Why?

The crowds gather from all walks of life

Filled with their hatred, ignorance and strife.

They carry signs for their own cause,

but so often it’s more about seeking others flaws.

Down with those of a different race!

Down with those who walk a slower pace!

Down with those who appose our cause!

Down with those whose religion is not ours!

Down with those who don’t agree!

Down with those who aren’t like me!

These are the chants of the many,

But into the din of “down withs” a voice calls out

Not much more than a whisper, but heard like a shout-

Why?

What’s the difference but pigment in skin?

Is your cause a cause or are you just following to win?

Is your God really so small?

Do you really think you know it all?

Have you even tried to understand?

Have ever even been to a distant land?

Are you really so fragile you won’t even open your eyes?

What are you so afraid of? That what you think you know is really lies?

It didn’t take long for the whisper to grow

For the many to quiet and for their doubts to show

A chant that began as one voice becomes the voice of the many

People are looking for answers where there simply aren’t any.

Why?

I wrote a version of this poem more than ten years ago ( I remember the old version as being better than this one, but I can’t find it so this is as close as I could remember it). I was reminded of it a few months ago when I walked by a planned parenthood abortion clinic and was accosted by protesters who sit outside in an ongoing rotation to make sure the people walking by or walking in know that if you use birth control or get an abortion, they hate you and you are condemned with no chance of forgiveness. They don’t care what your reasons might be or how hard a decision it might be and if you read their signs they don’t really make a distinction between the use of birth control and an abortion. The part that bothers me most isn’t about whether I agree with them or not about abortion and birth control, it’s about their method of sharing their opinion that leaves no room for anything else and their’s isn’t just a form of disagreement, they are condemning and offering only hate. They call themselves pro-life, but they seem to be only pro your life if you agree with them. Like I said though it isn’t the cause that bothers me the most, it’s how they are choosing to promote it. I was re-reminded of this just a few days ago when a man who came up to me to tell me how cute my baby is turned his compliment into a commentary on abortion using church language and creating a box where he believes all Christians must live with no room for disagreement. Why do people do that? Why do we create such narrow worlds for ourselves that we leave no room to question and what gives us the right to impose our opinion on others without at least listening to theirs? We do we seek reasons to hate instead of giving ourselves reasons to love? I don’t have a problem with protest and I believe strongly in civil disobedience and justice, but I also believe that if your message is about putting someone else down then you have lost sight of justice and likely lost sight of your own goal that you began with as well.

I guess I wish more people would be willing to ask why; including and maybe even most importantly about our own decisions. There are lots of good causes out there and plenty of injustice that needs to be protested, but those protests should start with why too and even when there is no answer (like in the cases of racism and apartheid which have no legitimate reasoning behind them), having no answer is perhaps one the best arguments against them. The point is that we must question and that they reason for doing anything should never be hate. Even my two year old understand the importance of asking “why?”