PRIDE! by Joshua J. Warren

Ambiance, grace, life and liberty.

Strength, tenacity, unity and family.

These are a few things that come to mind when I think of PRIDE. It's not about making others accepting of us, but rather respecting our right to be different. Pride is about remembering. It is remembering that we come from the same stock. We are cut from the cloth of the almighty to exhibit all of her beautiful wonders. We are different just as each blade of grass and each snowflake, though together we create a sight of magic and splendor. Pride is knowing that humans aren't meant to fit into a generalized standard, and that what is considered "normal" is only a system used to keep free life locked in a cage. The beauty of pride is that it is a celebration of all things "queer," meaning beyond the general boxes that society wants us to check. We all understand that in order to procreate there needs to be a male and female, but God transcends male and female. God is everything; mother and father. Life and sustenance is given, wrath and judgement is given, all is given from the Creator. Sometimes it's masculine energy, other times it's feminine and sometimes it may even be somewhere in between, but it's always God.

We have become so accustomed to believing that life is either-or, but time and time again God shows us that it is both-and. God's understanding is greater than that which some of us can comprehend. I'm not saying that what many believe is wrong, I'm just saying that it is limited. Pride is knowing that humanity was created in the image of the Creator therefore both-and must exist. It is living under the realization that our differences do not limit us, but they liberate us. It tells a story of the universe from beginning to end and over again. Pride is living without limit, without judgement and without shame. It takes you as you are and grants you your birthright of existing without restriction. It is tapping into the inner you that the world tries to hide or cast out, and sharing that person with the universe. And it is expressing that definable truth that frees us of the cloak of oppression.

We could all disagree, as we tend to do, but what progress does that make? We could all shame and berate one another into depression and submission, but what issues would that solve? Instead of believing that our differences are errors that need to be corrected, we must grow to understand that our differences are treasures that ought to be celebrated. What another does in their personal life with consenting others is not any business of ours, but what a person shares with the universe is to be highlighted and revered for it is that very energy, that very light, that very vibration that is the piece of the Creator intended to be given and received. Our outward expression is an identification marker for who God planted inside of us. Asking anyone to bury or destroy that is the same as silencing God, and that is the abomination.

We have been in bondage for so long that we don't even know what freedom looks like. Oh but pride reminds us of that freedom. It opens the doors to our hearts to let our souls shine through. It reminds us that it isn't our loved ones that are the problems, but the systems that fooled us into believing that they are the problem. Pride destroys the dams that supremacy has built in the river of life to allow the waters to flow freely. We celebrate our ancestors. We celebrate our differences. We celebrate our struggles and the lessons that they have taught us. We celebrate the beauty inside of us all. Pride was never about getting you to accept a particular life-style, it has always been about regaining our inalienable right to live free.