Scott Hyland
The foolish state builds its concept of marriage upon the sand
By Scott Hyland
Last summer, my wife and I escaped to Emerald Isle, NC with our family. The weather was perfect all week, but there was one particular night that I managed to fix in my mind with the hopes of never forgetting. Walking upon the wooden sidewalk that crossed the dunes to the seashore, I began to hear the sounds of gentle waves rhythmically erasing any impressions which may have still been left from that day's activities. Opening our beach chairs the shimmering reflection of the moonlight off the surf seemed to welcome us like an old friend extending an invitation with open arms.
Hopefully, you were able to identify in some way with the tranquility of our evening on the beach. Moments like these have the power to stimulate memories from our own experiences. Our capacity to understand an experience and accurately convey an idea to others depends entirely upon our ability to comprehend, process, and decode information within meaningful contexts.
We are facing a dilemma in our society that dares to dissolve any meaningful contexts by questioning fixed principles and altering time-honored institutions. Who would have ever thought in their wildest dreams that we would subject conventional marriage to the test of a trial which considered the prospect of including man and man or woman and woman? Marriage is the epitome of commitment within a society, and a culture that fails to recognize this well- established fact surrenders its destiny to the whimsical cravings of a few citizens who fail to tolerate sound teaching and have an insatiable desire to contaminate everything from which they are excluded, including marriage.
When experimenting as children, our sphere of influence is greatly reduced; therefore, our consequences are minimal. As a child, I thought that I could successfully launch my Big Wheel off our front porch, because I had seen Evel Knievel perform dangerous stunts on TV many times. I flew off the porch and, to my utter terror, crashed headlong into the pavement. Thankfully, this daredevil in training walked away with only a few minor bumps and bruises.
However, when experimenting as adults, our sphere of influence is much greater; therefore, the repercussion of our actions has more far-reaching effects. Consider the shock waves of another mischievous "Little Boy" (code name for the first A-Bomb) the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima; although the bomb weighed less than 10,000 pounds, its blast claimed over 100,000 lives.
Marriage, like any term, must have definitive boundaries; otherwise it becomes something other than marriage. When words become fluid, concepts become meaningless and communication becomes impossible. I could no more change the definition of marriage through perverted legislation than I could prevent waves from smashing a sandcastle on the beach by writing the word "Stop!" in the sand.
If we keep bombarding marriage with new meaning, we could find ourselves crashing into the same concrete conclusion as one of my childhood heroes: "I created the character called Evel Knievel, and he sort of got away from me." Evel Knievel
© Scott Hyland
June 27, 2011
Last summer, my wife and I escaped to Emerald Isle, NC with our family. The weather was perfect all week, but there was one particular night that I managed to fix in my mind with the hopes of never forgetting. Walking upon the wooden sidewalk that crossed the dunes to the seashore, I began to hear the sounds of gentle waves rhythmically erasing any impressions which may have still been left from that day's activities. Opening our beach chairs the shimmering reflection of the moonlight off the surf seemed to welcome us like an old friend extending an invitation with open arms.
Hopefully, you were able to identify in some way with the tranquility of our evening on the beach. Moments like these have the power to stimulate memories from our own experiences. Our capacity to understand an experience and accurately convey an idea to others depends entirely upon our ability to comprehend, process, and decode information within meaningful contexts.
We are facing a dilemma in our society that dares to dissolve any meaningful contexts by questioning fixed principles and altering time-honored institutions. Who would have ever thought in their wildest dreams that we would subject conventional marriage to the test of a trial which considered the prospect of including man and man or woman and woman? Marriage is the epitome of commitment within a society, and a culture that fails to recognize this well- established fact surrenders its destiny to the whimsical cravings of a few citizens who fail to tolerate sound teaching and have an insatiable desire to contaminate everything from which they are excluded, including marriage.
When experimenting as children, our sphere of influence is greatly reduced; therefore, our consequences are minimal. As a child, I thought that I could successfully launch my Big Wheel off our front porch, because I had seen Evel Knievel perform dangerous stunts on TV many times. I flew off the porch and, to my utter terror, crashed headlong into the pavement. Thankfully, this daredevil in training walked away with only a few minor bumps and bruises.
However, when experimenting as adults, our sphere of influence is much greater; therefore, the repercussion of our actions has more far-reaching effects. Consider the shock waves of another mischievous "Little Boy" (code name for the first A-Bomb) the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima; although the bomb weighed less than 10,000 pounds, its blast claimed over 100,000 lives.
Marriage, like any term, must have definitive boundaries; otherwise it becomes something other than marriage. When words become fluid, concepts become meaningless and communication becomes impossible. I could no more change the definition of marriage through perverted legislation than I could prevent waves from smashing a sandcastle on the beach by writing the word "Stop!" in the sand.
If we keep bombarding marriage with new meaning, we could find ourselves crashing into the same concrete conclusion as one of my childhood heroes: "I created the character called Evel Knievel, and he sort of got away from me." Evel Knievel
© Scott Hyland
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