Sorrow

Today was the first day of the Arizona Legislature. While the Governor was inside giving her State of the State address, minority groups gathered en masse on the lawn of the Capitol.

I went there to cover a group of clergy that was marching for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender population. They wanted it known that Christianity did not equal hate. And they wanted to make sure that Arizona didn’t become a theocracy. They want separation of church and state. Interestingly, there were many heterosexuals marching for us homosexuals (which totally rocks).

While I was waiting for the clergy to march from Patriot’s Square to the Capitol, I had some time to kill. So I hung out with the several thousand Hispanics on the lawn. They had a stage that was bigger than the one Guns N Roses used in the soccer stadiums of Europe during their Use Your Illusion Tour. And the sound system was louder than any Who concert.

It’s easy to make a thousand jokes about immigration until you actually see the people. These people are dirt poor (not saying Americans aren't). And they’re doing every job that no American would ever deign themselves to do: laundry at hotels, cleaning toilets in stadiums, planting trees and landscaping lawns in the hot Arizona sun for rich and middle class families, etc.

I just find it ridiculous that we have national borders. I know this sounds all hippie and shit, but I feel like we’re all human beings. Sure we have cultural and language differences, but if you want to live somewhere on Earth, then you’re entitled to live there.

Personally, this has affected me. My first great love of my life, Cyrille, was a French citizen. It was a struggle to keep him in the states. Eventually he had to go back. If we were heteros, we could have married and he could have stayed here. But honestly, we weren’t ready for that step anyway. So, he should have just been able to stay and work and pay taxes and assimilate into American life. Obtaining a legal work visa is next to impossible and the Green Card lottery is a joke.

One of our fellow bloggers, Ian, is having a long distance relationship with an American. Why can’t he just move to Miami and be happy?

Anyway, it just kills me to see all of these people on the lawn of the Capitol – men, women, little babies, teenagers, etc. I just feel so bad for them. I know their lives must be really rough. I wish there was some way I could help them all. And I wish politicians would stop pointing the finger at these people as if they were horrible scourges. They’re not—they actually benefit our society.

If you don’t believe me, then go out and start taking the jobs that they do, for the amount of money they receive.

HAPPY TUNESDAY MOTHERFUCKERS!

This song is called Sorrow by the punk band Bad Religion. I think it's an anti-war song, at least that's how I interpret it. Anyway, it's really cool. Listen to it. Maybe you'll like it.

Lyrics
Stream