What's organic.

Recently I was grousing to Sweet Hubby about how much it bugs me when I notice an assortment of almost empty bottles of shampoo in someone's shower.  (Don't ask how I happen to look in people's showers.  That's several long and uninteresting stories.)  SH laughed and asked why I let it bother me when it's got nothing to do with me, doesn't affect me, has no impact on my life whatsoever.

And that's when I realized: We are bothered by what we're bothered by.  It's not a decision we make, it's simply a natural individual response to whatever.  Bugged is bugged.

What bothers us is just as organic as whom we are attracted to.  We can't determine who makes us hard or who makes us wet.  Attraction is attraction.

And that got me thinking about those people, who, sadly, still abound, who condemn homosexuals.  Especially those people who say homosexuals choose their sexuality.  I have so many questions for those people.  Such as:
Did you choose to be hetero?  At what point?  Could you have chosen to be homosexual?
And why do you think someone would choose that?  "Because they like to have penises up their bums (or equivalent)."  Yes they do, because they're homosexual.  Why would someone choose that, knowing their families might reject them?  Knowing there are ignorant bastards such as you in the world who will make their lives miserable with your narrow-minded condemnation.
One old gentleman told me, in an exchange such as this, that homosexuals are aberrations in God's eye.  "Oh no," I replied, "God made everyone."  I did not add "Not just the people you approve of."  I wanted to open this man up, not shut him down, so I kept the conversation as friendly as possible.  But I mean really, what an empty argument, using God as a reason to condemn someone just because you're uncomfortable with him or her.  I'm an atheist, but I think I have a much more expansive idea of God than an awful lot of supposed Christians.

Anyway, now when something bothers me, I just let it bother me and don't try to talk myself out of it or defend it to others.  And next time I look in someone's shower, I'm going to make sure I have a funnel so that I can consolidate all those half inches of shampoo into one bottle.  And if that bothers him or her, well, that will be what's organic to him or her.  (I'm beginning to think the use of the pronoun "they" for individuals can be useful.  But that's another story.)