OhNoes

Not a Monkey

I became angry at something that someone posted on Facebook. Shocker! I get angry when otherwise intelligent people pass on misinformation because they just didn’t bother to verify what they’re passing on. The closer and more beloved the person, the angrier I get.

Among all His creatures, God gave human beings minds with which to think. So, when I act like a monkey sitting in a tree, mimicking the noises my fellow monkeys make, I am spitting on God’s beautiful gift.

It is my sacred duty to THINK, not just make noises that someone else made to me.

It is my sacred duty to find out the truth and stand by it.

I can ask questions. I can look things up. I can fact check. I can employ critical thinking. I can follow the money. I can ask the motivations of the source of the information. I can ask who benefits from my believing this and spreading this information. I can decide whether to be an active ally, an active adversary, or not engaged at all.

But I refuse to behave like a monkey. That is beneath God’s creation.

I’m not perfect. I do screw up sometimes. And what other people post is ultimately none of my business. If they bother me so much, I can hide them from my friends list, which I have actually done sometimes.

I wanted to post Not a Monkey on Facebook, but the person who posted later removed the post, and I didn’t want to antagonize someone for something they already amended.