Thankful.. But Aren't Things A Little Backwards?

These days I'm thankful for my health, my job, my partner, my home, and my family. I have the greatest friends in the whole world. What a time to be alive.

The family recently welcomed a new addition, Adan Facundo Marchan-Ellefson, born to Adam Ellefson and Lupita Marchan on October 28. (if you know me you'll get a chuckle with my reminder about Spanish pronounciation, the 'a' sound never changes). I visited my youngest nephew last weekend, held him with a whole lot of pride, and wished the world he was coming into was just a little bit different. My sister and her partner shared one of the most unusual questions they've ever heard from people: "what kind of Mexican is he?" And they got this from a number of people up in Duluth.

Umm.. right..

When it comes to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex issues - things continue to get more interesting. More and more does the world become a tolerant place for us to live in. Take South Africa, where lawmakers are now sanctioning gay marriage.

But then there are these United States where earlier this week people seemed more concerned about a certain Kelly Ripa & Clay Aiken incident. I confess, it caught my attention and it took me a while to wrap my mind around this one. Then there are the audience members on the David Letterman show that thought that Michael Richards (aka Kramer) was joking and they actually laughed during his apology. Sad. He was apologizing over losing his temper during a comedy performance.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great country to live in for quite a few reasons - but when it comes to certain areas we seem a bit backward.. A coworker forwarded some interesting statistics on religion and homosexuality. So you can see how we compare against some other countries.

But what really got me going this week was this. My partner was perusing headlines online. He came across an article covering an unfortunate and tragic accident involving a school bus. I felt really bad about the accident. But the feeling was greatly overshowed by anger over the safety of school buses.

You know, those big yellow vehicles with no seat belts but with a "safety design" which includes a bright flashing light mounted on top for increased visibility? Is it me, or is this the ultimate example in double-standards? It is drilled in our heads to wear seat belts while traveling in a moving vehicle. Yet these buses, whose primary purpose is to transport the future of our country to and from school, DO NOT HAVE SEAT BELTS.

Hmm..