Inappropriate Conversations

True fidelity probably isn't about never being in a position to say "yes" to a temptation. Don't get me wrong, that's a smart way to live. Fidelity means a bit more, though, when you've summoned the strength to say "no" to such a temptation. I can speak to this from experience, and I'll refer to three specific occasions. One story I've never mentioned before on Inappropriate Conversations. Another is a follow-up to a story a partially relayed in #IC 107 "Eulogy For Homophobia." Even further back, the last story refers to characters (in every sense of the word) that I introduced in #IC 52 "First Person Comedy." There is a sense in which the words "I didn't" are just as important as the words "I do." Different Drummer: James Joyce

Should we tax adultery into oblivion or merely minister to its casualties? No, I don't really believe that using taxation as a punitive fine will stamp out infidelity in marriage, but it would stand a better chance of succeeding than other methods of "legislating morality." When I was a child, a wise man in our church taught me that the real answer to divorce is setting aside the urge to cast judgment and surrounding those dealing with the consequence of shattered relationships with the love of Christ. I wish the church today was filled with such wise people. Different Drummer: John Hughes

In challenging emotional and ethical decisions related to the end of life, we are often told that no one can make that decision.  "These matters belong to God," for example.  Regardless of your religious beliefs, there is something false in such statements.  By taking the ownership and responsibility for a life away from the person living that life, the control doesn't disappear completely; instead, it goes elsewhere and typically to those who neither know nor love the person facing the dilemma.  The answer to the "whose life is it?" question simply cannot be the government, insurance agencies, hospitals, or politically active strangers. Different Drummer: Reba McEntire