Words of Wisdom
AJ Robinson

When I was a coastal engineer, I worked on many homes, on the beach. It makes sense. After all, coastal and beach are practically synonymous.

Coastal and beach houses are the same in Florida.

That type of engineering is highly specialized. Most of the jobs I worked fell into a specific category, that is, people building their dream homes. Now, here’s the thing about a coastal home built in Florida: we get hurricanes. As a result,

There are Florida state regulations regarding homes in an area prone to coastal flooding; also known as “storm surge.” The living space has to be above the elevation to which the state decrees as how high a typical hurricane will surge. Over the years, I found that height was typically roughly ten feet, which worked out pretty good, actually.

The architect would design a house on pilings. She or he would put the garage, pool bath and other rooms that were considered “non-living space” on the ground floor. The living space was on the second, third and, even, fourth floors.

Hey, some people wanted big houses. When you’re paying the sort of money they paid for a house, it made sense to go for the maximum.

People would always ask about that term, “non-living space.” What did that mean? They couldn’t live down there.

I was ready, with prepared comments.

I had a prepared speech to cover the issue, having told so many people the same thing. I told them to call those rooms the Rec Room, Sewing Room, Arts & Crafts Room and even Man Cave. The state would approve the plans, we could build the house, then the state would sign off on the house, once the building inspector gave his or her final blessing to the place.

Now, once the family moved in, those rooms were available to them for whatever purpose they wanted. It wasn’t as if the state would keep coming around and peer in their windows to see what they were doing in those rooms. Once I got my final fee check, for helping them get the house built, I certainly wasn’t going to come around to check on them. So, wink-wink, nudge-nudge; what they did with those rooms from that point forward was their business. As a result, it’s entirely possible, although I have no documentation to substantiate this belief that some of those storage rooms became spare bedrooms. It’s simple: what people do in the privacy of their own homes is nobody’s business but theirs!

As far as I’m concerned, the same applies to the LGBTQ community. I do so get so very tired of listening to the conservative pundits make grand pronunciations regarding members of that community, as if they have any right to. I’ve heard it said by one very forward thinking thinker that if you don’t like gay marriage, do not get one.

For me, that kind of sums up the whole issue, concisely. If there’s some aspect of the LGBTQ community, which bothers you, that you don’t want as part of your life, well, then don’t. That’s fine, I agree completely.

As for me, I’m not part of the community at all, but that doesn’t mean I insult or denigrate it or want to deny them the same rights that I enjoy. To me, not only is that a violation of the Constitution, the document the conservatives are always saying they want to defend, it’s something far more fundamental.

It's just plain not fair.

From me to the members of the LGBTQ community, you’ve got nothing to worry about from me. I won’t be looking in your windows. I trust you’ll do the same for me