2010, what a strange year it was. Unfortunately this year was filled with far more low points than high. As with most years, now that the end has arrived it’s time to reflect on the year that was. Gather the memories and lessons learned, snip out the important parts and put them away for future use. For me, lessons and memories are ties to quotes. Soundbites and headlines that hammer the point home. Good times and bad, humour and seriousness, decisions made and painfully clairvoyant assessments. This is 2010 in retrospect:

“Happy New Year. Thanks for Staying…”

“This isn’t supposed to be an Italian Leather Sofa world!”

“6000lbs of Coiled Steel, or whatever it is.”

“Shit or get off the pot!”

“What was it? Courage, Honor, Duty. Or have you forgotten?”

“Shh! The neighbors will hear.”

“No…”

“It’s a Trap!”

“Sign here, here and here. Initial here and we’re done.”

“You think you can replace me with a boat?!”

“Ernie Harwell has passed this evening…”

“John, listen. Kay is in the hospital…”

“I mean don’t come back, ever…”

“Where’s your fish? Oh that’s right, you haven’t caught any!”

“Bitches are crazy, man.”

“Aaaaaand the Tigers threaten, but fail to score.”

“You see, you have to talk to the boat. Coax her, caress her into it. Someday, when you’ve been married as long as I have, you’ll understand.”

“If a man has the greatest friends in the world, he is truly rich.”

“That’s bullshit. Communication goes both ways.”

“You know, you’re a lot more conscientious than you let on…”

“SHENANIGANS!”

“Defendant is remanded to state custody.”

“Welcome back you sonofabitch. You’re a real prick of misery, you know that?”

“You have to let go.”

“How in the hell can you possibly be out of whiskey already?”

“You’re a little full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“You’re not focused on your career, you are your career.”

The river of time flows on, always forward, never faltering. You cannot paddle upstream against it’s mighty current. You can never go back, honor your word, remember the needs of others come before the needs of self. Courage, Honor, Duty.

2011 fast approaches. Back to the rules, back to the code.

I think it’s time to do something different with this space. Exactly what I am unsure, but I do believe change is in order.

Invariably, everyone I’ve met who is actually in favor of denying gays the right to marry cites religious morality as their reasoning for believing such. This baffles me as I was raised Catholic and as a youth was taught that all are created equal in the eyes of ‘god’ and that we should treat others the way we want to be treated. As I grew up in the Catholic church I can to realize that while we all may be created equal in the eyes of ‘god’ we are certainly not all created equal in the eyes of christians. I learned that apparently we should treat everyone the way we would like to be treated, unless that person is different. In that case you should treat them as a second class citizen and deny them basic civil liberties. I think it was this realization that began to push me away from religion. That or the discovery that in the eyes of the church it’s okay to rape children in the house of ‘god’ but gays will tear apart the very fabric of our society.

It gives me a small sense of hope knowing that the movement to strike down Prop 8 in California has finally succeeded. How long is it going to take our society to grant the same civil rights to all of our brothers and sisters everywhere across the land? How is it considered ‘moral’ to deny a segment of our society the same rights and privileges that should be guaranteed to all?