Scene describes Dobson as a "controversial figure who has been quoted as comparing proponents of same-sex marriage to the Nazis, and who has also likened embryonic stem cell research to the Nazi scientific experiments on humans." That strikes me as utterly ridiculous.

Wing, on the other hand, had the following to say: “My goal has always been to change one mind at a time,” Wing says. “If that happens, then it’s worth standing out here for hours.”

Who's really making a difference here? My vote is for Christina, and it's not only because I agree with her opinion on this issue. Granted, she doesn't have the notoriety and clout of Dobson, but she's going about this the right way, in my opinion. I think Dobson, on the other hand, is heavy-handed and polarizing, to say the least.

I feel like humility and mutual respect are missing, big time, on the American public stage. I'm not expecting that we'll all come to agree on our hot-button issues anytime soon, but can't we all get along at least a little better?