When The Penny Drops ...

I will eventually say goodbye to childish things.

Dear friend

A thought experiment for you:

You kiss your beloved child goodbye before school. Before she leaves, you explain to her that you’ve placed a special label on her back, that she must wear with pride. The label is a ‘please kick me’ label, putting a potential and completely unnecessary target on your cherished daughter’s back. What do you think happens when your child steps onto the playground?

Before reading any further, seriously think about it for a minute...

Most people answer, ‘My child would be kicked and teased mercilessly by the other children and that would be a very cruel thing for me to have done indeed.’

My answer is slightly more optimistic: Most children would actually find the label humorous and have a little giggle, with some pointing and whispering.

One or two well meaning children might try to remove the label or bring it to your poor child’s attention.

Your child may or may not accept their well intentioned efforts to help her. For the most part, I believe the other children will leave your child alone, at least physically. But, they’ll certainly be thinking, ‘What’s up with that ridiculous label?’ and possibly tease her about it.

Here’s where the story gets darker: Your child arrives on the playground and in steps the playground bully. Every society has more than a few of them. He decides to take up the invitation and kicks your child as hard and as often as he can.

Now the dynamics change completely: other weaker minded children join in, out of fear or simply mob mentality. Pretty soon most children are kicking your child or worse, with only a fringe minority of children trying to help put an end to the madness. They beg her to remove the ridiculous sign, but she refuses, citing her mother’s words about the sign being so important.

Now, imagine you kept repeating this experiment daily, asking your child to wear the label with pride, until your child developed a persecution complex and saw everyone as ‘out to get her’- because of the label you stuck on her back. How would this little girl grow up to view her world? She would internalise her victimhood. It would become a part of her identity. The other children just hate her because of the burden (please kick me sign), she must accept and carry as an inseparable part of her life. Her cross to bear.

Okay, now for the second part of the thought experiment, replace the words ‘Please kick me’ with the words ‘I am God’s chosen child’ - now repeat the experiment ad infinitum. Take it from me, you will keep getting the same result as you did with the ‘Please kick me’ sign. It will be no different.

Albert Einstein understood that repeating the same experiment and expecting a different result was absolute insanity. ‘I am better than everyone else because that’s what uneducated Bronze Age goat herders said my god says. But please can we still get along, even though my god says you are inferior to me?’ – sorry, but this nonsense doesn't fly in the 21st century. Certainly not with rationally thinking human beings.

If you were able to time travel and meet the original person or persons who first stuck that preposterous label on your Bronze Age ancestors’ backs, who in turn, handed it down through the millennia until it got to you, I’m quite sure you would find them to be astronomically deluded and phenomenally backwards in their thinking. Not to mention, completely ignorant of most things you take for granted, thanks to modern scientific knowledge.

There is a reason people don’t run around shouting -“I’m the chosen one!” They would be sent to a mental asylum in a heartbeat. And thinking and believing it quietly to yourself, doesn't make it any better either.

The Simpsons - Chosen one:

The next time you want to stick a label on your back or worse, your children’s backs, that tacitly implies that they are better than everyone else, then at the very least, the bare minimum, don’t be surprised when you or your children get kicked in the arse by some bully.

Nothing ever happens in a vacuum or ‘out of the blue’. It's called cause and effect for a reason.

I don’t care too much if you believe in a god or not, what I do care about very much is that you do not hold yourself or your children up on a pedestal that claims your life is worth more than mine or anyone else’s because of your backwards Bronze Age beliefs.

Here is a little mantra/prayer to help you:

‘My name is (insert name here). I am a (insert religious belief/ideology here). I sincerely apologize for the countless deaths, persecutions and unnecessary suffering my beliefs have caused this world. I was unaware until now, that I had actually brought this persecution on myself by a stubborn refusal to embrace the root cause of my persecution, whether real or perceived.

I have stubbornly and quite frankly, stupidly, insisted on only treating the symptoms and never taken the time to address the root cause.

I understand that I am a homo sapien like everyone else. The human genome project has proven this conclusively. What a complete fool I have been, running around with one foot in the Bronze Age and the other foot in the 21st century.

Due to outdated and incredibly childish beliefs, I take full responsibility for having decided to elevate myself above others, according to an indoctrination of ideology/religion, passed down from my ancestors which will always result in blow back in the form of unnecessary violence, until I personally decide to break the cycle.

Up until now, I never realized that I was implying secretly, overtly or subconsciously that my belief system is god’s preferred belief system. I am deeply ashamed. Although I can’t give back the lives of the many innocents I have unwittingly taken, simply by the tacit support of my mythical religious prophets and not questioning their primitive mindset, I will make amends moving forward.

In no way whatsoever, will I expect any special treatment for having chosen to identify as enlightened and superior to other people. I am not god’s chosen one. My life is worth the exact same as everyone else’s - Amen.’

The Simpsons - Messiah:

Epilogue:

I can’t find a single person who does not like John Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’. This is why it saddens me so, that no one absorbed or understood his lyrics, at all.

Perhaps the song has been over played, so here is another one for you. It’s a little more to the point for all you slow learners at the back of the class.

XTC- Dear God:

Just like a line in the same piece of dirt can create a border with separate nations and flags, ready to kill each other, one tribe, genetically inseparable, can divide itself based upon Bronze Age ideology. On both counts this is wrong. And utterly pathetic.

We are all the same. No one is chosen above another. The quicker you learn this, the easier your life and everyone else’s will be. You should hang your head in shame, for ever having believed otherwise.

We need adults in the 21st Century, So grow up quickly - children are being blown to smithereens to accomodate your childish beliefs, whether you like it or not.

About the author:

Shilo Bunce holds degrees in Political Leadership & Citizenship & International Politics (Hons). He is interested in working towards sustainable world peace, universal healthcare, housing, food security and systems education for all earth’s inhabitants. He has a keen interest in propaganda, mythology and humankind’s persistent obsession with religious cults and pseudo science. When he isn’t doing this, he’s teaching and practicing calisthenics and enjoying life with his family.