Legal Bickering

I'm just going to vent a little bit today. In my home state of Arizona, there's been a bit of an uproar the last few months that reminds me of my children. To my understanding, it started when a baker and a florist refused service to homosexual couples for their marriage ceremonies. The couples were upset, probably feeling slighted, discriminated against, and judged. My honest views on the subject are that a person shouldn't deny a person business service just because they don't agree with how it will be used, but that they should have that choice. It's their business, their flowers, and if it makes them uncomfortable, their patrons are better off without an unwilling participant.

Either way, I think there are a dozen ways the customers could have handled the situation. Using social media, they could make sure the world knew how they'd been treated, they could post reviews on the multiple sites that give businesses ratings, and they could go someplace else with their business, spreading the word as they went. But they went to gov't mommy and complained... meaning they filed a "Stop it!" lawsuit. Really? A business slights you, so you're going to play the lawsuit card and get them closed down?

Then comes the retaliation.  Anybody else feel like you're watching children quarrel in the backseat of a minivan? So friends or other business owners (I'm not sure which), pushed a bill put through congress saying, "We don't have to if we don't want to."

And then all the siblings took sides and started whining to their parents about the unfairness of it all, making the entire minivan (Arizona) erupt into petty, squabbling, children... all of it aimed at the parents, the lawmakers.

Solution? When our kids squabble during the road trip we tell them they can settle down and leave each other alone, or they can stand outside the car for ten minutes until they cool off. I only wish we could kick people out of the state for a year until they calm down and learn how to deal with one another in a civil, respectful, way. I only wish.

In the Eyes

Yes, I have an eye fettish.
When I was seventeen, working at the register in a local drug store, an old couple came to the counter with beaming faces.
"You're a nice girl," said the woman.
I had never seen this lady before in my life. "Um...thank you."
Smiling at my nervous embarrassment, she explained. "I don't have to know you to know you're a good, nice girl. It shows in your face and in your eyes."
The woman was sweet, and I appreciated the compliment. As a religious person, I'd always believed that the way a person lived was reflected in their countenance, but I don't think I'd ever had someone compliment me on that "inner glow" before.
Later, I came upon the passage of scripture which states: "The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." It's been my favorite scripture for years.

It's no wonder that I love stories in which people's eyes play a major role, most of which are science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Dr. Who is particularly good at playing with this. It's also no wonder that eyes play a major part in the stories I write. Even if eyes don't change color, the shape, color, and movement of a person's eyes often have metaphorical meanings for me. Sometimes I don't even realize I've written in those meanings until I come back later to critique my writing. I wouldn't be surprised if other people have caught meanings that I haven't. If so, I'd love to hear about it. What are your thoughts on eyes being the windows to the soul?

Exactly what I expected

My anthology became available on Kindle exactly on time: March 1st. Between figuring out the graphics and the formatting, I barely made my self-inflicted due date. Of course, it released with an error in the description and my illustrator appears as the author, but I expected that. Not exactly that, but something like it, which is why I put out my anthology before my novel. See, it's my practice run. I knew I would make mistakes, in formatting, in printing, and throughout the whole process. I did the anthology first, so I can learn from my mistakes, and I hope the release of my novel will go forward without any glitches. It won't.

Before I went into this publishing adventure, there was one thing I was absolutely sure about--it would be harder than I expected. Like I predicted, it has been, and since I expected that, it's actually been exactly what I expected. When I feel like pulling all my hair out and screaming, I remember, I knew it would be like this before I went in. I just have to grit my teeth, do more research, and figure out how to fix the problems.

I think if I approached more of my life in that manner, I'd probably have a lot less frustration. Moving has been harder than expected, raising kids, the list goes on. But don't we all figure out at one point that life is going to be a bit harder than expected? So, let's just buck up, remember to smell the roses, and ease off on the frustration. So, it's hard. It's not like we expected anything less. Keep smiling, world! :)