Yesterday I was chatting with a very nice man from Great Briton and he mentioned he was on Lunch break. I naturally asked him what he did for a living and all of a sudden the conversation (ie typing) stopped. A few minutes later he stated he was a gardener/janitor for the local city hall. I said that was cool and he seemed to think at first that I was humoring him. I assured him I wasn't and he admitted he gets a lot of grief for his profession, especially from other gays. I was kind of ashamed that he had to put up with that kind of garbage, With all the abuse we get hit with from outside 'our people' we really shouldn't be doing it to each other.
Stereotyping and automatic assumptions are nothing new to any of us. We all had our detractors who see what we are or do as some how less that 'standard', I worked for many years in fast food and honestly liked doing it. I got satisfaction working with the food and making people happy in a very direct way. I was known for my biscuits at Roy Rogers, I would say a prayer to Hestia while making the dough and people said they were the best any of the had ever tasted. I love being a Mage.
Of course it gets worse when you look at the other jobs I have had, I worked as a clerk in a Porn store, sold auto parts, file clerk, customer service for Bell Atlantic and for TLA video, but the hardest to get people to accept as a legitimate job was Tarot card reader.
I have never felt comfortable in a normal 9 to 5 job. They are just not my thing, I hate being in crowds so big offices suck to me and punching a clock makes no sense to me as I like to work long hours when I really like what I do. The thing is what I like to do is what I'm called to do, I'm a healer. I am honestly compelled to help people become healthy spiritually and mentally as well as physically. But i didn't become a physician or psychiatrist as that's not what i was called to do. I became who I am, a spiritual healer, a shaman. Among my spiritually inclined friends and community That's a great thing but to the Gay and outside worlds it's looked down upon as quackery.
What I do is just as important to my clients as what a doctor or dentist or janitor or clerk and to look down on me or anyone for what they do for a living is poor people skills at the very least. and ignorant at the most.
We are on the cusp of great things for the LGBT community, equal rights and world wide acceptance are within sight but how much will it be worth if we can't be accepting of one another? The ageism, body image issues, it's all nonsense that needs to end so we can put up a united front.
So go out today and let your fellow man know you love and accept them for who they are and what they do.
