Honoring Porn Stars, Pimps, Prostitutes, Johns–And YOU
Can there be honor in being a porn star or a prostitute? Or the purveyor or customer of such? I ask not for advice but to provoke thought and discussion? And for those who might give advice, have you tried what you might be critiquing? I would pose the same question about being a volunteer soldier, a conscripted soldier, a deserter, a traitor, an assassin, a chicken-hawk and a terrorist? What about a slave, a slave seller, a slave owner or the descendent of such? The criminal, the convict, the ex-con, the Nazi concentration camp guard? The polygamist, the sexual deviant, the cheater, the prude, the virgin, the slut? The Cultist, the Atheist, the agnostic, the True Believer, the Holiday-only church goer, the Muslim extremist, the God-fearing Israelites and Christians who slaughtered women and infants? When it comes to the roles and choices we shame, we tend to have little understanding, let alone empathy or the possibility of being inspired. And often the truth is that with those whom we uphold as heroes, we seldom know their full story for the shameful parts are kept hidden… as if they are not worth honoring unless they were perfect in our personal or cultural lens of what is shameful, honorable, etc.
This goes for Jesus, Gandhi, MLK, Mohammed, The Founding Fathers, sports and business heroes, etc.–do you know their full stories? And what about our spouses, lovers, former lovers, parents, etc.
How quick are we to cast out, abandon, punish, betray or demote those who we perceive to sin in our eyes?
And ourselves? How quick are we to judge and shame ourselves or parts of ourselves in the name of goodness or righteousness… or simply to appear to others or ourselves as good, righteous–or normal, acceptable, or not so bad?
Who is this person we are judging? Underneath our judgments, who is the human? In her spirit? In all her naked glory? In her innocence? In her animal body? In her mind? In her heart?
Isn’t it so easy to categorize and judge and forget there is an individual human being underneath–who we know not?
What might it be to get to know him or her? To get curious? To not know? To become related?
