We’re standing here in Philadelphia, the, uh, city of brotherly love, the birthplace of freedom, where the, uh, founding fathers authored the Declaration of Independence, and I don’t recall that glorious document saying anything about all straight men are created equal. I believe it says all men are created equal.  — Philadelphia

Rights for one means rights for all. It doesn’t matter whether the person is gay or straight, white or black, male or female. This the political ideal that I believe in, and if you disagree, please consider what about your own life could be used to strip you of your rights. Saying that someone isn’t worthy of free exercise of their God-given rights because of something in their life is a slippery slope to having our rights dictated to us.

One of the stumbling blocks for us is that we have an obligation to respect the rights of those who want to take our rights away to express that opinion.  Saying “You shouldn’t say that no-one should own a gun.” is, to me, as wrong as saying “You shouldn’t be able to own a gun.”.  Demanding that our rights be respected signs us up to respect the rights of those who disagree.  We can debate them, prove them wrong, and do our level best to thwart their efforts, but we must never fall into the trap of denying the rights of others in order to preserve our own.

Hello handsome. You’re a good looking fellow, do you know that? People laugh at you, people hate you, but why do they hate you? Because… they are jealous. Look at that boyish face. Look at that sweet smile. Do you wanna talk about physical strength? Do you want to talk about sheer muscle? Do you want to talk about the Olympian ideal? You are a God. And listen to me, you are not evil. You… are… good.  — Young Frankenstein

If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

Flattery is sometimes necessary. Sometimes the only thing keeping you from getting ripped limb from limb, metaphorically or realistically, is a smile, some small talk, and giving the other person reason to believe that you believe they are a special person and that you admire them. Of course, it never hurts for that to be true.

I may not have a brain, gentlemen, but I have an idea. — Monsters Vs. Aliens

I know of a lot of people who should have this on their business cards and e-mail taglines. It’s always entertaining to see the hare-brained ideas that will come along without someone actually giving them a lot of thought. Most of them are of the “Wouldn’t it be great if….?” variety, and while the result of the idea would usually be laudable or at least enjoyable, the process of getting from the Lollipop Woods to the Candy Castle in their personal game of CandyLand always seems to slip through the cognitive cracks. Of course, every so often, someone comes up with a great idea and actually puts in the thinking and planning necessary to make it come to fruition, but then again, people like that are less likely to say something like this.

 Wednesday, look at all of the other children, their freckles, their bright little eyes, their eager, friendly smiles. Help them.  — Addams Family Values

One of the things I bring to most encounters is an ability to bring everyone else back down to earth. I’ve spent too many years tilting at windmills, chasing rainbows, and trying to make the latest great idea work to not look at something with a jaundiced eye.  I do try to make, hopefully, constructive suggestions. Maybe I don’t drink a lot of kool-aid anymore, but I try to not go off on flights of ecstasy when something I want to happen turns out to be a complete cluster.

Of course, watching the faces of the devoted as they realize that the sun continues to set in the west, no matter how much they believe or how fervently they devote themselves to their cause of making it set in the east, is a priceless experience.