Frankly I’ve had a gutful of hearing that most of the people I know and associate with have no morals. It makes me sick to hear caring, concerned people referred to as having no values, and I wish it would stop.

     I believe that the very fact that you exist gives you the right to explore and express your individuality. It also hands you the responsibility of not harming others or infringing on their rights, and taking care of those not able to care for themselves. To me, this is true morality, growing into the person you were meant to be and allowing others to do the same. Groups of people do not have the right to impose their belief systems on others.

     That’s why it makes me angry to hear how immoral it is to support gay rights from a guy who would disown his own son if he turned up gay. To hear a shrill voice labeling those who support abortion rights as having a culture of death when you get the feeling she would turn her own daughter out of the house if she came home pregnant outrages me. Just a note on that; I don’t think I know anyone who is pro abortion. I don’t know anyone who would say, gee honey, your first abortion, we’re so happy for you. Most would say that taking steps leading to as few of them as possible would be best. But, oh, that’s right, some think it’s immoral to teach our children anything but abstinence.

     Many of the same people who take great pride in their values lose no sleep supporting legislation that protects the bottom line at the expense of clean air and water. How many preachers write off all the citizens of a city they claim deserves what it got, that God is punishing it? How can you work your mind around it being OK to cut spending for poor children while insisting on keep tax cuts for the most wealthy intact? The very people who believe war is a great idea think that only other people’s kids make good soldiers. It just goes on and on.

     As so often happens, I don’t really know what to do about it. I know that there are some out there speaking up; we hear them ridiculed by the so-called “liberal” press on a regular basis. Anger doesn’t help anything, either. Somehow, all those who know that morality has more to do with loving and supporting each other than it does with assuming you’re one of the chosen, need to own it. We need to speak out together. We need a voice so large that it would look outrageous to brand us as some kind of whining fringe. It’s time we said, “Enough.”