It can be a long, hard road to find that place inside yourself where you finally accept others for what they are. It's not that you necessarily have to agree with them, or everything that they say or do, or even that you have to like them, but you accept them as fellow human beings, you come to understand that your way is not the only way. You realize that diversity, variety, differentness, is the spice of life, that all of us doing things the same way, or thinking the same way, or believing the same things, would make for a very boring and sorrowful, robotic existence. If you have a son or daughter who is gay or lesbian, and you denounce homosexuals as morally degenerate, or sinful, or damned for eternity, they will not be begging for God's forgiveness, or crying out alone from their deathbed. It will be you. If you believe color, or religion, or ethnic origin, or social status is enough to judge a person as inferior, or unworthy of God's love, it will not the Black,or the Muslim, or the Jew, or the poor who will have trouble getting inside the Pearly Gates. The door will be shut to you. You can attend all of the church you want, sit right up front, even sing in the choir, and make Bible study every single Wednesday night, but your butt is still going to be in a sling. And rightly so, because you just don't get it.

1. Have you ever told the truth when a lie would have been perfectly adequate?
2. Have you ever got lost on your way from the bedroom to the bathroom?
3. Does George W. Bush seem smart to you?
4. When someone says, "Hi, how are you?" do you actually tell them?
5. Have you ever asked an attorney over to your house?
6. Do you use drugs because you think they make you smarter?
7. Did you ever give money to your brother-in-law to help him get a patent for his latest invention?
8. Have you ever bought something to make your penis bigger?
9. Did you ever date another species?
10.Did you feel it was a great accomplishment passing an eye exam?
11.Does killing people to teach them not to kill people make sense to you?
12.Did you vote for two out of the following three Presidents: George Bush,Sr., George Bush,Jr., or Richard Nixon?
13.Pat Robertson is one of your role models.
14.You believe everything Rush Limbaugh says.

1. Never bend over in the shower room.
2. If you're going into politics, make sure words will never hurt you.
3. When you're prioritizing goals, always keep golf towards the top.
4. Dumb only looks good on a blonde.
5. Somehow, somewhere along the line, an old man's butt moves to his belly.
6. Each of us must come to understand God in his or her own way. No one can do this for you. Otherwise, you would come to know God from the outside in rather than from the inside out.
7. Men who wear dresses are not likely to be lumberjacks.
8. Don't listen to anyone who thinks his way is the only way.
9. Snakes are not all reptiles.
10. Trying is lying. You either do it or you don't.
11. Never say hello to an attorney and expect not to pay for it.
12. When going to the bathroom in the out-of-doors, watch out for poison ivy and electric fences.

* The Iraqi war distracts us from reaching our potential as human beings.
* Intelligent design distracts us from intelligence.
* Tom Delay is a distraction from common decency.
* The Victoria Secret Holiday special on TV was a major distraction.
* Globalization distracts us from the systematic dismantling of labor unions and a living wage.
* Planning for tomorrow distracts us from today.
* The corporate, political, news media distracts us from the truth.
* How many times have I been distracted by tight jeans?
* Right-wing, Republican Christians distract us from finding God.
* Alcohol and drugs distract many people from living.
* Fear is a distraction used by the Bush administration.
* I get distracted when they put advertising over the urinal in the john. I end up peeing down my leg.
* Flags and mottos and creeds and slogans are distractions from compassion, justice, diversity, and peace.
* Authority is a distraction, often used in place of competence.
Distractions. They're everywhere.

The day was dark and somewhat dreary,
a good day to fish, since I was less than cheery.
I fish a lot and without a phone,
it helps at times to be alone.

I sat by the stream and stared at the shore,
there wasn't much happening, I had the wrong lure.
I was just about ready to take me a nap,
when suddenly the water opened up a wide gap.

A fish like a man came walking ashore,
whatever it was had a certain allure.
He looked at me dead straight in the eyes,
I have to admit, it was quite a surprise.

He asked what I thought about poisoning the water,
and if it was me who had poisoned his brother.
I said I'm not sure, but I did spray for bugs,
he didn't look up, he just gave me a shrug.

"You don't seem to get it, you must be a fool,
you sit here and fish while you poison the pool.
You spray poison on things and manufacture death,
how do you think it feels when you take your last breath?

You want fortune and fame and money for your name,
but it all comes down to nothing but shame.
When money is all that is left in this world,
do you think you can eat it and spit out a pearl?"

He shook his head and went back in the deep,
I wasn't quite sure if I was awake or asleep.
I took from that moment as much as I could,
but I have to admit, I barely understood.

What did he think that I could do?

How can a fish be telling a man,
what it is we should do with this our fair land?
So I packed up my things and headed up-stream,
cause the one thing I don't need are fish tales and dreams.