Wizard of Oz and Westboro Church

I was reading through the morning news and a Wizard of Oz mental image popped into my head.

You know the part, after Dorothy throws the water and the wicked witch starts to melt. As she’s melting away into oblivion she utters something like “all my beautiful wickedness destroyed by a little girl”.

I was reading an excerpt of a hateful article by Westboro Church. It was a slam against Judy Shepard, saying she murdered her son Mathew because she didn’t teach him better.

After reading how the courts are placing liens on Westboro property. I realised, like the wicked witch, it is only whimpering.

Personally, it’s very sad that nothing much was said about Westboro in the last 20 years. Because, for those 20 years, they did the exact same thing at funerals of AIDS and anti-gay hate crime victims.

It seems the world didn’t care much until Westboro started to attack military funerals. I suspect if they would not have started picketing the military funerals they’d still be “in the clear” and still picketing gay funerals.

As a gay man who has lost many friends and a couple lovers to HIV, this profoundly insults me.

As a gay man I must say, such lack of compassion doesn’t surprise me at all.

As a taxpayer who pays his equal share my government has let me down. Of course, this isn't the first time that's happened and it won't be the last.

But that doesn't change the fact; It’s still and always will be very wrong!

What happened to the value of a human life?

Why does it matter what the person was or did?

Does it somehow change the value of that human life?

It is a real life reference to the lack of love in humans today.

But beware, because those who so callously dismiss the value of a life may one day realize the pain associated with such an attitude when someone they love is devalued.