Phyllis Schlafly, human pretzel

Whenever the subject of Phyllis Schlafly comes up, as it has lately in connection to her lecture at VMI, logical people ask themselves and each other, "Why does she instruct women to behave the opposite way from which she herself behaves?"

If you don't remember Ms. Schlafly from the olden days, she made a career in public speaking.  Her message was that women ought to stay home and not have careers.

This sort of thing happens to people who attempt to stick to their beliefs, no matter what evidence there might be against those beliefs.  Quite simply, it was not Phyllis Schlafly's true nature to sit at home and be quiet.  In order to be herself, yet be acceptable to others in her own circle, her message had to contradict her own life.  Her beliefs are rigid, yet her "self" is bent like a pretzel.

Are these people to be pitied, or scorned?  How about lawmakers who vote for anti-gay legislation and are later caught misbehaving in public restrooms?  The belief that your own nature is contrary to nature will inevitably twist you in painful, crippling knots.

But, just as inevitably, your true nature will assert itself.  It's a gift to know what you are and to love it.