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A Civic Duty

I feel as though I have an obligation,

A duty, you could say, to address something

We ignore almost everyday.

Washington walks on, head high

Strutting around like it owns civil liberties,

Like hearing its name is something so profound.

So I think I’ll ask what gives you the right

To tell my best friend who fights with herself

In the dark, at night, who cries herself to sleep

Because of the hardest decision of her life,

That she can’t make this choice with her own mind?

That it’s wrong when you’re so right, about things

Like pro-life.

And what gives you the final say on my brother

And his boyfriend, and their wedding day?

Oh, the bible does? Really? Okay.

Because you know there is such a thing

As separation of church and state, I’m sure.

And if religion, if God is your problem,

Where is your scorn? Why aren’t atheists and agnostics being burned

At the stake because of your proverbial witch hunt?

Ah, right, because discrimination is against the law,

And law is something you can’t shun in light

Of running a political race, or else have your own medicine

Shoved in your face.

If God is the only thing you can think to use

To your political values that are so terribly flawed,

Did you ever stop to think that I don’t believe in Him,

Your God?

That maybe I like mine better, He accepts us all.

Honestly, tell me please, how in the hell you expect

To get my vote with all your arrogant decrees?

I sincerely hope before you run, you rethink your thesis’s,

Or before you go around telling me who I can and cannot be.

So what if I don’t believe your God,

Your religion or how you live it?

What if I believe in exhibits, or Dr. Seuss?

 

But that’s not really the point, is it?

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Written by
rachael-p-presley
American
Published
Mar 13, 2013
Lines·Words
38·315
Permission

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