Discussion Group Thoughts

Last week's group discussion brought up some interesting ideas that caused me to reflect. One of these was sparked by the question of what we thought about incest and the notion that we make decisions with our gut and spend our lives trying to find evidence for it. I was interested in the way in which these two played alongside one another, especially in the way that we saw this idea of gut decisions in action by being probed with this simple question. My initial reaction to the story of the siblings who had one raunchy night together was that of disgust. It was my guttural reaction associated with my socialization. You just don't do that. But then I took a step back (mentally), and gave it a second thought. I started comparing it to all these other "horrible" things that we as beings are not supposed to undergo. One such thought was that of abortion.

The first time I was exposed to the topic of abortion I was horrified of what a human could have the ability to do with their unborn child and was highly opposed to it. After some time I came to terms with it and decided that while I myself would never undergo an abortion, others had the right to make that decision for themselves. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and their own choices.

Along with the idea of abortion, I was also against smoking marijuana. I've been around it since I entered middle school and have seen multiples of my friends consume it. When they would ask me why I didn't join in their leisure activity, I felt that i was going on a rant and in a way lecturing them. My long discussions with people went into high school, but then I once again realized that I live my life and they live theirs. I can politely refuse and pass no judgment. While I didn't condone it, it wasn't necessary to force people to see things my way.

Thirdly, the risqué night reminded me of views held against LGBTQ persons. There is a great number who are highly disgusted by this group of persons. There are many who refer to relationships between these persons as immoral; their actions are immoral, their thoughts are inevitably deemed perverted, and their beings are condemned. And by which measure is this justified? As the years go by, the injustices and harm done against LGBTQ persons is slowly being overcome. There are higher rates of gays who are seen as openly accepting of themselves, regardless of how they are viewed - which in turn continues with the breakthrough. So, if something that has for so long been denoted as immoral has been capable of achieving a change of mind in individuals, who is to say that the same does not go towards relationships between kin? This could just as possibly be a situation we face in the future, whether near or far. If enough people find themselves attracted to their siblings and act against prejudices to stand up for themselves, it just might become an epidemic in which in the long haul they will ween themselves into what is considered righteous within our society.

Who am I, who are WE, to judge who someone falls in love with? Or, who they decide to have a raunchy night with...