Love and fear revisited

From A Common Prayer 
by Australian humourist and cartoon artist Michael Leunig 
(Dove, Harper Collins 1990, ISBN 0 85924 933 6) 

Today, in love, I stand firmly with those in my city's 2SLGBTQIA+ community, especially my own kids and their friends. I witnessed how strong they were in facing the anger and fear emanating as insults, abuse, bullying, and some very unfortunate flying debris from the angry and fearful "parental rights groups" rallying across the road. My love and respect for the solid and compassionate young adults around me this morning is boundless.

I was grateful to be part of this morning's event, but was also broken-hearted because of the abuse suffered by our 2SLGBTQIA+ family members and friends, simply because they express their love or gender differently and want to protect younger people like themselves from insults, abuse, violence, or homelessness just for being who they are or loving as they do.

If there had been less anger on the other side -- and I hadn't been so afraid myself -- I would have liked to invite some of the "others" to go for coffee so we could listen to each others' experiences and understand each other's point of view. 

No matter which side we are on, we shouldn't have to be afraid of each other. It gets us nowhere.

If you know anyone who is feeling the effects of today's anger and fear, send them some love. If you want to have coffee with me, just say the word. We can listen to each other.