This entry is part of a contest by HuffPost Books and The Buried Life. Click here to read more about it.
I personally started my bucket list in 2006 right after watching the movie, "The Bucket List." It was the beginning of my freshman year in High School and I thought it was the perfect time to start one. I think like many, I started adding anything and everything fun and exhilarating I could ever think of to my list: rapping my order at a drive thru, run up a downward escalator, cliff jump, (and the reigning champ of all bucket lists) skydiving. I probably had over 150 things by the end of freshman year, but as the years went by a great thing started to happen. Some things got crossed off, some new things were added, and others were being erased off completely; my list was changing just as I was growing, maturing, and changing.
It's one of the best qualities I believe every human being has; the ability to change.
My list went from "Bucket List!" to "My Life List!" I didn't want to do as much stuff possible before I died; I wanted to do stuff that had meaning and when the time came, I was proud of. I'm not saying I completely took off everything that was fun and selfish and became the next Mother Teresa. I mean, I still have rapping my order at a drive thru and skydiving on my list, along with more like my #57. Be there for a Lambeau Leap (that is when at a Green Bay Packers game, they score a touchdown and the player jumps into the crowd! I want to be right there, arms open!). As of today I have 75 things on my list that I truly believe hands down I want to do before I die and feel are a reflection my kind and caring but also goofy and laugh-out-load personality.
You can now imagine how only picking one was very difficult for me, but in the end I found one. Help plan and be the ordained minister of a Same Sex couple.
I am for equality around the world and also believe love is the most powerful thing in the world. And I don't think love should have any boundaries at all. Sexual orientation, race, religion, and/or social status should not matter when it comes to the matters of love and the heart. And I ask myself, what gives us the right to prevent others from loving each other?! No one ever voted on heterosexual marriage laws; and I ask myself again, who are we to vote on theirs? If there were laws like "No interracial marriages, no marriage can have two separate religions, in a marriage both parties must have the same income..." that we had to wait on and have all of your country vote on, there would be so many married couples today that would not be together and unhappy. I just don't understand how allowing homosexuals the right to marry their loved ones, have any effect on those who are against it.
I picked this wish off my list for many reasons, but mainly because it benefited more than just me. It would bring me so much happiness not only to witness such love being bonded but to be able to bond it myself and know I was part of something bigger than me! I think the Couple would also love that their minister is not just doing her job but helping them fight for change and providing so much support. My purpose with this, if I win, is simply to "Be the change you want to see in the world" -Gandhi
Attached are some funny pictures from protests for same sex marriage, powerful statements of truth, and one touching photo of a Gay Army man. I was completely surprised when this one photo sparked so much controversy. To be honest I cried a little. How could so many people harshly judge this man they don't even know on his sexual orientation, when this very same man not a few days earlier was fighting and putting his life on the line for their and all of our freedom? I'm sure he never once asked who specifically he was fighting. Why couldn't people see his courage and bravery instead?
In closing, I'm proud to say I am a Christian Catholic believer, and keep Jesus and his words very close to me! And Yes, I support same sex couples..."Love each other as I've Loved you all." Jesus taught us to spread his word, not force it unto others.