Boxes

Check here for White,

Here, here, here, and here for

Black, Asian, Latino, and Native American.

Check here, here, here, here, and here for:

Male, female, trans, nonbinary, and agender.

Mark this box if you’re into your same gender,

This one if you’re into both,

This one for nether, this one if you’re into all genders,

And this one if you’re straight.

Check this box if you’re a liberal,

Here if you’re a progressive,

And here if you’re a democrat.

Here if you’re a republican,

Check here if you’re a conservative,

Here if you swing libertarian,

And here if you’re an independent.

We’ve become locked in these boxes,

Assigning roles to ourselves and others based on nothing more than the identities we’re born with or later choose.

I don’t mean to disrespect anyone or to confuse.

Having a place and community you feel safe in is great. But there’s no need to verbally bludgeon and abuse those we disagree with.

We’re so quick to demonize the other.

Have we forgotten what our mothers taught us:

Do onto others as you would have them do onto you.

We’re so much more than the boxes we’ve checked,

So, stow the hate and identity politics insanity

Before we’ve wrecked the one thing we’re all trying to protect:

Humanity.