Tuesday, November 28, 2006

We Could Be Married

This was supposed to go up last night...stupid blogger.

A little rant to start off the night. I really wonder what part of the gene pool I'm living with. I'm in the unfortunate position of having to do all my shopping Wal-Mart. I really don't like giving money to the evil empire that is Wal-Mart. Among the items I get is some pickles (whole dills for me, none of those spears) and a bottle of wine (Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon). I'm checking out and the cashier puts these two items in the same bag. C'mon now! The only two fragile, glass, and not to mention heavy, items I have and she puts them in the same bag?! Mensch?!

Anyway after that I tune into one of the few programs (and only comedy) I habitually watch, How I Met Your Mother. I love this show. The characters gel, it is well-written, the humor isn't forced...it's a real treat if you haven't seen it. Last night's episode really got me. The star of the show is Barney Stinson (portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris, aka Doogie Howser). Barney is a classic womanizer who's sole goal is to bed any and every woman he meets...oh yeah he's got his own catch-phrase. A very likeable and enjoyable character. Oh yeah, how sweet is it that NPH is gay and his character is the totally hetero-womanizer. Very cool.

Anyway last night's episode featured Barney's gay brother coming to visit. Its not the fact that his brother is gay which provided the fodder, but the fact that he's black (portrayed wonderfully by Wayne Brady). We see that Wayne is everyway the same as his brother and they have quite a bond where they each benefit from each other (I know there's some fancy word for this). Through the course of their night out trying to pick-up women/men, Barney discovers that his brother is in a relationship and they're going to get married. It's not gay marriage that bothers Barney...no, but the issue is MARRIAGE itself. Barney had visions of him and his brother as perpetual bachelors and living their lives to bed every man or woman available and the idea of his brother getting married destroys these visions. Of course Barney comes around when he finds out his brother and his partner are adopting a baby. Fast-forward to the wedding and we see Barney with his new nephew and soon-to-be apprentice. Side-note, Ted and Robin are currently dating, but during "old Ted's" (Bob Saget) voiceovers, he always refers to her as Aunt Robin -- ie we know they are not going to work-out. But at the wedding (a year? later) the appeared together. Although when Marshall and Lily leave they both state separately that they each want to stay longer but then are seen dancing together. Its nice to know that as viewers we don't have to worry about will-they or won't-they stay together (see: Ross and Rachel). Anyway, great episode and be sure to tune-in if you haven't.

As a college-educated, fairly intelligent (I guess), 20-something, I'm supposed to be on-top of politics and the latest issues that hit the homefront. One of these is gay marriage. People ask me, "MOL, what's your stance on this?" From what I've been told its a hot-button issue. First off, we've got much bigger things to worry about then who marries who. Second, if two men or two women want to get married, how is it going to affect me? It's not. Third, having gay friends, if they want to get married, I'm going to be all for it. So yeah, I have no problem with it...let's talk about social security (friends it won't be there when we're at retirement age), government fiscal responsibility, or the state of education in this country, now those are the things we should be talking about.

Another reason I'm in favor of gay marriage is the economic aspect. Think about it. Gay marriage means that florists, wedding-planners, caterers, DJs, etc will all have more business. Yes that also means more weddings to attend and more gifts that we as guests have to purchase. Then honeymoons and all the other associated costs and this means more money into the system. I'm not an economist, but this all seems like a good thing. Then, as it is the case with "traditional marriages" there will be gay divorces. Now again, there are lawyer fees and associated costs to deal with. More money into the system. All of these people are businessfolks -- they're all looking for new customers. Its a pretty easy concept to grasp. Of course where I'm currently living, I'm probably in the extreme minority here.

4 comments:

Dwayne Rudd said...

I don't object to the phrase "Social Security won't be there when we retire", because it IS in bad fiscal shape and does have long term imbalances, and its important that it stays a hot-button issue.

However, as a pension actuary I think its important to point out that even under the worse scenarios we're not going to get NOTHING from SS. It will likely be less than what current retirees get. If economic and productivity growth are lower than projected, then we could get substantially less than current retirees. If growth is higher than projected, we could match what current retirees get.

But the only way that we'll get NOTHING is if certain politicians CHOOSE to cut it.

Anonymous said...

A couple of comments:

1)I think I need to think about my own attitude on gay marriage again, if that implies "more weddings to attend". For my part, there were enough weddings lately.

2)It is cute how you describe yourself as 20-something...does somehow give the impression you are 24-25-26. Schatz, do you think you can manage to get used to the idea of entering the third decade of your life soon ;o)

3) I miss our Monday night "how i met your mother" sessions. Unfortunately, no German TV channel has yet discovered this show. Keep posting about it!

Judge373 said...

Germans use "Mensch" kinda like the way we use "man". Mensch does mean "Person" in German. Don't let the Yiddish corrup.....'variant meaning' of German words confuse you.

Might I suggest you spice things up a bit with your use of German exclamations? Some of my favorites are: ach du Lieber (Gott), ach du Scheisse, usw ...

ekGreer said...

I cant believe I almost made it through an entire post... I mean, actually reading most of it. I am not surprised that I rolled my eyes more than a few times.

So, while I'm glad you you you wasnt the first reason gays should be allowed to marry, the fact that it was number two is sigh-worthy. How did gay become about you? Get over yourself.