Soapbox

Not My Business

It’s really none of my business what kind of shit you choose to believe:
alien abductions… faked moon landings…
…a government conspiracy to subjugate us all by providing decent health care
…Mayan end-of-days prophesies
…people who talk to ghosts or heal strangers through their TV set,
…the evils of buttons and dancing.
You have the right to believe what you choose to believe,
Even if it contradicts what I believe,
even if it twists and perverts everything I believe.
That’s the way the world is supposed to work.

So if you want to believe that some people are superior to others
simply because of how they look or the country where they live,
or how they call to God-
Have at it, friend.
And if it validates you to refute decades of proven research
in astronomy, geology, astrophysics, chemistry and paleontology
and insist that the Earth is only 6000 years old,
that it totally your business.

If you feel more secure when you remove your children from public schools that pollute young minds
with radical ideas about diversity, tolerance and evolution,
go ahead. Knock yourself out, son!
It is not my place to say if you are right or wrong in matters of faith and the heart.
See how that works? It’s called ‘respect”.

But …
when you insist that my children be force-fed your doctrine of willful ignorance,
based on mere supposition, which flies in the face of all the empirical evidence-
….that is not OK.
If you need to believe that global climate change is a myth, believe it.
But when you try to make us all live under laws
that will mean my grandchildren will inherit a poisoned, dieing planet,
when you try to coerce our leaders into placing your theology, opinion and political ideology
over actual, you know,  facts–
you go too far!

You see, science is not a democracy!
You don’t get a vote on evolution, or physics or genetics
any more than when I let go of an apple
you get to vote on whether or not you want it to hit the ground.
In a torrential downpour, you may stand on the corner and scream that it is a sunny day
but how dare you try to make it illegal for the rest of us to take an umbrella?!

If you choose to condemn people I love without ever knowing them
beyond some label you put on them,
you can do that.
I pity you, but I won’t try to pass a law to stop you
for that’s how you and I are different.
Hate, if you must, but do not think that I will remain passive
if you try to make your prejudice  the law of the land.
When you insist our nation withhold certain basic rights
from some of our children
just because you have  managed to convince yourself
that such human rights are an abomination,
I will fight you with the last breath in my body.

You have a right to believe what you choose to believe
and to live according to those beliefs.
You have no right to force anyone else on this planet to believe your shit,
or to live under laws that are based solely on your shit.

The times are, indeed, a-changing.
You don’t have to move forward with us into the future,
toward enlightenment, acceptance and love
and away from greed, fear and entitlement….
but you will not stand in the way of those of us who do.