OPENING OUR EYES
Kelly Smaltz
We are brought up thinking that everyone shares our views and
that they are correct and the only right way of seeing things. In
Flatland, a novel by Edwin A. Abbott, two men from different
dimensions argue about which one of their societies is right and
more superior. They accomplish nothing because each is so closed-
minded to the fact that what they have known all their lives may
be wrong. This is the case when it comes to homosexuality in
today's world or anything that involves looking, acting, and
thinking differently than us.
A. Square and the Monarch of Lineland are closed-minded to
the possibility ofthere being other worlds or multiple ways to
seeing things different from their own. Outside Lineland all was
nonexistent according to the Monarch. When A. Square tried to
explain to him that the universe was made up of more than just
straight lines and points, the Monarch called these suggestions
"impossible" and "inconceivable" (P. 46). A. Square shared his
ideas with the Monarch because in his words he had "to open up to
him some glimpses of the truth" (P. 47). Neither man could begin
to accept the possibility that his world and his beliefs could
be in any way inferior to those ofthe other. Yet the two men
state their case for what seemed to be a long while. During the
course ofthe conversation,
the Monarch called the Square and his ideas "uneducated,"
"irrational," and "audacious" (P. 51). The Monarch thinks if A.
Square "had a particle of sense, [he] would listen to reason" (P.
51). Upon listening to the opinion that Flatland is lacking so
much as compared to Lineland, A. Square strikes back, saying,
"you think yourself the perfection of existence, while you are in
reality the most imperfect and imbecile" (P. 5I). A. Square
continues, claiming, "I am the completion of your incomplete
self" (P. 51). Neither the Monarch nor A. Square could be swayed
to the other one's way of thinking. They each thought his way was
the right and only way.
As with A. Square and the Monarch, some people are closed to
the idea of people viewing things differently than what they
believe. They sometimes classify them as weird, but who is to say
what is right or what is wrong? I certainly would not want to be
told that what I like, I could not enjoy anymore because someone
decided it was wrong. Thousands of people who have come out and
shared with the world that they are different have been treated
as outcasts. These people are homosexuals. Just because they live
differently than the majority of the people in the world do, this
does not necessarily make them bad. They are faced with their own
kind of 'racism' every day.
Children are brought up to share many of their parent's
values and opinions, just as A. Square's sons, the pentagons,
did. How else would they learn to hate people only because they
are different? When I was in ninth grade a new boy came to our
school. From the start he made it known that he was gay. I saw
the way the students acted toward him, especially the boys. They
thought that if they hung out with him or even talked to him,
everyone would think they were gay too. They did not want to be
treated the same way they treated him. After seeing this I
reached my own conclusions about why some people cannot accept
someone who is gay. They think if they are seen with someone
who is gay, people will think they are gay as well.
To me this means they are
not comfortable with their sexuality. If they were, they would
not worry about people thinking that they were something that
they were not. The blame cannot be placed solely on these people,
because the people stereotyping them are wrong too. However, the
ones being stereotyped will in some cases turn around and do the
very thing they were afraid would be done to them.
My interest in this topic stems from when, at ten years old,
I found out my uncle was not only gay, but dying of AIDS. For
some members of my family it was difficult to put aside their
ways of thinking and accept him. I did not fully understand what
everything meant, but gradually I learned over time. I knew
someone who was gay and had AIDS and he was not a bad person at
all. In fact he was a loving and giving person. To think that
some people would classify him as bad was totally beyond me.
He knew the stereotypes that existed and that is why nobody
in our family knew his situation until he was very sick. By this
point, he had alienated himself so much from the rest ofthe
family that it was almost to the point where he was a stranger to
them. He still came to visit on holidays, but he always seemed
out of reach, as ifthere was something wrong-- but no one knew
what. When the family found out about him, some ofthem could
handle the news while some could not. His sister for instance,
closed him off and did not let him come to her house. She was
afraid of him. But, why? He was the same person he had always
been, her brother. The only difference was that he needed her and
the rest ofthe family then, more than ever. He did not need
to be pushed away. Can anyone imagine how frightened he
must have been? Why could she not put aside her own
prejudices and open herself up to him and
his situation? She had grown up with him. Did she really think he
would be so inconsiderate as to put her and her children at risk?
She was brought up that the Bible declares the right and wrong
way to do everything. Along with millions of other people, she
would say, if God had intended us to be attracted to people of
our own sex he would not have made the first humans a male and a
female. Does it not say in the Bible, however, that God loves
everyone? It is a part oflife that we are not all alike, but we
learn to live with everyone's differences.
Just as A. Square felt about the Monarch, I feel that someone
needed "to open up some glimpses ofthe truth" to my aunt. I did
not personally see how my aunt treated my uncle because I was to
young. I only know what my parents tell me, but ifI had been a
little older and had known then what I know now, I would not have
been able to just stand around and watch her treat him like that.
I get mad even now when I think about it. I do know that today my
aunt regrets treating him like that, but she is paying the price
now. There was only a little precious time left for her to spend
with him and she wasted it. My uncle's situation did not change
the way she feels, however. The Bible is still always right and
her view, that being gay is a sin, still stands. Just as A.
Square and the Monarch needed to open their eyes to new
dimensions, many of the people in the world need to open their
eyes to different ways of living. These differences, especially
in the case of homosexuality, do not change the person inside the
body. We need to step outside the guidelines that our society
says are acceptable and not acceptable and those that were set up
by our parents and family members and learn to form our own
opinions not based on beliefs or appearances, but what lies
within.
Rev 12/96