WALKING AND THINKING

Last week, Betty and I went into downtown Los Angeles and saw some of the sights. We saw a bit of Hollywood. Bunker Hill. The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Hollywood and Vine. We walked by City Hall. If you haven’t seen it, you will probably recognize it because it’s been in so many moving picture shows.

Then, on Saturday we returned to City Hall. Why? I’m glad you asked. We went to a rally for human rights - specifically, women’s rights. It was cool. There were over 50,000 human beings of both persuasions who were loud and had a lot to say. I hope you get a chance to participate in a rally for human rights.

Someone asked me, “Don’t you believe in absolute truth?” I replied, “It depends.” Why is it that some humans want to impose their sense of absolute truth on others? If you hold a strong opinion, okay. I suggest that your opinion doesn’t give you the right to make law that imposes your sense of morality on everyone.

We all know of governments which force “morality” on its citizens. It limits freedoms rather than expands freedoms. It never works like people think it’s going to work. Haven’t you read The Handmaid’s Tale? If the idea for (insert moral issue here) is so compelling, then it seems that persuasion should work better than force of law. A government cannot legislate morality. It’s like telling teenagers to not have sex. Doesn’t work.

The Constitution makes a big deal that church and state are separate. However, we have judges who allow their own personal beliefs to take precedence over the oath to follow the Constitution and uphold the law of the land. Justice Gorsuch declared under oath that Roe v. Wade is precedent, the law of the land, and that he would follow the law of the land. Kavanaugh and Barrett, too. But here we are. That was not just political speech or their opinions. That was testimony under oath about legal precedent which has been the law for fifty years.

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. I know that the opinion of someone who disagrees with me counts as much as mine. But, “can’t we all just get along?”

I meditate and try to wish humans well, but I’m just a cat. Sometimes I lapse into the thought on one of my favorite cards. “I wish I was a unicorn. Then I could stab stupid people with my head.”

Buster

Walt Disney Concert Hall .. pretty wild, huh?

Looks like a cat to me, but it’s “Four Arches” by Alexander Calder on Hope Street

City Hall for Los Angeles

City Hall with a few of the 50,000 humans in the picture