What if it was your grandmother?

What if it was your grandmother they were talking about? What if they were saying she couldn’t be trusted around children? What if they said she was sick? What if they said she was out to destroy the family and the country? What if they said civil rights for your grandmother would cause their god to punish us? What if they supported laws that diminished your grandmother’s freedom? What if powerful politicians agreed with them? What if they smugly wrapped themselves up in the Bible and claimed they were the righteous ones as they denounced your grandmother? What if those in the media labeled them as the Christian values people and they labeled you as the one opposed to Christian values even though you just want to defend your grandmother? What if everyone in your neighborhood signed a petition to tell you that even though they may not agree with them, they have every right to hate your grandmother and to work to see to it that she is treated like a second class citizen? What if your neighbors went on to say in their petition that you are being very intolerant of those who hate your grandmother? What if you snapped one day and called one of them an ass, and you got letters in the mail from strangers from across the country telling you that you are uncivil? What if your grandmother is beaten on the way home from the grocery store by thugs who tell her that she’s a sick old grandmother who is up to no good, and you become so enraged and frustrated you punch one of those who hate your grandmother, and you’re the one who is accused of being violent and unstable?