Shades of Gray

Sitting in the Dr's office yesterday waiting for my blood to be drawn I read Time Magazine and came across an article on cyber-bullying. As a high school teacher for over twenty years, I know bullying in any form ranks in the top ten of high priority concerns.
Bullying has always existed. I graduated from high school over thirty years ago and as a fat kid took my fair share. Because I survived, I like to think it made me a stronger person, or at the very least a more empathetic one. This article featured photos of five dead boys...none knew each other, all were under twenty, all committed suicide, all were gay. Between the brutal bullying of the high school halls and the escalated availability of the cyber world to commit the same crime with greater ease and a far greater audience, they succumbed and gave up on the goodness of life.
I've never understood extremists: Dr. Laura, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Osama Bin Laden, my neighbor three houses down. From a very young age I've had trouble with black and white. My world has always consisted of a pretty large gray scale. Maybe that's why I'm now an art teacher. Teaching this gray scale is one of my greater challenges. All students pretty much see black and white...it's the thousands and thousands of grays in-between that boggles their minds...mine too for that matter.
Anyhow, it's the new year, and sometimes I find it valuable to look back into my history and see how my present has shaped up in spite of, or because of, that history. I've been keeping journals for a long time and came across this newspaper clipping from a year 2000 excerpt.

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from you, and I try to share the knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it is an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how best to follow them.
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. How should I deal with this?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery as it suggests in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking but most women take offense.
Lev 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations that are around us. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 10:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?
Lev 20:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room there?
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging. I look forward to hearing your answers to my questions on your talk radio program.
--A Listener

I glued that clipping into my journal an unbelievable eleven years ago. The five boys featured in Time magazine killed themselves within the last year, and the current Congress spent a whole lot of time on "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" over the just recently ended Christmas break.
I don't pretend to understand the Bible. I don't understand it, even after reading it and re-reading it again and again. So, instead of trying to understand it, I pick passages I do understand. "Love one another." (John 13:34) and "Judge not, that you be not judged."(Matt 7:16)