BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

Listening

Here's my thing about this whole Pence going to Hamilton thing... I wouldn't have boo'ed him.  If you want someone to listen to you, telling them they suck before trying to engage in a conversation, who's going to listen to you after the boo?

I wouldn't have cheered him either.  The thing is... First off, he's at the theater, people.  THE THEATER!  The theater, by itself, is inheritalnly... Gay.  Theater is TOTALLY GAY.  Everyone knows this.  I KNOW this... and I fucking LOVE going to the theater.  I'm not gay myself, but I 100 percent support everyone in my life that is, because they all fucking rock.  And the theater rocks.

To review: Theater is gay.  Theater rocks.  Gay people rock.

So, the fact that Mike even STEPPED FOOT into a theater to see a broadway show, is a good sign, if you ask me.  Because that shows that he's into theater, which means by association, he's okay with gay things, which to me, isn't the absolute worst scenario to play out at the moment.  I mean, because trust me... I've known some CRAZY homophobic people in my lifetime that have said some stupid idiotic things like how only "gay people go to watch Broadway performances and they would never set foot in a theater".  Mike went to the theater.  In the grand scheme of things... That's a win to me!

And he wasn't dragged in kicking and screaming... He went, by his own free will.  Am I happy that he's our VP-Elect and not Kaine?  No.  Not even in the least slightest bit.  But am I happy that he decided to go spend a Friday night watching something that is completely stereotyped as being "gay"... and STAYED THROUGH THE WHOLE SHOW.  Heck yeah.

And am I happy that Trump demanded an apology?  NO.  What the cast said was them exercising their right to free speech.  And the fact that Pence stayed to listen to them and not turn his back and walk out, is also probably not the WORST of outcomes that could have happened.  My thing is... We're not going to get anywhere by booing people... We just have to keep having conversations and asking if people will listen to one another.  Just keep saying, "hey, I know we are from different backgrounds and we're from different ideologies.... but, let's try and work on that.  Let's have this open conversation and spend time talking... and if you still feel the way you feel, fine, at least we can say we tried.  But I hope you will one day be able to open your mind and heart to something different."

I truly believe that people can change.  And that keeping people out of certain places, or being mean to them without any kind of dialogue is the WORST thing to do.  If you want people to change, don't just cast them away... Talk to them... and listen to them.  And get to know what it is that is behind the way they feel or the way they think.  There's a reason why people do or say certain things...

I myself have this.  I don't care for the state of Florida.  It's long and complicated and involves multiple people in my past.  But, there's these reasons why I dislike the state of Florida.  It's not that the state of Florida has done anything to me personally... It's that a couple people have and, I don't know, I'm still just not over it all yet...  But if there were someone that wanted me to go to Florida with them bad enough, they would have to talk to me about my reasoning behind why I don't want to visit Florida.  It would take a lot of convincing, but if someone wanted me to go with them to Florida BAD enough, with enough conversation, I probably would eventually go.

It's all about the conversations and spending time learning about why people like or don't like the things they do, or why they think the things they do.  Life paths shape who we are.  Life experiences shape the way we think and feel.  There's a reason why Trump and Pence are the way they are... No one is just born with thoughts in their heads.... They get their personality and life views from the experiences they go through in life.  A lot of it has to do with our family growing up, where we grow up culturally, how much we're exposed to.  How many people we meet and empathize with.  What kinds of things happen to us as we go through life.  Who we're harmed by, who we're loved by.  The places we go and hang out in.  The people we hang out with.

Obviously Mike Pence was able to put his media reported homophobia aside enough to go watch the gayest goddamn thing on the planet... a Broadway play.  And he didn't get up and walk out halfway through.  And I guarantee you he was probably tapping his toes to most of the music and laughing and smiling at the jokes, and lost in the storyline.

And that's the power of art, and music, and dance, and dialogue... The power to change hearts and minds.

That was just my thought.  Honestly though, it's all about changing minds and hearts.  It's all about conversations and approaching people in safe settings and being convincing and kind about it.  Because no one is going to listen to someone that starts out their argument with "Boo, you suck!" and then following it up with, "Do you have a minute for me to talk to you about something?"

If you think someone sucks... Just know, they probably think you suck too.  But we're not going to get anywhere telling each other we all suck.  So instead... Just start with, hey... Do you have a minute?  But here's the thing... For every minute you want someone to listen to you... Make sure you have a minute to listen to them.  That's only fair.

Listening is just as important is talking.  Because if you're not listening to other people, what's to say they are even listening to your message in the first place?

You know?