Setting the Record Straight (I hope)

Can we just get a few things straight, please?

You can believe whatever you want ... but it doesn't always mean it's true. For example:

• Children are not having operations to change their gender at schools. You're telling me that a school that is struggling to find enough money to provide their teachers enough supplies is all of a sudden conducting operations? Really? You believe that? Have you been to your local school lately? Most of them can't afford bandages let alone conduct surgeries. Oh, and none of them are using kitty litter to use the bathroom, either, so get that thought out of your head. Teachers ain't got time for that.
  
  
• Teachers are not indoctrinating your children. If they had the power to indoctrinate their students, then the students would get their homework done, listen to instructions, understand how to log in to their laptops without help, not talk during lessons, not fight ... you get the idea. The one thing teachers are trying to do is to teach them how to be better people. How to be more accepting of others. Understand the meaning of the golden rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (without relying on the Bible). Maybe if they learn to accept people, we'd have less bullying, fighting, and mental health issues.
  
  
• Infants that have been born are not being killed. People would be going to jail for doing that. If a child IS born and dies ... that happens. There are some who are stillborn. Pregnancy and childbirth is not always perfect. Things go wrong. Some children are born in hospitals that don't have the proper tools to keep them alive if there is an emergency. And some mothers DIE in childbirth because people don't think it's important for there to be proper prenatal care for pregnant women. If you care so much, help provide more prenatal services across rural areas instead of putting up more restrictions and road blocks that put the lives of the mothers and children at risk.
   
• No one is coming for your guns. We don't want them. If we wanted guns, we would have guns. The thing is, however, we want there to be rules for safety. You have to complete training and pass a test before you're issued a driver's license - why shouldn't you have to do something similar to have a weapon? A gun safety class every few years doesn't seem like it would infringe on anyone's right to own a gun. Insurance or a background check seems simple, too. And a weapon of war does not need to be in the hands of anyone not in war. You can't just go out and buy a tank as your primary vehicle. (Yes, I get that you want to be able to "hold the government accountable," but really, is your life that bad - and would you know it when you saw it?) School children especially aren't threats, so can we leave them be to grow up without gun violence?
  
  
• Your religion - your faith - is yours and yours alone. And, again, there is no government war against your beliefs in the United States. (Have to choose the words carefully, because there certainly is a war being fought over religion in other parts of the world.) Remember, most of the early English settlers in this country were fleeing for religious freedom. They were being persecuted for the way they wanted to practice their beliefs, to the point that they were subject to fines, imprisonment, and execution for going against the official Church of England. So advocating for the government to adopt rules based on one set of religious beliefs feels antithetical to why people came to this continent in the first place. And the founders believed in the freedom of religion and expression so much that they made it the first amendment to their Bill of Rights. Sure, a lot of those who were seeking their religious freedom were different factions of Christianity, but when you make a point of writing down "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," people might take notice and believe it applies to everyone. So stop trying to make laws because that's what your religion says. Some of us have other beliefs - or not practice a religion at all.
  
  
• Not everyone who disagrees with you is against you. We don't have to fight over every little disagreement. Not all of us are ever going to agree on every little thing. But we can talk to one another to come up with solutions that will be beneficial for (or acceptable to) the majority of people. That has been the way our country has worked for hundreds of years - compromise. Working together for the believed betterment of our country.
  
  
• You can have your own beliefs, but you cannot have your own facts. And while history is written by the winners, it's not always a complete accounting. No winner is going to tell about all the corners they cut to get there. The people they stepped on or over. Just because something doesn't fit in your worldview doesn't mean it's wrong. Just because you learned it in school doesn't mean you got the whole story.
  
  
• People who are "different" - gay, trans, nonbinary, whatever - aren't out recruiting. They're just living their lives without having to hide. Again, just because you don't agree with their lifestyle doesn't mean you have a right to take it away from them. And, no, in a lot of cases, it's not a choice. Can you imagine choosing to live a life where you were being ostracized (or worse) at every turn? Who would consciously do that to themselves? For many, the choice they face is live freely or commit self harm up to and including suicide. 

 

Last thing: Alex Morgan is a badass. That's all.