Thanks for Nothing

One of the most stultifying experiences
we can endure today is the phenomenon
wherein we hit the Reply button on
some email we got from some helpless
nonprofit, and then, a few moments
later, we receive a thank-you note. As
if all it takes to be a participating citizen
anymore is to hit the Reply button. No
exercising our own abilities with words,
no actual concerted efforts to achieve any
righteous ends, no standing up from our
computers actually to dive into the world.
Just shut up and hit the button. Worse
are the under and off-handed ways folks
have these days of aggrandizing themselves
and justifying their existence; it's all about
implying that others are a certain, morally
objectionable way by insisting you are
NOT that way. Politicians say, "I'm
anti-abortion." As if anyone in the history
of the world has ever been pro-abortion!
I know many women who've had abortions
and not a single one is happy, or proud, or
even sure what she did was right. But if
a woman can't decide for herself what to do
with her own reproductive life, why don't
we all just go ahead and decide to live by
way of a system that mimics strict Maoism?
Preachers and would-be saints pronounce,
"We represent the community of
the faithful." The implication, of course,
is that if you're not a devotee to one of the
major religions, you couldn't possibly have
faith, or a moral code, or deep convictions
about what's right and what's wrong. I'm
sick of it: I have more profound moral codes
than most everyone I know; I live and I
will die standing by my principles; I am
deeply faithful, but religious dogma would
make me laugh if it didn't make me cry
first; if I could walk more than a couple
of blocks, I'd be the first person on line
to bang on my representative's office door,
to say, "Hey, man, what the hell is going on?
I didn't vote for you so that you could
trample all over my rights. Shape up." I
can't walk to DC to make that call, so
I'm left hitting the Reply button several
times a day. I just wish they wouldn't
thank me for doing nothing.

(2007)