Did you have a happy progenitor's day?

In an age of political correctness, in which the only folks we offend are those who hold to the "traditional" point of view, it comes as no surprise that Spain has eclipsed the idea of father or mother altogether.  On the birth certificate used in Spain, mother and father are no longer categories of identification.  When Spain redefined marriage the Spanish Government rewrote birth certificates, removing the words “father and mother” and replacing them with “progenitor A and progenitor B.”  So, I trust you had a happy progenitor's day a couple of weeks ago and again in May.

First we have those who suggest that having two moms or two dads instead of a matched set of each is no biggie when it comes to the kids (a statistical myth I wrote about earlier).  Now we have the move away from the terms mother or father to something missing the cache of these terms of endearment but hitting the mark on pure neutrality.  Until Hallmark gets on the bandwagon, I am not sure how these might catch on.

What is so shocking is the way we assimilate these changes so quickly, without much fuss!  Did the Spaniards rise up against such a break with tradition and an affront against common sense?  Not to my knowledge.

Now I read that the Secretary of Defense has directed the celebration of Gay Pride in the military -- the same military that only recently advocated don't ask, don't tell, and discharged violators of that rule.  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday thanked gay and lesbian military members for their service, as the Pentagon prepares to mark June as gay pride month with an official salute. In a matter of months we go from being an unwilling service tolerating gays who are quiet to one that openly celebrates gays.  Last time I checked we did not have a pride day or month for heterosexuals, religious adherents, ethnic backgrounds, etc... so why Gay Pride now?

The shock I am focusing upon is not the Gay Pride designation but the speed with which the changes in the fabric of society have taken place.  The pace of change is itself a big problem.  The dizzying race to turnaround old ways to the proper, modern attitudes is sure to cause us problems in the long run.  We are still not finished with the full integration of races into the fabric of America (although we have spent more than 150 years in the process).  Why do we believe that we can accelerate the pace of these sweeping changes into a matter of a year or two -- or even months -- without consequences.

I am convinced that people have grown immune to such change and are not even aware of it.  Incapable of processing the radical shifts in what is promoted as good, right, and salutary, they end up numb to the changes themselves and we are left with a papered over transformation that covers the great divide but does not reconcile the divisions.