http://youtu.be/GUI_ML1qkQE
It was good to hear her put this into words and it was good timing for my needs. I’m accused of being angry and negative and, of course, the blame is put on my lack of faith. Well, sure... if I closed my eyes to the things that are happening and focused on the idea that everything will be okay and there is a reason for all of the horror and tragedy in the world, I’d definitely feel better. It’s also true that I’d feel better if I got drunk or smoked some pot. If I focused on making myself feel better, I probably would and then my friends and family would be happy to not have to listen to me pointing out the bad things. But I cannot close my eyes. As they say, “What has been seen cannot be unseen.”
No, things are wrong and I won’t apologize for noticing and pointing them out. I refuse to delude myself into thinking it’s okay for anyone, especially children, to be hungry and homeless or to be poisoned by industries who contaminate the environment by such actions as blowing up mountains and releasing toxins into the air, land, and water.
When little girls and boys are strapped down and their genitals cut because of their parents’ religion, am I supposed to keep quiet? I can’t. In my mind, I see that little baby boy—too little to fight back—strapped to the board screaming for help that doesn’t come. I see that little girl held down by those from whom she has a right to expect protection and I cannot even fathom the extent of her pain both physical and emotional as her clitoris is cut off. Tell me: How can you *not* be angry?
I also refuse to ignore the fact that people here in the “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave” are not free to express their own thoughts if they disagree with the majority religion and are not free from having their tax money spent on promoting said religion and are not free from being subjected to it in public places and that those who are brave enough to speak up are tormented with hate and threats of violence and death.
I’m angry that every winter like clockwork the bitching and moaning begins about the supposed “war on Christmas.” I guess I’ll just never understand how other people celebrating their own holidays can be construed to be an attack on yours. Why can’t people be joyful that it’s Christmas and leave others to celebrate their own beliefs? The worst part of it, for me, is that I make a point to be cheerful and wish everyone a happy holiday. That is to say: If I know you celebrate Christmas, I specifically wish you a Merry Christmas. If I know you do Hanukkah, I wish you a happy Hanukkah. And so on. I also send out a general “Happy Holidays” to those I don’t know or may have missed. I’m also very open about the fact that I celebrate the winter solstice. How many of those people—my friends, family, and loved ones—do you think wished me a happy solstice last year? Three. Yep. That’s it. Three. Yes, most of my friends, family, and loved ones couldn’t be bothered to offer me a quick wish that my holiday be as happy as I'd wished theirs to be. That really hurt my feelings but... yes... yes, I’d have to say it also makes me angry.
So I do have a lot to fuel my anger. And those are just the highlights. I didn’t mention homeless veterans, unnecessary war, government representatives who do not represent, rich people who buy politicians so they can get richer and the politicians who are willing to be bought, the fact that more and more people are losing their jobs and homes, and the people who keep saying we need to cut welfare to the poor instead of corporate welfare, the alleged war on drugs, the fact that we’re losing the very freedoms that we claim we’re fighting to protect, and how my liberal and conservative and anarchist and libertarian and black and white and young and old and activists of different causes all think they are each other’s enemies instead of working together against our real enemy for the cause of freedom for all of us... along with all the personal bullshit I have to deal with including having a painful and debilitating health condition. Among other things.
So much of my anger seems to have nothing to do with atheism but it’s blamed on the fact that I lack faith so maybe it does. At any rate, I’ll keep my anger thank you very much because it’s justified and it exists because I care about important things like people and the environment and freedom and justice. I refuse to stop caring. I don’t even know how to stop caring. I may not be able to do much but I will continue sounding an alarm.
-earthchild. Once again she has spoken.
"...A lot of these people seem to have never considered the possibility that a lot of atheists are angry because we legitimately have things to be angry about." Greta Christina
No comments:
Post a Comment