Ignorance makes me mad. And willful hurtful ignorance makes me even angrier. And then, add in the ignorance that is tied to some rabid religious belief and you’ve got me steaming.
I’m find with each and every person practicing his/her faith. Pray all you want. Hold hands with others and circle an evergreen tree while singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Shave your head and hand out Tootsie Rolls at the bus station. Honestly, I don’t care what you believe and what your rituals are. The most important thing that we ALL need to remember is that what you believe is not necessarily what I believe and what I believe is not necessarily what Jerome believes and so on and so forth. Even within religions the belief systems differ, and it’s really important that we ALL remember that.
The Idiot in Chief has allowed the intolerance for the beliefs of others to explode like a ripe abscess in the past year. I have had to rewrite this paragraph several times because I keep carrying the pustule metaphor in comparison to their belief systems too far, and it gets gross fast. Sorry for those of you with weak stomachs.
Anyway, none of you get to tell me or my imaginary children what to believe. Only I, as their parent or guardian, gets to make those rules for my family. You don’t get to take books away from my kids, you don’t get to take art away from my kids and you don’t get to take ideas away from my kids. Only I get to do that as the parent or guardian. You don’t get to push your belief system or your idea of acceptable or not acceptable on others. Until Trump rewrites the laws of this nation, we are still free to express ourselves and provide a wide variety of ideas and people and books and thoughts to everyone. You can put your children in a box or a cave, if you’d like, and that is your prerogative, but you don’t get to put my children in a cave. If someone’s ideas etc. upset me, I will talk with my children and explain what we find to be against our beliefs, but that is not your business.
I’m furious, once again, that people are allowed to come in and attempt to dictate what they think is right for every kid and every adult. A small group of fanatics DO NOT get to change free thought and free speech and free choice, not yet anyway. Steps are being taken every day in our government to limit those freedoms and those protected classes of people who have suffered for so long, but we cannot let that happen. Battle at the local level against anyone or any group who tries to dictate right from wrong in your community. They don’t get to decide for everyone, under any circumstances. Watch this space for updates and calls to action. We may need to fight the good fight once again, friends.
The Edgy Librarian 