Controversial post-shame on who?

Let me start by saying this whole blog started with Will's visit to emerg. last night. I was sure it was going to be another episode of pneumonia, but was relived to be discharged 3 hours later after a good chest x-ray. I carried Will out in one arm and had his brand new nebulizer under the other. A nebulizer is something I feared because I thought that medical equipment in a home was just not something I thought I could deal with (emotionally more than anything). A nebulizer is not a biggie and we watched Thomas The Tank this morning while the smokey mist worked it's magic. In fact, didn't we both see a resemblance in Thomas's puffs of steam and the nebulizer mist. Hey, I wonder if they use a nebulizer on the bottom of those little trains for just that effect?! Anyway, now I know exactly how to get to our closest hospital. This is the third time we found our way to an emerg. dept. in the middle of the night in a strange town!

Before we could feel better under the misty shroud I had to run out to the pharmacy and get all the sick kid supplies, Tylenol/Motrin, Kleenex, new thermometer, and of course the Amoxil for the ear infection and then the Albuterol. On my way into the pharmacy I passed the construction site for what is to be a Macy's. In front two gentlemen had erected a large, professionally made sign that read "Shame on Macy's". Well, I am a loyal Macy's shopper and that sure got my attention. After Will was all fixed up and asking for his car-cars I decided to do a little research about what faux pas Macy's was guilty of. All I could find were year old grievances about Macy's deconstruction of a "gay pride" window display. Now, I don't know if this banner I saw is some kind of travelling circus of retribution, or if there is some local disgruntled citizens, but the window display fiasco got my ire up.

I truly do not understand the gay movements need for extra attention. My first assumption is that they wanted to be treated equally. I can buy into that because I have a little guy that I will strive to have equality for. Personally, I'm in a position of having a child that I want to assimilate nicely into society, the last thing I want is all the "extra" attention. I don't want people to think that Will and other people with Down Syndrome deserve their own special parade, or to have a special window display, or to have a "special" flag flying at city hall. Why? Because it is counter-intuitive to what we are trying to do, which is have everyone see our kids as a regular part of society. If we were to go off the handle because they were not being treated "special" enough then people are going to see them more as "different" and less as the same. This is why I am totally at a loss for understanding gay activism. They are only making the situation worse for themselves. I don't think any corporation should give a nod to a specific group of society, because if we want to look at society that way then there are not enough days in the year for each special groups window display or parade. I work diligently at making my son "regular" and, it seems, the gay activists would loath to just be themselves in the crowd, in my opinion anyway.

So for now I'm going to remain a loyal Macy's shopper because that is exactly the way I want things for my son, everyone is equal, regardless of their inherent differences and those non- descript mannequins in Macy's windows are a celebration of all of us (in this season's latest fashions).