A reader writes with disappointment that California’s Proposition 8 was passed last November, amending the state constitution to recognize only marriages between a man and a woman.

The reader also expresses disappointment that Matt, when asked about the Proposition here on the Blog, chose neither to support nor repudiate the measure, but, as the reader put it, "tap-danced around the issue."

Matt responds:

I have a universal stand on very simplistic words:  Peace, tolerance, understanding, hope, and love.

Within that mantra is the complete rendering of all elements in the human condition.  I believe that some people are destined to live and die by particular philosophies, words, notions, beliefs, religions, colors, nationalities, and creeds.

Many fine people have died for what they believe.  Others think theirs is a stupid way of dying, that nothing is worth dying over.  These are all aspects of the debate, the conversation, the taking sides, the not taking sides.

But the ultimate destruction of our species is for someone to be killed because they debated one side of a conflict or the other, whether it be right or left, for or against abortion or whatever the issue is.

Does the fact that I didn’t come down on one side or another of Proposition 8 make me a tap dancer?

As far as I’m concerned, probably I am a tap dancer, because we must have, as artists, a manifestation of who and what we are.  With that, to me, comes a stop sign—where, instead of being a screaming whatever for a particular side of anything, I can have my own private opinion and ask:  How does it fit within my peace, tolerance, understanding, hope, and love philosophy, which is a child’s philosopy of life?

I take great pains not to be prescriptive of what people should do.  Everybody has their own conscience, their own way of manifesting and dealing with conflicts with others.  That’s why we have petitions.  Anybody can sign a petition, including the Pope, the King, the accountant, the dog catcher, the pukin’ idiot...

It’s not going to change my opinion if I’ve really thought about it and come to some rational or irrational judgment.I imagine there could be hundreds or thousands of issues that could be brought up on the Blog that people would want me to pronounce judgment on, so that half of the people would proclaim what a genius I am, and the other half would come with knives to cut my throat.

My lot in life is to ask how we can become a better species, and that comes down to acceptance.  I accept that people can do whatever they want to do sexually as long as it doesn’t violate a child or someone who is mentally incompetent, or it doesn’t involve someone of greater power taking advantage of someone of lesser power.

As far as how people marry, how they live, those, to me, are important, but they are subtexts to how we can rationalize throwing millions of people into ovens, how we can kill over 500 people on the streets of our cities by handguns or knives or strangulation, how we treat each other as a species as if we’re thrown-away people.  There aren’t any thrown-away people; there are just people.

And whether I or anybody else am going to get in the picket line to go marching through a city, is immaterial and isn’t going to give the rest of the people any greater lesson or honor for doing what they believe is best.

Thank you for your comment, which is part of the great conversation of who and what we are.  I think I’ve danced around enough by this point, so you can either flunk me or give me a commendation certificate for tap dancing.  After all that ranting, I should be be a ballerina.

Matt